Bats in the Baffles

[fugazi42]

I was busy working at the computer last night when I noticed something very strange. Two of our cats were sitting in front of our insert, just staring at it. No fire going, just sitting side by side staring. When cats team up like that it's usually not a good sign. I opened the doors and didn't see anything. I chased the cats off and got back to work. Not a minute later they were back, closer this time, ears pricked. I listened carefully and heard a faint scratching sound coming from inside the insert. A small brown bat was crawling around inside up in the baffles. I have no idea how or why he got in there, but I had to get him out. I turned down the lights, suited up in my bat-hunting-wife-afraid-of-me-getting-rabies outfit, and waited. And waited. Finally, he came down to where I could grab him. A short trot to the door and he flew off into the night.

Granted, I'd rather have bats than water in my insert. Anyone else have bats in their stoves/inserts?

Josh

 

[Henz]

my parents had their oil furnace cleaned the other day. the guy who did it said that he found 6 bats down inside it

 

[ScottF]

I am glad to see that you really did have bats in your baffles and not in your belfry

 

[fossil]

...I have no idea how or why he got in there...

Josh, you had an opportunity to interrogate the intruder, but you released him/her immediately after apprehension, so now you'll likely never know the bat's motive or M.O., unless the bat returns to the scene of the crime. Rick

 

[billb3]

He should have checked here first for a bat whisperer ?



At least you tossed it back outside where it belongs, eating bugs at dusk and dawn.
North of you the bats are dying. They're calling it white nose syndrome.
You didn't have to wipe it's nose did you ?
I've had two flying around my yard all Summer, so there some around here.

 

[Hogwildz]

The exact reason I have a screened cap.

 

[fossil]

Lots of places, screened caps are required as spark arrestors. Lots of other places there just a good idea. Rick

 

[VTrider]

I don't keep a screen on my cap because of creosote issues, therefore I find about 2 to 3 dead bats 'inside' of my wood stove every Fall when I do my annual sweeping. This year I had over 2 dozen bats decide to nest inside my stove (climbed down over 25' into stove), I've decided to cap/seal my chimney now after last burn of the season until I start again the following season. Stove smelled so bad I had to wear a respirator just to clean it out and concerns for histoplasmosis.

 

[fugazi42]

Good idea- I'll ask my sweep about installing a cap screen when he comes out in a few weeks. I don't want to find myself in VTrider's situation!

Thanks!
Josh

 

[VTrider]

Yeah, a cap is generally always a good idea. You don't want to open your wood stove door in the middle of Summer and *boom* instant horror film like a scene out of Harry Potter, ugh! I can't stand bats either. Amazing thing is that if I don't have the air intake wheels closed all the way (on front of stove door) the bats will manage to squeeze their way through and into my house - the opening is smaller than the diameter of a quarter!

 

[Hogwildz]

All bats need is a 1/4" and they are in.

 

[coreystaf]

My craziest find was a very small OWL inside a whitfield combustion blower housing. I find regular birds alot, but it was definately an OWL. Crazy

 

[DiscoInferno]

No bats, but a bird kept on flying in in the spring. First time the wife captured him (or her) and released outside. A day later he was back, but then seemed to find his way back out. After a couple of visits, nothing. A week later I went to clean the chimney, phew. Stinky fly-covered dead bird on the baffle. Nothing since.

 

[N/A N/A]

I don't keep a screen on my cap because of creosote issues, therefore I find about 2 to 3 dead bats 'inside' of my wood stove every Fall when I do my annual sweeping. This year I had over 2 dozen bats decide to nest inside my stove (climbed down over 25' into stove), I've decided to cap/seal my chimney now after last burn of the season until I start again the following season. Stove smelled so bad I had to wear a respirator just to clean it out and concerns for histoplasmosis.

Its a prefect home for them. The bats are welcome in my stove anytime out of burning season. Just as long as they continue to eat my bugs. Just build a fire, The problem would cure its self at that point. Better than bringing all that vermon in your home. IMO

 

[N/A N/A]

suited up in my bat-hunting-wife-afraid-of-me-getting-rabies outfit,

Josh

That is some really funny stuff right there

 

[jebatty]

For years, in late summer with cool nights, we would get bats in the house. Tried without success to find out how they were getting in. Then, I fell asleep on the sofa one night this summer, woke up to scratching sounds coming from the wood stove, and the brain-spasm moved -- they were coming down the chimney, threading through the top burn baffle, finding their way into the air channel, and coming out the bottom of the stove where air is taken in for combustion. I then put a plastic bag over the chimney cap, and the bat problem was solved.

Maybe for next year I will replace the chimney cap with a screened one, or put my own mesh screen on the existing cap.

 

[Vic99]

The year before I added the stove, I had tree swallows nesting at the top of the chimney somehow. When I would light my first fire (back when it was just a fireplace) they would always be gone. Always checked to see and never saw any of them leaving due to smoke.

 

[BJ64]

I was busy working at the computer last night when I noticed something very strange. Two of our cats were sitting in front of our insert, just staring at it. No fire going, just sitting side by side staring. When cats team up like that it's usually not a good sign. I opened the doors and didn't see anything. I chased the cats off and got back to work. Not a minute later they were back, closer this time, ears pricked. I listened carefully and heard a faint scratching sound coming from inside the insert. A small brown bat was crawling around inside up in the baffles. I have no idea how or why he got in there, but I had to get him out. I turned down the lights, suited up in my bat-hunting-wife-afraid-of-me-getting-rabies outfit, and waited. And waited. Finally, he came down to where I could grab him. A short trot to the door and he flew off into the night.

Granted, I'd rather have bats than water in my insert. Anyone else have bats in their stoves/inserts?

Josh

Just think if you had discovered them after lighting the stove. That would be a bat out of hell if there was one.

 

[fossil]

I like bats, but I wouldn't want them to take up residence in my stove or anywhere else in my house. We had bats living in a couple of places where roof gable ends met a porch roof. They really make a mess of things when they rid themselves of all the waste from all the insects they consume. I like it better when they go off into the woods or wherever and make their homes someplace else. Rick

 

[DiscoInferno]

Growing up we had a double masonry fireplace/chimney, and a family of raccoons lived off-and-on for a few years in one side. Luckily for all concerned it was the side we didn't use.