Bats in WNS areas are breeding

[William Bagwell]

One method being tried is the use of special bat boxes where the bats would be able to roost in the summer and keep warm when raising their young.

Where can I learn more about this project? Article gives no details.

[tncaver]

One method being tried is the use of special bat boxes where the bats would be able to roost in the summer and keep warm when raising their young.

Where can I learn more about this project? Article gives no details.

William,
You are correct that the article gave no details about the plan mentioned above and in the following link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1h7MCUSdZy

Mollie Matteson of the Center for Biological Diversity is the person who made the above statement. You should be able to find contact information
for Ms. Matteson online if you Google the Center for Biological Diversity. I'm sure many here would like to hear the details if you find out what they are.

[wyandottecaver]

Brian,

do you remember where you got that quote from Molly? It seems rather counter-intuitive. Keeping bats warm (or cool) in the summer is not usually an issue. They simply move (including carrying young) as needed. They will frequently rotate around a tree (under loose bark) to find the "sweet spot". Bat boxes being stationary, are generally placed where they will get some sun exposure, but not too much. While a bat box could be "climate controlled" the right climate for developing young is generally warmer than the right one for bachelors or non reproductive females though not necessarily mutually exclusive.

There is work being done on heated boxes in caves in the winter. The idea being bats could roost in a warm box and use less energy. While being pursued by serious researchers I think the premise is laughable....but when you get your turn at the money tree why not?

[William Bagwell]

tncaver, I will report back if I get an answer from Mollie.

wyandottecaver, I hope this is proves to be semi normal outdoor bat house and not a heated inside the cave doo jobber that ordinary folks will never get to see... But same question I asked tncaver, got a link?

[Teresa]

Only grays have maternity colonies in caves in the WNS areas. They seem to be doing OK, though not exactly thriving, probably because they are bigger bats. Most caves do not have "heat traps" the same way they have cold traps. Indianas roost outside under shaggy bark. If a bat can make it to April, he/she usually can make it to October, if the only issue is WNS...as I understand it, G. destructans goes dormant at most US summer temperatures, and food is generally plentiful

Oh, BTW, bats breed in the fall, and over the winter, with males taking advantage of torpid females. Females are able to "spermbank" the little wigglies, and fertilization happens sometime in the spring.

None of the original statement above about maternity colonies or pregnant bats in heated bat boxes, regardless to whom it is attributed, makes much sense to me.

[tncaver]

It didn't make any sense to me either.

[boogercaver71]

There is work being done on heated boxes in caves in the winter.

I thought that gray's preferred "cold trap" cave during hibernation?

[wyandottecaver]

The heated boxes I referred to were not maternity boxes. see link below. There is probably a better one on the NSS WNS page but this was a quick google search.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/20 ... ater_N.htm

[tncaver]

What about the heated boxes that Mollie Matteson mentioned?

Quote Mollie Matteson: "One method being tried is the use of special bat boxes where the bats would be able to roost in the summer and keep warm when raising their young."

Seems to me that keeping warm in the summer is not a problem. Keeping warm in the winter might be. But bat boxes outside won't be warm in the winter unless they are heated. Bats usually don't hang around outside in the winter to test bat boxes. They either fly SOUTH or they HIBERNATE IN
CAVES which are much warmer than outside temperatures. Maybe Mollie left out a bunch of details. Otherwise her statement seems ridiculous to me.

Maybe the bottom line is that Mollie Matteson doesn't know what she's talking about. But she sure has managed to pollute a lot of polliticians'
brains with this kind of nonsense. Just my opinion of course. Not fact. But you can figure it all out can't you?

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z1hsfMtH4C

[William Bagwell]

Received a reply from Mollie Matteson, the special warm bat houses she mentioned are this project.
http://www.onearth.org/blog/home-for-ba ... ost-module By the very same Tom Kunz discussed a few threads below this one. Still have a few questions about how these "roost modules" work, but it seems a very worthy project to me.
--
William

[tncaver]

Lets hope this is a worthy project. I see nothing wrong with bat houses in the summer, but in the winter the inside temperature could get as
low as the outside temperature. Even in the South that wouldn't work in the winter. Bats either migrate South or they stay in warm CAVES in the winter. Frankly, I see bat houses no different than I see hummingbird feeders. They are a way to attract and observe critters.

[John Lovaas]

Rather than listening to Ms. Matteson trying to generate more revenue for her attorneys(as opposed to her actually doing something constructive), it would be far more worthwhile to actually read a Tom Kunz interview about these 'roost modules'- Google gave it to me in about 5 seconds:

http://www.onearth.org/article/the-man-who-loves-bats

"...the "roost module," a wooden box containing narrowly spaced baffles. Roosting females can nestle into the tight crevices, well insulated and better able to retain heat. The fungus can’t survive above about 68 degrees Fahrenheit -- much lower than an active bat’s body temperature of well over 100 degrees. It’s only when bats go into torpor during hibernation and their body temperature drops to near ambient levels that they fall prey to the fungus. While it may not be possible to keep cave-dwelling bats warm during hibernation, Kunz believes that the chances of recovery and reproduction for each spring’s survivors would improve if they had these snug places to roost during summer nights..."

You'd have to engineer these modules to maintain the desirable temperature/humidity range for gestating/nursing bats, and you'd have to do that in a variable outdoor summer climate. Which would seem to be a challenge. It seems to be another flavor of bat box.

[Tito the Turtle]

Now correct me if I am wrong (gently, please) but I thought that the bat lowered it's temperature to save energy.

If you raised the temperature of the bat in a box while it's hibernating, aren't you increasing the metabolic rate of the bat?

Wouldn't that be detrimental?

Just a question from a layman.

[John Lovaas]

Now correct me if I am wrong (gently, please) but I thought that the bat lowered it's temperature to save energy.

If you raised the temperature of the bat in a box while it's hibernating, aren't you increasing the metabolic rate of the bat?

Wouldn't that be detrimental?

Just a question from a layman.

The boxes/modules in the article are for summer use, not winter.

[Tito the Turtle]

Yes I read that, but my question stands.