If you are seeking wildlife control in Ajax, you want to pick someone who knows their stuff about the species they deal with. In this post, we will take you on a journey through the eating and drinking habits of bats. You will learn how bats help the environment with their dietary habits, and when their presence can become a problem.

The answer to the question “What do bats eat?” depends on what type of bat we are looking at. The many different types of bats located throughout the world have evolved diets and feeding methods which are specialized for their particular ecosystems.

What do Bats Eat?

In South and Central America, as well as in Mexico, there are massive Spectral Bats that eat birds, rodents, and other bats. With a wingspan coming in at over 3 feet, they are the largest of carnivorous bats.

In this same region of the world lives another much smaller kind of bat that only feeds on blood, the famously-named Vampire Bat. This bat tends to feed on sleeping animals such as horses and cows, though it can also feed on humans. A Vampire bat secretes a numbing anticoagulant in its saliva so that its prey does not even notice as it takes approximately one tablespoon of blood.

In Asia and other tropical islands, you will find the largest kinds of bats, known as Fruit Bats or Flying Foxes. These bats will eat figs, mangoes, bananas, nectar, pollen, flowers, and other fruits.

You won’t need to be calling wildlife control in Ajax for any of the above kinds of bats, which do not live anywhere near Ajax. So what exactly is the bat diet for these winged creatures that live specifically in Ajax?

Little Brown Bat 

The kind of bat that is most likely infesting your home in Ajax is the little brown bat . These bats are insectivorous which means they eat insects that also fly through the night sky. A little brown bat’s diet may consist of mosquitos, flies, midges,  bees, grasshoppers, and dragonflies. By consuming so many insects, bats like these help to control the local insect population, making it less likely for you to have to call wildlife control in Ajax.

What About Water?

While a lot of a bat’s water comes from the insects that it eats, bats do need to drink directly from a clean water source regularly to stay hydrated. Bats feed and find water with a special type of navigation system known as echolocation. When a bat finds a water source with echolocation, it will swoop down to touch the water’s surface and collect water that sticks to its body, or just take a gulp as it flies past the water. This is because bats cannot land on water.

Why Not to Feed Bats

The main reason people should avoid feeding or contacting bats at all is that they are one of the main animals that harbour zoonoses, which are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Aside from that, a bat that is coming to humans regularly for its food source is not performing its role of controlling insect populations and helping to pollinate flowers and forests. Bats spread seeds of fruit-bearing plants, pollinate flowers, and save us billions of dollars on pest control.

When to Hire Wildlife Control in Ajax

As much as bats help the environment, they do not belong in your home. However, it is also important for them to be removed humanely and safely so as to reduce danger to yourself and the bats. Anytime that you have a problem with wildlife that has moved into your Ajax home, give the team at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control a call.