Can anyone (perhaps if Rob Mies is following up on this comment thread) approximately quantify how much bat guano one might be able to catch from a single bat house?

Jack, about that mammouth tusk knife handle….

I am assuming mammouth tusk is made of ivory. If it isn’t ivory, disregard this comment.

A lot of states have laws against posessing CERTAIN TYPES of ivory. The general point of the law is to try and dry up the market for new ivory and thus curtail the ungoing global slaughter of elephants. So it’s NEW ivory items (items from after 1976) which are illegal. Here’s a news article which outlines the laws (as of 2009).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/chattanooga_200804A10.html

The only way you won’t get in trouble is if you can prove that the ivory in your (fill-in-the-blank) item wasn’t harvested from a living creature after 1976. So perhaps you need a certificate of authenticty or a certificate of pronevance from this person who is crafting this knife for you. In this case, the creature supplying the ivory for your knife died tens of thousand of years ago, so it should probably be okay. But I sense that you might need to consider this as a serious CYOA situation here.

Case in point: I have a friend who was part of an American bagpipe corps, and they were all getting aboard a plane to fly to a bagpipe competition on the other side of the country. One of the members of the corps had a set of 150-year-old bagpipes from England made with ivory pipes. She was stopped at the airport and they were going to confiscate her bagpipes and possibly even arrest her. But she produced a certificate of provenance to prove the ivory didn’t come from a recent kill. That certificate saved her.

Measnwhile, I wouldn’t be surprised if out there in the marketplace of exotic materials there can be founds SOME ivory which is being labeled as “mammouth tusk” but it’s really elephant tusk and thus 100% illegal. And so anyone buying it thinking it’s mammouth tusk is being suckered into buying a ticket to jail. So please be careful here.

@Oil Lady, it’s Mammoth tusk. As in, extinct-for-millennia Mammoth. The First Lady wears Mammoth tusk stuff. It’s kosher.

As for bats landing in hair, it can absolutely happen, and I witnessed it. It was in Lewis and Clark Caverns, right after my Mom said that bats landing in hair was an old wives’ tale. It landed in my one sisters’ hair, who got a little bit spooked, gave another sister a hug, and the bat moved to her hair. The she got our mom’s attention, pulling on her sleeve and saying “Mom. Mom.” Mom thought it was a big barrette, then she realized what it was, freaked a bit, and then it flew off. Yeah, she never heard the end of that on that trip.

Question:

There are many bats outlaying my property, but I’ve had trouble bringing them in. I’ve hung bat boxes which are occupied in the fall, but come spring, the barn swallows return an begin nesting in the area around the best bat locations. At that point the bats move out. I’m in Western NY, and my bat boxes are populated in September through Mid December. After that I’m sure they’ve moved to a warmer location, but they don’t reappear again until the swallows have left. If I take down the swallow nests, the bats are back in July. I want the bats, but not at the expense of having the swallows. My neighbors have bats in the early summer. They were the first to point out to me that the swallows and bats don’t cohabitate well. Of course, they both inhabit the same caves and standing dead trees in the wild.

Have I been misinformed about the problem? Is there anything I can do to create habitat for both bats and swallows in the same area (my barn)? Any tips are welcome, Thanks.

@Adam B, you said: “I always thought it was just a tad ridiculous that they warn you at Laurel Caverns that if you knock a bat off the wall even by accident it is a $350+ fine (state law). But, then again the tree huggers have made it so that if you are in Alaska defending yourself from a bear attack you are basically facing a murder charge (or the equivalent number of years in prison and/or fines).”

First, bats are protected most places, and what’s the point in protecting something if there’s no consequence? “Hey, you’re not supposed to do that! Don’t do it aga, HEY! WHAT DID I JUST SAY? No, I CAN’t do anything about it, but you’re not supposed to do that!” Makes sense, right?

Second, on the killing a bear in Alaska. Grain of salt, dude. Here’s a story http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/080709/out_478669517.shtml to enjoy. Note that it was a “Defense of Life and Property” shooting. That’s important. Means no crime committed. What does the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game say? “Alaska state law allows anyone to kill a bear to defend life or property (5 AAC 12 92.410, Appendix I). For a bear to be legally killed under this provision, the person must demonstrate that he or she did not unreasonably invade a bear’s habitat, provoke an attack, or cause a problem by leaving food or garbage lying around.” You can find that here http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/about/management/wildlifeplanning/pdfs/kabcmp6.pdf in section 6.2

Great show as always in sync just 3 nights ago was watching all the bats flying around the light at the barn. They were really piggen out. Because of this show I wont cut down a few snags. let the bats have them or woodpeckers who ever gets there first.

I wonder if bats will eat the stink bugs that are starting to invade?

Bats have always been a creepy creature to me, but recently I have learned about how beneficial bats and the implementation of a bat house in my back yard can be! Living in a fairly humid area, the insects can very quickly amass, and just going outside can be an ordeal. Bats are great natural exterminators and do a great job of “cleaning up” the insect population.
David
Bat House