Fwd: Bats in Your Belfry - A Good Thing?

[Guest guest]

--- Ideal Bite <dailytip wrote:

> Thursday, April 6, 2006

>

> IDEAL BITE ~ a sassier shade of green

>

> ===============================================

> Today's Daily Tip: Bats in Your Belfry - A Good

> Thing?

> ===============================================

>

> Looking for a natural way to steer skeeters away?

>

> The Bite:

> Spring has arrived, and soon, so will the

> mosquitoes. To keep these

> pests at bay, skip pesticides and bug zappers and

> put a bat house in

> your yard.

>

>

> Benefits:

> - Many species of these misunderstood mammals are

> nature’s best

> control measure for night-flying insects like

> mosquitos. The little

> brown myotis, common across North America, can eat

> 2,000 in a night.

> - Electric " bug zappers " use more energy every month

> than two

> computers. Plus, these energy-suckers don’t catch a

> lot of

> blood-suckers: mostly they zap beneficial insects

> and harmless

> critters that would otherwise be food for birds,

> bats or fish.

> - The pesticide malathion, often used in mosquito

> control, interferes

> with the normal function of the nervous system and

> is highly toxic to

> frogs, honeybees, and other wildlife.

> - Dwindling habitats worldwide threatens bats’

> survival, but bat

> houses can help. The odds of attracting bats with a

> well-built and

> mounted bat house are good - occupancy rates are up

> to 80%.

>

>

> Personally Speaking

> Jen recently got a made-in-Montana bat house from

> Planet Natural, and

> she can’t wait for her new neighbors to move in - as

> long as they

> don’t fly too close to her head as the bats in her

> grandma’s barn did.

>

>

> Wanna Try?

> - Planet Natural - attractive cedar bat house

> attaches to walls or

> trees and can accommodate up to 40 bats ($40).

> (http://www.planetnatural.com/site/bat-house.html)

> - Bat-chelor Pad - designed for cooler locations

> preferred by solitary

> males, but is suitable for a small nursing colony

> ($27.50).

> (http://store./greenfeet/batchelorpad.html)

> - Build a Bat House - feeling batty and crafty?

> Build your own bat

> abode using these free plans.

>

(http://www.wildaboutgardening.org/en/features/section1/bathouse/bathouse.htm)

> - Bat Conservation International - learn about the

> 1,100 species of

> bats (1/4 of the world’s mammal species!), become a

> member, or support

> conservation by purchasing bat houses and bat-themed

> gifts.

> (http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp)

>

>

> Bang for the Bite Rating: 5 Apples (out of 5)

> If 10,000 Biters each made a home for a small bat

> colony, the

> resulting bats could eat 800 million mosquitoes

> every night. More bats

> = less bug spray.

>

>

> Cocktail Tip

> Bats are the only mammals that can fly (without an

> airplane). Flying

> squirrels are mammals too, but they don't really

> fly.

>

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> http://www.idealbite.com/

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> Blog about it at the Ideal Bite blog!

> http://idealbite.blogs.com/

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> Treehugger: The Future is Green. Find It Here.

> (http://www.treehugger.com)

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>

>

>

>

> © 2006 Ideal Bite, Inc.

>

> All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result

> of testing and a

> preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid

> to have its

> company referenced in the tip. Advertising on the

> Ideal Bite can be

> found as separate and distinct units, namely the

> skyscraper banner

> along the side and/or a small image with text along

> the bottom of the

> email. From time to time, if we know that a certain

> company is going

> to be mentioned or featured, we inform them in

> advance and allow them

> to purchase paid advertising space if they would

> like to do so. But we

> promise -- we won't recommend anything we didn't try

> and didn't like

> -- and no one can pay to be featured in the tip.

>

>

>

> This email was sent to info, by

> dailytip

>

>

>

> Ideal Bite | 178 Clinton Street | Suite 4F |

> Brooklyn | NY | 11201

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