Military Camp

+750K free-tailed bat colony at Huntsville prison unit - The Walls

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    Coiled

    Coiled

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    1. I just heard yesterday that each "cave" cost $75K to construct. I can only hope that also includes "the State" (no matter which entity) administration costs - but I doubt it.
    2. I'm not sure why enough steel to support a 10K gallon fuel tank at each cave was used. How long must these structures last?
    3. No doubt this many bats consume a large quantity of insects daily including the annoying mosquito, which is beneficial to the City.
    4. TDCJ gets sued constantly by inmates because that's their 'income'. They're called writ writers.
    5. I can only imagine what local homeowners would do if the warehouse was demo'd and bats invaded their property. Can't say I'd blame them either.

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    Coiled

    Coiled

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    When I lived in North Hill Estates, I properly installed a tree mounted bat house and never saw any inhabitants. It was definitely NOT an outbuilding. ;)
     
    Coiled

    Coiled

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    I was inside the cotton warehouse a few years ago; even with good PPE the stench was horrific! The guano is 4" deep below an open area ceiling roost and +12" above where they roost at a wall / ceiling intersection.

    Vid shows more detail (bats) if you go full screen.

     
    baboon

    baboon

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    Out here by the lake!
    Bought & hung a bat house for the wife when we first bought the house. Seen plenty of bats while walking the dog. Never attract a single bat in the over price bat house. It did last 5 year before falling apart.
     
    busykngt

    busykngt

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    Up until World War I, bat caves were essential resources, providing American soldiers with materials for gunpowder and explosives. That's because dried bat guano consists largely of saltpeter (potassium nitrate). In fact, it's been used by the United States as early as the War of 1812 for making gunpowder.
    —
    Add a little charcoal & sulfur and those inmates can blast their way outta there!
     
    Coiled

    Coiled

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    Coiled said:
    1. I just heard yesterday that each "cave" cost $75K to construct. I can only hope that also includes "the State" (no matter which entity) administration costs - but I doubt it.
    2. I'm not sure why enough steel to support a 10K gallon fuel tank at each cave was used. How long must these structures last?
    3. No doubt this many bats consume a large quantity of insects daily including the annoying mosquito, which is beneficial to the City.
    4. TDCJ gets sued constantly by inmates because that's their 'income'. They're called writ writers.
    5. I can only imagine what local homeowners would do if the warehouse was demo'd and bats invaded their property. Can't say I'd blame them either.

    View attachment 202240
    Click to expand...

    I've been told by people in the immediate area that the bats never roosted in the "caves". They were not constructed and installed by TDCJ as designed & advised by TPWD, Texas A&M and perhaps other bat experts. @$750K up the tax payer's arses.

    The northern 1/3 of "Cotton whse" (note roofing changes in pic) will be demo'd beginning early this March. Allegedly, the vast majority of the bats roost in the southern 2/3s of the structure. Despite living near by since '09, I've never witnessed the bats exodus for the nightly feeding frenzy until today. When I shined my 1,000 lumen light in the opening below the eyebrow seen, the majority stopped exiting the building and went into a clockwise pattern in the building. I did this several times and they repeated the behavior, kind of interesting.

     
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    CodyK

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    When I was working in the oilfield in South Texas, the trailer I stayed in was called the “bat-cave” because we had 1,000’s of bats living in the walls and ceiling of that thing! At dusk, all the feral cats on the property would gather right by our porch, and try to catch the bats as they exited out of a hole right by the roof. Some of those cats could jump almost 8’ straight up! It was impressive to watch. You could hear those damn bats in the walls at all hours of the day and night. Management got some quotes on removal, but were too cheap to pay. On my week off, while I was back in Houston, they got a couple employees to start removing the siding off the trailer to get rid of the bats. After one panel (guy said every square inch of the panel of corrugated aluminum was covered with bats) management realized it was not a good idea to have a bunch of oilfield trash in charge of bat abatement, and paid a company to do it!


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    Coiled

    Coiled

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    Coiled said:
    Despite living near by since '09, I've never witnessed the bats exodus for the nightly feeding frenzy until today. When I shined my 1,000 lumen light in the opening below the eyebrow seen, the majority stopped exiting the building and went into a clockwise pattern in the building.

    Click to expand...

    Working graveyard nearby now so I stopped by the cave twice last week. The 1st time was @0500 and while still dark and using the same 1,000 lumen light, I could see the bats dive in sharply from above The Walls and in through the entrance shown below. Even at speed, these are very agile critters.

    The 2nd time was @0600 so not after sunrise but the sky was certainly lit. Since they were darting about, even behind buildings, there's no sure number but I reckon at least 20 hawks were grabbing free-tails for breakfast. This was more interesting than the nightly exodus but I've never heard it discussed before, even about more popular colonies.


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