Bats are good neighbors to have around. Did you know that one little brown bat can consume as many as one thousand mosquitoes in an hour? Ecologically, bats are vitally important, but because of years of groundless human fear and persecution and disappearing habitat they are currently in alarming decline. You can help; by providing them with a bat house you will give a home and you will personally benefit from having many fewer yard and garden pests.

Bats are the primary predators of night-flying insects, and are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems. But most important, as consumers of huge numbers of pests, they rank high among mankind’s most valuable allies. A single little brown bat can catch hundreds of mosquito-sized insects in an hour, while an average sized colony of big brown bats can protect local farmers from the costly attacks of 18 million root-worms and similar farm pests each and every summer. Many insects can hear bats up to 100 feet away and will avoid those areas occupied by bats.

Many people have serious misconceptions about bats:

• Bats are not blind. Most bats can see as well as humans
• Bats are not flying mice; they are not even remotely related to rodents
• Bats are not dirty, in fact like cats, bats spend an enormous amount of time grooming their fur, keeping it soft and silky
• Bats are not ugly. Most bats have very cute faces, some even resemble deer, rabbits, and little Chihuahuas
• Bats don’t get caught in peoples’ hair
• Bats do not chew into the attic into your house
• Bats don’t ‘carry’ rabies, however, they are capable of catching the disease just like any other mammal
• Bats don’t interfere with backyard birds. Birds and bats do not compete for food or space
• Bats will not be disturbed by pets or children

So, why not help these amazing creatures by providing bats with a nice bat house at your location?

A word of warning though, not all bat houses are built correctly. Short, squat houses tend not to attract bats, while longer, wider houses generally work very well.

There are a number of websites offering excellent bat house designs for do-it-yourselfers, but if you are like me, I prefer to buy something already made that can be installed immediately, otherwise the building project is likely to get delayed by other tasks.

I have researched a lot of online retailers and without a doubt, the largest selection is offered by Amazon. They have a huge variety, plus one easy to assemble kit. Click Here for more information.

More Useful Bat Information

Mounting Your Bat House

Bat houses should be mounted on buildings or poles. Houses mounted on trees or metal siding are seldom used. Wood, brick or stone buildings with proper solar exposure are excellent choices, and houses mounted under eaves with 6-10 hours of sun exposure, depending on your region, are often successful. Single-chamber houses work best when mounted on buildings.

Mounting two bat houses back-to-back on poles (with one facing north and the other south) is ideal. Place houses 3/4-inch apart and cover both with a galvanized metal roof to protect the center roosting space from rain. All bat houses should be mounted at least 12 feet above ground, and 15 to 20 feet is better. Bat houses should not be lit by bright lights.

Should I paint my bat house?

While it is not necessary to paint a bat house, doing so can often help in regulating the temperature inside the house. Bat houses in warmer areas, such as the southern United States, may benefit from light colored paint. Cooler areas, such as the northern U. S. and Canada, may benefit from a darker color to help absorb more warmth from the sun. Do not paint inside the house, as the bats need a rough natural surface to hang from when they are roosting during the day.

Protection From Predators

Houses mounted on the sides of buildings or on metal poles provide the best protection from predators. Metal predator guards may be helpful, especially on wooden poles. Bats may find bat houses more quickly if they are located along forest or water edges where bats tend to fly. However, they should be placed at least 20 to 25 feet from the nearest tree branches, wires or other potential perches for aerial predators.

Avoiding Wasps

Wasps can be a problem before bats fully occupy a house. Use of 3/4-inch roosting spaces reduces the risk of wasps. If nests accumulate, they should be removed in late winter or early spring before either wasps or bats return. Open-bottom houses greatly reduce problems with birds, mice, squirrels or parasites, and guano does not accumulate inside.

When should I put up my bat house?

Bat houses can be installed at any time of the year, but they are more likely to be used during their first summer if installed before the bats return in spring. If you are evicting a colony of bats from a building, a box should be mounted several weeks prior to the eviction.

Attracting Bats

Bats have to find new roosts on their own and putting up a bat house is the first step toward attracting them. Bats investigate new roosting opportunities while foraging at night, and they are expert at detecting crevices, cracks, nooks and crannies that offer shelter from the elements and predators. Bat houses installed on buildings or poles are easier for bats to locate, have greater occupancy rates and are occupied two and a half times faster than those mounted on trees.

Unlike domestic animals, bats are wild and free-ranging. Bats are a protected species and are considered public domain, which means that it is illegal to own, sell, or purchase bats. Catching and relocating bats to new areas is, in any case, highly unlikely to succeed. Bats have strong homing instincts, and once released into a bat house, will attempt to return to their former home area. Consequently, placing bats in a bat house is usually futile and is not recommended. If a bat house remains unoccupied after two full years, consider repositioning of modifying the house.

I put up a bat house, but still do not have any bats. What can I do?

Attracting a colony can take some time, and many different factors are involved in the process. The first consideration is the location of the house. Is it up high enough? Is it close enough to water? Are there adequate food sources nearby? The second consideration is temperature inside the house. If the average temperature is too hot or too cold or is inconsistent, bat colonies may not stay. By limiting or increasing the amount of sunlight a house receives in order to maintain a consistent warm temperature. Other factors that affect bat house occupation include the use of pesticides nearby, human activity, and lack of vegetation.

When do bats hibernate?

In most of North America, bats hibernate from late Fall until early Spring. They often seek out caves and abandoned mines, and will migrate from their current homes (buildings, bat houses, etc.) to warmer, more secure places. Bats in warmer climates, such as the southern United States, do not hibernate. Instead, they go into a state of torpor if outside temperatures approach 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Torpor is a state of inactivity in which the bats stay in their day roosts for extended periods of time to conserve energy until temperatures begin to rise.

Put Up a Bat House Pup Catcher

Maternity colonies that occupy bat houses sometimes encounter problems during the summer months. Baby bats need very warm temperatures in order to maintain their growth rate, however, bat houses occasionally overheat during the summer months, causing both pups and mother bats to fall out. Oftentimes, these bats in a weakened state from heat exhaustion and consequently die. The added warmth of the summer, coupled with the fact that the population in a bat house will double as the young are born and growing, can result in disastrous consequences for the colony.

These bats can be helped by installing a net below the bat house that enables the bats to grab on if they are falling and allow them to climb back to the house. When temperatures are extreme, the bats may also be able to move onto the net to cool or receive for more ventilation.

Please note that grounded bats should never be rescued with bare hands.

Materials Needed:

• 24″ length of nylon window screen or plastic mesh
• Two small lengths of scrap wood
• Staple gun and staples
• Zip ties
• Screws

The pup catcher must extend at least 24 inches below the opening of the bat house in order to prevent interference with bats exiting and entering the bat house. Cut the net so that it is the same width of your bat house and at least 24″ long. Cut two sections of wood the same width as your bat house. Staple one end of the length of screen to one of wood pieces (#1).

Create a pouch in the opposite end of the net by folding up a four inch section and using the using zip ties to hold the ends in place. Staple the back of the pouch to the second wood piece (#2). See close of up pouch below.

Use screws to mount both sections of wood to the pole or other surface on which the bat house is mounted.

Note: If nylon screen is used, guano may collect in the pouch requiring it to be gently hosed or cleaned out. The plastic mesh recommended above has holes large enough to allow most guano pellets to fall through or be naturally washed out with rain. The plastic mesh is also UV resistant.
(Special thanks to Stephanie Ann for providing the above photos.)