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Bats are found in many parts of the world including Colorado. They are usually seen only in the wild, however, since they feed on bugs and are nocturnal, they are at times found hanging on a house near a porch, or other outdoor, light.
In general bats are not only harmless to humans they are helpful in keeping insect populations down. In fact according to Charlie Green contributing author at Colorado Central Magazine,
“Bats are beneficial for humans in numerous ways — nearly all of them involve eating insects. One bat can eat 600 mosquitoes an hour…The consumption of insects by a colony of bats will amount to hundreds of pounds of largely destructive insects, about half their body weight each day.”
That’s a lot of pest control!
Large bat colonies exist in Colorado, mainly because of all the access they have to caves. To read more about bats, check out this article, Our bats go south for the winter, eat bugs in the summer.
If you are seeing droppings on or around your porch, you may have a bat visiting your house. If you start seeing small bugs in the same area, you may have bat bugs. While bats are harmless to humans, bat bugs feed on blood and will bite humans and animals. If you suspect you have bat bugs, contact this site.
