Note: This was a pre-prepared blog post. For all you know I could be lying trapped beneath a downed pine tree in the neighbor’s yard, having been tossed there by Hurricane Hermine. Carry on.
On Saturday I purchased a special house at the Farmers’ Market in downtown Tallahassee.


Notice anything unusual? No door! But that’s ok, because it’s a house for bats.

And the entryway is in the bottom of the house. Cool, eh?
I figured with our do-nothing GOP controlled congress and our equally lame GOP governor ignoring the Zika crisis I should do my part to cut down on the mosquito population. What better way than by inviting bats to live in the neighborhood?
Of course in order to attract bats the house probably needs to be hung. Preferably outside.
Studly Doright isn’t in the mood to hang my new purchase (we are in the middle of a huge storm right now, so I suppose I’ll forgive him). It could be awhile before we’re ready to invite bats to Doright Manor.
In the meantime, I’ve been researching bat houses and ways to attract the flying mammals at https://batconservation.org/.
Apparently Florida is host to at least 14 different kinds of bats. Hopefully at least one kind will like our house well enough to move in. I’ve been told that none of the commercial attractants are effective, so one has to mount the house on a sufficiently tall pole, in an area of the yard that receives ample sunlight, and wait for occupancy.
Locating the bat house near a lake is supposed to increase the likelihood of the house being occupied, so we’ve got that going for us, but the literature indicates it could be months, maybe even years before we have bats living in the house.
Considering their inability to take decisive action, these bats might be Republicans.

I do hope you’re not trapped beneath your house right now, but thank you for this insightful post.
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I’m good! Storm wasn’t as bad as predicted. We don’t have electricity, and there are trees down in the neighborhood. But the house did well!
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Great news!
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Glad you are both ok, just saw some footage and it looks bad
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And other than being without electricity it’s as if the storm never happened. Beautiful day here!
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Cool. We have electricity, ,but cold, grey and very, very wet lol
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We are the opposite of cold!
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Glad you survived the storm Leslie. Now I must direct Shirl towards this post if she hasn’t spotted it already. You see, bats are her absolute favourite things and she knows all about them…she’s even got a bat tattoo on her check (right, lower)!
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Oh that’s so cool!
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Tis true that I have a bat on my arse. If you’ve any dead(ish) trees nearby the bats are probably already in residence however, they’ll not turn their noses up at a new abode. Love ’em.
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We had a small brown bat that lived in our garage many years ago when we were living in North Dakota. I thought he was a bit of mold until he moved! Cutest little guy!
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You are officially my new bat expert!
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Does this make you “batty”? I don’t know my brain is not working today 🙂
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I’ve always been batty!
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Oh how I too live bats. Astounding creatures in so many ways!
– esme hanging upside down upon the Cloud
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Yes! They are remarkable creatures!
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Bat is one of the most useful creatures. We were terrified of Zika because of my daughter’s pregnancy.
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We have bat houses in the New Forest. Given your preamble, I am assuming you are both safe
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Safe, but still no electricity! We took refuge in a bed and breakfast inn. It’s a beautiful old home and I’m working on a post about it right now.
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🙂
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