Five years ago I put a bat house on the side of our house. It remains empty. A single bat can eat 500-600 mosquitoes an hour and up to 6000 per day. (if I am accurately remembering my information from the Knoxville Zoo tour) I periodically see 2 bats flying above our house and enjoy watching their swoops and zings in the dusk.
Our outside cat, Gray, treats us with gifts on the porch step. She particularly enjoys moles and skinks but has also gifted us with mice, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, and a gerbil. I have seen her try to catch a woodpecker. This morning her gift was a bat. I now believe that the super huntress can catch anything. I warn the hawks! This cat can fly. Meanwhile, our inside cat catches zz’s as anyone that watches the camera is surely aware. The inside cat no longer catches mice. Ignores the tarantulas. Distastes The Beetles as much as my daughter. Converses with the squirrels. And only kills crickets by accident leaving their carcasses in the path of my wife‘s bare feet.
Of course my real concern here is that with the delay the child support check game being played at a bad cash flow time, along with start of school expenses, that a trip to the vet to check for rabies will cause unbearable hardship at this time. Of course, we will do what we must.
Update: I forgot to mention the bat lives in the freezer now.
Being the dutiful blog reader I am, I have taken the task from Cathy to ask… “Why is the bat in the freezer?”
Well, there once was a chipmunk. . .
Don’t you also have to call animal control to report the dead bat?
Funny story. Man years ago at the UTK Wesley Foundation, during spring break, one of the female residents was dating this guy. During the break, a bat got in the chapel and he killed it…so he called 911 to report that this had been done, giving his full name and such. The police came out and did a background check on him…guess who had a warrant out for his arrest for solicitation of a prostitute?
So when we all got back from spring break the crime log in the Daily Beacon reported that someone was arrested at the Wesley Foundation for solicitian of a prostitute….
Latte Man: In case the vet (or animal control) needs to see check it for rabies.
Michael: That is too funny! Now, just how does one get a warrant for solicitation of a prostitute? “Well, sir, you can see on this video tape…” I picked up prostitute once in downtown Knoxville. I wonder if there is a warrant out on me! I guess I should say a little more on that. Working late one night, I pull to the stop light in the Jeep with the top down and this woman asks for a ride. Being a nice guy I agree. It only took a half a block of conversation for me to realize my mistake and put her out. Cathy has never let me live that one down (justly so!). Of course, I have never let her live down the chipmunk either.
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