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Bats are warm blooded mammals that give birth to live young. They are not blind, but they do have poor eyesight and use a process called echolocation to navigate their surroundings and hunt insects. Echolocation is a process of "seeing" the world using sound. Basically, the bat generates a high frequency noise, which then bounces off of objects around the bat, and sends back a soundwave that the bat is able to orient objects with. Bats can make squeaking or schreeching noises audible to humans, but most noises that bats use for echolocation are outside the range of what a human ear can detect.

 

There are actually 9 species of bat that can be found in Missouri. While most bats live in caves and natural structures in forests,  manmade structures also provide great homes for bats. Some people are suprised to learn that it is normal and not uncommon for bats to live and thrive in urban environments like St Louis, Missouri.

 

The 9 species of bat that can be found in Missouri include: 

• the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)
• the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis)
• the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
• the eastern pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus subflavus)
• the gray bat (Myotis grisescens)
• the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis)
• the red bat (Lasiurus borealis)
• the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus)
• the evening bat (Ncticeius humarlis)

 

Bats benefit the environment in many ways. Perhaps most noticably, bats eat flying insects by the thousands. Studies indicate that a single little brown bat can consume up to 600 mosquitoes in one hour. Bats are also natural pollinators, not unlike bees. Most of the time, seeing a bat outside is not a cause for concern, even if it is in your neighborhood or an urban area. However, if you are seeing bats roosting on the outside of your home, seeing bat droppings (also known as "guano") around the perimeter of your house, or see bats actually exiting from a vent, it may indicate that bats are roosting inside your home. Give us a call to schedule a technician out to perform an inspection and determine if there is a bat colony.

 

Bats tend to live together in groups that are called colonies. The exact mating season of a bat depends on the species. Most bats mate in late summer to fall or winter, hibernate through the winter season, and then disperse in the spring. Some bats do not hibernate and actually migrate for the winter months to area with warmer climates. Regardless of when mating actually occurs, fertilization may actually be delayed, and the embroyo will not begin development until spring.

 

By late spring, females will roost together in what are referred to as "maternal" or "nursery" colonies. In late springtime, pregnant female bats will give birth to a single (for most species) pup. The pup is born naked with its eyes closed, and unable to fly. The pup nurses from it's mother and remains in the roost until mid to late summer, when they mature enough to fly.