Turds of Mystery

Why are mice having parties on the tile just outside our front door?  Several times a month we find several mouse-sized turds there, and, occasionally, we notice a few insect body parts as well, wings and legs.  This has been going on for some time.

The crime scene 

Recently, the pest control guy was here to do the annual termite inspection.  I told him about the mystery turds, asked him what he thought was going on.  "Bats," said he.  Bats?  Really?  Okay, yeah, that makes more sense than mice taking dumps in our entry but nowhere else that I've noticed. Besides, mice aren't known for their ability to leap into the air and catch flying insects.

I thought bats flew around at night catching bugs, snarfing them up on the wing, and when they had their fill, or got tired or dawn rolled around - whichever came first - they returned home and slept all day.  Is our entryway 'home'?  Never saw any bats hanging out (the original hanger outers) there in the daytime - nor the nighttime for that matter.  I monitored the area for several days and nights. Nada.  Nary a bat did I see.  However, evidence continued to pile up.  So to speak.

Apparently, the bats were using the entryway the same way I used to use a public park near my office.  During nice weather, I'd take by brown bag lunch outside and consume it on a park bench.  Well........, not exactly the same way: I didn't crap on the bench after lunch.

It's 2 AM.  Ding and Wom, bat siblings, have been on the fly since dusk.  Ding squeaks, "Hey Wom, I'm beat!  What say we each grab a large bug, head on over to Mike's, have a leisurely snack and hang out awhile"  Wom: "Sounds great, Ding!  I have to take a crap anyway - and it's always fun to do it at Mike's, really pisses him off.  See ya there."

Entryway ceiling with shiny ribbons hanging in corners.

Pest guy suggested hanging shiny objects from the entryway ceiling, said it was an effective bat repellent.  So, yesterday, I tacked up some shiny black and silver curly ribbons, one in each corner of the ceiling (and scraped the bat guano off of the upper stucco walls while I was on the ladder).  I'm thinking I should add another shiny hanger from the light.  We'll see.