Good luck, hope you get rid of them

Me too.
I think you're right, that something has changed, because it NEVER used to be this bad. Surely others are in the same boat.

Maybe it's because there are so many bats dying lately. A lot of them are getting some sort of fungus.

Really? Poor bats :(

I knowww. It's so sad. I hope that they manage to find a cure soon. I love bats. They're my favorite animal.

I didn't know that about the bats!
I do know that when we were visiting one of my cousins on a kibbutze in Israel he was talking about how every time the dates are ready to harvest they know at once because HUGE flocks of bats show up from all over, try and grab the dates to fly off with them, find the dates too heavy, and there's a ring of half-eaten dates that end up all around the perimeter of the orchards. They've got a couple of bat-experts who stay with them to study it and find a way to discourage them without actually harming them... so far no luck.

I follow a bat sanctuary page on Facebook so I get a lot of updates on that kind of thing.

Huh. That is an upsetting problem. The only thing I can think of is maybe enclosing the crops in a net kind of thing? But I imagine that would be a lot of upkeep. And then you wouldn't have the bats pollinating either.

Do bats get caught in nets? And what if they fly all that way to the dates, can't reach the dates, and don't have the energy to fly back? It's not a lush land. There's no other fuel/food for them nearby...

Anyhow, bat sanctuary sounds neat! Like an area reserved for bat habitat or a foundation for taking in and healing injured bats, or... ?

Well I was thinking some really tiny netting. Like a butterfly net, maybe.

And they could leave a few uncovered. Idk. I'm just throwing out ideas. I don't know much about this subject. lol.

They take in injured bats. And sloths too! So cute.

Oooh, sloths too? That's a pretty unique combination!