Batman at the Market

Batman Lives! And he can be found right here in The Greater Moncton Area complete with a cool batmobile. Reg Beal is a bat afficionado, environmentalist and entrepreneur who has been able to combine all these attributes to carve out a niche for himself extolling the virtues of cultivating bat colonies to area dwellers by elevating the profile of the little brown bat as a natural and effective way to control the mosquito population which can plague outdoor fun, especially in these lovely summer months. With bats eating up to half their body weight in mosquitoes nightly, bat colonies are the most environmentally friendly way to address the mosquito problem. Look for Reg Beal’s kiosk at the Moncton Farmers Market Co-op location on John Street where his useful bat houses can be purchased. They come in various sizes housing anywhere from 70 to 200 bats each. Made entirely from eastern Cedar, exterior select plywood, spiral galvanized nails and top quality caulking and stain, they offer draft-proof shelter from the weather for bats and will give many years of use. As Reg says, "Regarding the bat houses and plans that have been showing up lately in newspapers and periodicals in New Brunswick. Most of these houses are for use in the mid to southern USA. If these houses are not built for this region, and not installed right, it gives all bat houses a bad name. Anybody can build a bat house but if you don’t know anything about bats, then you are just wasting good wood and time. Some of these houses are lined with netting or wire mesh. That’s a death trap for the young, with them having their legs and wings becoming entangled in the mesh - rough wood only, please. Put mesh on the landing strip only."

Reg continues, "The Internet is full of bat house plans for different regions of the U.S. and pumps out more misinformation than the Pentagon. Bats are like birds when it comes to their housing, they are fussy and know what they want. You have to know what type of house and what type of bat you are providing the house for, to attract them in the region you live in, not all our bats live in houses.

As you travel north, the houses for the 'MyotisLucifus Little Brown Bat,' that are most common in this area, are longer and totally draft proof with no ventilation strip on the front - an attic system for the bats and their pups to move around in and to help maintain an approximate 30-degree temperature (larger is better). Male bats are solitary, living alone or in a very small group of six or eight.

In an article in the Moncton Times and Transcript on April 08, 2004, Graham Forbes of UNB says bat houses work to varying degrees of success - he is exactly right. The house has to be big enough, draft proof, stained dark so as to be able to stay warm enough by getting enough sunlight, high enough, facing the right direction, minimal or no interference from humans or predators and have at least a twenty-foot fly in zone free from tree branches, on a free standing post or side of building. We have eight kinds of bats in the Maritimes some of which live in holes in trees or under bark but not the female insect eating, Little Brown Bat - she wouldn’t even fly through branches.

Rabies is very rare in these bats but they can come in contact with the virus. The only three bats that have a track record of having rabies in the east are the Big Brown Bat, the Eastern Pipistrelle and the Silver-haired Bat (the last two being rare in this area).'

Throughout history, the bat has been a much-maligned creature, myths of "vampire" activity and of witchcraft surrounding this harmless nocturnal mammal, which, in reality, is a vital part of the ecosystem in which we live as a natural predator to insects which can cause us more harm than the gentle bat. Reg Beal praises the merits of this creature as a control for the ever-increasing hordes of mosquitoes to our region which can carry harmful diseases such as the much feared West Nile Virus.

Reg Beal’s market location also carries beautiful butterfly houses completes with literature on growing the kinds of flowering plants which attract these graceful and beautiful creatures to our gardens. Invest in a butterfly houses and get a free butterfly net with each purchase. The summer is the perfect time to enhance our outdoor surroundings with a butterfly house, and the early fall months is the best time to set up a bat colony. Visit the market on Saturdays, contact Eastern Canadian Bat Colonies at (506) 386-4432, or email bats_reg@rogers.com for orders or inquiries and join the crusade to champion bat colonies in the fight against the pesky mosquito!