Mosquitoes driving us BATTY!
 

They're awful, and I want my yard back! The mosquitoes and flies are driving us nuts, and we can't 'play outside'! So, I got a little creative with the problem.

Now, I know that there are very effective electric and propane-fueled mosquitoes catchers/repellers, but with the cost of energy, I don't need anything else to fuel up!

I'm turning to BATS. Yup, little winged night-flying creatures. I read that one single bat eats 600 mosquitoes an hour (sounding better, right?), and one of those small bat houses can keep up to fifty bats! I also read that I should hang it, prefereably on a building, 15-20 feet up, facing southeast.

So, if it doesn't work, no big deal, the house cost me $30. It all sounds good to me; well, the lesser of evils, at least. But, has anyone else tried this?

Good Luck w/ the bat house. I can tell you that I live in Barnstead and like you the biting bugs are horrible! We have 2 bat houses at our camp on Cow and almost no bugs.....now if we could just keep them from finding their way in OUR HOUSE! LOL

On Long Island we always had lots of bats and few bugs. This year very few bats and lots of bugs. I wonder if the decline in bats has to do with my new neighbor cutting several large pine trees next to the lake. I did put up a bat house a few years ago in the "right" place, but still not takers.

dragonflys
 

Every afternoon, a hundred or more dragonflys show up like a squad of helicopters and eat bugs for a few hours. We still have bugs in the evening, but its not that bad. I tried to find dragonflys for sale on-line to help a friend who has way too many bugs and discovered its really hard to find them.

more kudos for dragonflies
 

I love dragonflies! I was wondering where they were for a few weeks of serious bug swatting, then it was like the trumpets sounded and the cavalry arrived. By mid afternoon each day, hundreds of them are dive bombing through our property keeping the mosquito population in check.:)

I bet you lost a large part of your local bat population when those pines were cut down. The bats love the pine trees, I see many coming and going from my pines at dusk.

I third the dragonfly suggestion.I have a squadron show up in late afternoon.These guys eat tons of skeeters also and they are fun to watch.The only problem is the dragonflys are there because I have moquitos.

Bat House woes....
 

We hung several bat houses around our property on LI, and never had any luck, then one night we saw maybe 20+ bats diving around going after the mosquitoes. We thought EUREKA! they finally moved in. The next day I went out with my curious duaghter to peer up inside the bat houses to see the sleeping critters....we were shocked - the houses were STILL empty!
That night once again 20 or so swooping critters feasting on the bugs! The NEXT night we set up early enough to try and figure out where they were coming from - just after dusk I heard my wife and daughter shreaking! THE BATS! THE BATS! I ran to the opposite side of the house/yard to find my wife and daughter shreaking and point up at the house peak. We counted 32!! bats crawling out through the attic vent!!

The houses still stand against the pine bark of the trees - my daughter no longer fears running to get the stray ball when it lands under one of the house because she is confident there is nobody home! BUT - ask her to go into the attic to get a Christmas decoration box - and you get - NO WAY - There are bats up there!!

As for dragonflies - we love to see they as well and have a few who visit our gardens daily!