No, not to get rid of them, but to welcome them. As part of our restoration on our parcel of land, I want to erect a bat box. The site is perfect as it contains a creek and lots of sun/insects. Trouble is, I've never done this before. Will a metal pole suffice or do I need a long 2x4? How deep does the hole have to be dug? A long southern exposure isn't a problem, but does the box have to be right next to the creek? I'd rather not erect it here as we're planing to restore this area and that'll disrupt the area for at least a year. Will they be happy in the middle of the prairie or are they more comfortable near trees/hedgerows? Anyone know of a good box with which they've had much success?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Oct 1 2007, 11:11 AM) [snapback]519883[/snapback]</div> There was agreat website with a how-to section. I'll try to find it for you when I get home.
I have websites and I have called Bat Conservation International (waiting for a return call). Since BCI is going to sell me stuff, I'm not sure if they'll be the best source of information. I was hoping that someone had experience with providing boxes for bats as I know that I'll otherwise be working with a lot of trial and error. If worse comes to worse, I'll have to wing it based on website instructions. So, please do post whatever you have! Thanks.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Oct 1 2007, 02:54 PM) [snapback]519967[/snapback]</div> Just tell them that you got the product you want as a gift and you're looking for the best ways to make use of it. That ought to take the sales issue out of the equation.
http://www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/ba...es/whyfail.html http://www.nwf.org/backyard/bathouse.cfm http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/...s/bat_house.asp
One of the sites I work at regularly has bats around it and they were even roosting inside a 2 inch pipe that was suporting a traffic sign. These are tiny bats with bodies about the size of a small mouse and wingspan about 5 inches. They eat insects and when we work the site at night they hunt insects attracted to our lights.
I only have noticed bats flying over our heads once a year, at dusk...its when we are doing some small fireworks in our backyard on July 4th. I wonder if that disturbs them? I am pretty sure they don't live in our house, its not that old, not sure where they come from and where they are going.
Hey! Cool, Tripod. Your link just revealed to me that Bat Conservation International is a not for profit. I was a little skeptical just swallowing their info/products whole even though I'm aware of their expertise on bats as I know how profit can sometimes skew the info one receives. Their website must mention this somewhere and I missed it. This helps a great deal. I think I'm set as I'll print out various website info on location, etc. and hear what they have to say about box type and hanging.
We bought a bat house at a nearby birdwatchers' store, and they gave us three guidelines when placing the bat house: we should place it somewhere with southern exposure, we should put it pretty high (at least 15 to 20 feet off the ground) and the bats should have a clear path into the house from below (i.e. there should be no tree limbs within ~8 feet of the bottom of the bat house and, if possible, no tree limbs at all). I'm not sure how well this has worked (the house was a gift, and we haven't checked in with them yet), but all of these things seemed reasonable to me.
I found a very informed person to help me with this project. He's performed bat box installations at numerous public parks in Wisconsin. Apparently, you can start with one or two boxes, but would have to add more as the colony grows or the pups start falling out of the overcrowded box onto the ground and they perish. The box should be situated within 1/4 mile of a permanent water source as bats skim the surface to imbibe their water (I had no idea of this. I thought that the box had to be near water so that the insects they like to eat were available). The box should not be placed anywhere near a fire pit as bats do not tolerate smoke. The box should be on a 6x6 pole to prevent sway. It should be protected from predators, namely the cat (how many more beneficial animals can these things kill? It would be really nice if people wouldn't let them roam.). The box should be situated away from main arterial roads as diesel and bats do not mix. It should be near a tree line as this is the ideal area for feeding. The trees, however, should not be anywhere near the opening or the trees will obstruct the bats when leaving/arriving from/to the box. Bats are opportunistic feeders and will eat whatever is present in the area. If you have mosquitoes, that's what they'll eat. Any negative perception of bats can be dispelled by doing a quick google search on bats. After all my research I had a worry in that the bat that comes to our backyard will swoop down at me - within a foot of me. I told him of this and the worry I had of having hundreds if not thousands of these things coming down on me and he said that the bats are not interested in me, they're interested in the insects that are attracted to me - mosquitoes. A real plus for us, considering I have to layer every time we work our land to prevent hundreds of mosquitoes from biting. This isn't too tolerable when it's 90 and the sun is beating down on us.
There were bats near my home when I lived in rural North Dakota. I seldom encountered them because the mosquitos made it impossible to spend time out of doors from dust until dawn in summer, and it was too cold to go out much at night in winter. But when I did go outside, sometimes they would swoop around me. It was a bit spooky, but they never touched me.
I love bats. They eat something like their weight in mosquitoes daily (I could be a little off, but I don't care) We have a bat house mounted on the side of our house, facing almost due south, about 9 foot high, and painted black (non-toxic paint) to make it warmer inside. I haven't seen bats yet, but we are hoping! We read that it can take a year or two for bats to decide to move in.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Oct 3 2007, 02:39 PM) [snapback]520778[/snapback]</div> 9 feet isn't high enough. Can you move it higher? This guy told me 12 feet height is minimum or the house won't be of much use to them. From what I understand, bats don't fly out of the house, they fall out and need the height for flight momentum. I love 'em too. Too bad they get such a bad rap.
