A colony of Common Fruit Bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) had been roosting in my porch since 2006 LINK.
In 2014 I got tired of the mess the bats left behind and decided to find ways to get rid of the colony. First I installed a pair of powerful spotlights LINK. This was followed by placing Compact Discs on the floor to reflect light onto the bats above. This worked initially but not for long LINK 1 and LINK 2.
Along the way I found that turning on the spotlights in the late evening actually attracted bats, rather than chasing them away LINK.
In late June 2014 I was requested to delay chasing the bats away as Channel New Asia intended to video the colony for a series on the wildlife in Singapore LINK.
After the CNA cameraman had completed his job, I continued observing the bats for some months before deciding to continue finding ways to discourage these night creatures from visiting my porch.
This time around I hung two series of four CDs each on the roof of the porch. My hope was that the movements of the CDs, spreading the reflections around the porch would irritate the roosting bats. But it was not to be. The bats simply hung in spots away from the reflections.
The edited video below shows the arrival of the bats on the night of 3rd October 2014 between 19:00-21: hours. The two spotlights were on all the time.
Initially few bats stayed to roost as most flew off immediately after they flew in. It took some time before more stayed and by the end of the period there were more than a dozen roosting bats.
The next night I hung three series of four CDs each. The same thing happened except that the number of bats actually roosting was less – see video below. And there were two instances where the bats collided with the roof, probably disoriented by the reflections.
You can compare the arrivals of the bats with and without CDs by viewing the control video below. Here, no CDs were hung and the two spotlights were on all the time. The bats flew in normally to roost.
Another failed attempt… unless more strings of CDs are hung or getting a strobe light LINK, but then instead of bats I may attract disco goers…
YC Wee
Singapore
October 2014
10 responses
Hello Baba YC: Them bats are driving you batty hah?
Bats got brain too, you know & they learn in their own instinctive ways.
Have you tried blaring loud jazz music yet? Make sure it is big band with plenty of horns & drums……TGIF cheers, Goblok.
Yes, noise will chase them away. But they may come back.
Jazz is neither loud nor noisy for those who enjoy it. Let’s see how the bats react to it.
As long as the bats don’t come back for more…
They may come back for more jazz & the free cold TIGER too!
Someone just suggested to me that I play Die Fledermaus! Without the cold tiger.
That is a “top-dog” suggestion! Also Beethoven’s 9th Symphony conducted by Karajan. And you should relax to the booming chorus, sipping a frosty cold TIGER
mah! Must enjoy leh! 😉
TOP DOG??? If only PIGS CAN FLY! But then birds can fly…
Enough of jesting I guess. I don’t want to incur the ire of your esteemed readers…. My “top-dog” comments may not be appreciated by all. Bye!