Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Got the bat house from lastest issue ordered.

Ordered the bat house featured in latest issue. It says it will hold 300 bats. Hopefully they will fill it up and knock out some of these skeeters. Anybody else tried one of those? I read a single bat can eat a 1000 Mosquitos a night.

Do you have purple martins already? They eat a lot of bugs, too, and it's fun to watch them come back year after year.

Not yet. But that's next.

Good Job!! dont know if I could handle that?? time will tell, but I just cant handle bats even though I know they do good things.

Let us know how your population establishes?

I will be interested to know if you get bats. I have had a bat house up for a dozen years and never had one. A friend built a huge bat house about 4 foot square and never got a bat. I did put up 12 houses for blue birds and got Tree Swallows that eat bugs and are fun to watch, but they leave around the middle of June. I do get Barn Swallows that visit my pond and eat bugs. I had a Martin house up for 5 years and never got any to stay. I had some for three days but they left. I had Wood Ducks and their ducklings last year so I put up a duck house and got nothing this year. I haven't had any mosquitoes but that's probably due to the dry weather, and the fact that I have let my pond grow up with cattails and spatterdock and from that I have frogs crawling all over each other and minnows everywhere.

I've read that both bats and martins are voracious bug eaters but don't really do much damage to the skeeter population...can't find the article now. With that said I have both bats and martins here...no idea how much they diminish the bug population but I figure any reduction is better than nothing.

I have a few bats circling in the evenings but with all the caves in Missouri I'm instrested if they will stay too.

Here is an article from mother earth news.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/Control-Insects-Bat-Habitat.aspx

Correct on the PM's....not sure on the bats.

John, I've also had a bat house for years with no inhabitants.

I'll try. If not I will have a new lawn orderment.

I have a bat house that took 7 years before I saw a bat move in and now it's packed to the gills with bats. I can tell you they do eat mosquitoes! My rural neighbor doesn't have a bat house and you get chewed alive when you go over there after sunset.

I made the mistake of mounting my bat house on the eave of a garage type building over the double door. The bat poop falls straight down and makes a mess. My solution: I bought a mesh tray that's made for organizing silverware and mounted two snall 90 degree brackets about 18" beneath the bat house on the eave. The mesh tray sits on the brackets and collects the poop, it's held in place from the wind with 2 nails placed through the mesh bottom into a hole on the bracket. The mesh allows rain to pass through and keeps the guano dry. Bat babies often fall out of the house and the tray catches them and allows them to crawl back into their house. The mesh tray can be emptied on your flower beds and the guano is some of the best fertilizer you can get!

If you ever find a bat on the ground (it happens), grab a stick and put it by the bat's feet so he can grab hold of it, raise the bat up, the bat will hang upside down. Now transfer the bat in the same manner (feet to branch) to a small tree branch that's higher up. Bats can't take off from the ground, they need to fall down from a higher place.

The bats are fun to watch at sunset, they fall out of their house and get busy. We show visitors the bats during the day by shining a flashlight into their house. They make noises during the day sometimes too (squabbling in their house). They aren't for everybody and they have their downfalls but overall I think it's worth it to have less mosquitoes.

Excellent report, Loretta. Thanks.
During that waiting period for tenants, did you have any issues with wasps trying to build nests, or similar? Also, now that you do have no vacancy, do you see any probs with critters trying to get a bat snack?...or, are the slat openings too small for access?

I got my house yesterday and mounted it on 16 foot 4x4. I'll get some pics up soon. Waiting for concrete to cure right now. I mounted it facing southeast overlooking pond as instructions said. I put a two foot 4x4 sleeve in ground so I can take it down if needed.

Is there a preferred place to mount a bat box?

The directions said at least twelve foot high, clear of trees within 20 feet, and facing southeast.

I've never had any problem with wasps or other insects trying to occupy the bat house, even when it was empty but maybe it's because it's made out of cedar. I do get plenty of mud-daubers on the ceiling of my porches! I'm going to paint the porch ceilings blue like the sky, I'm told it discourages wasps and other insects.

No critters have tried snacking on the bats, I don't think anything could get up there and there is only one opening, no slats, it's basically just a box. The box has a peaked roof and a bat symbol (think batman) wood burned (stamped) on the eave. On the inside of the box the back wood is scored with a saw to help them hold on. Very easy to make but I bought mine.

Here are some old pictures taken with a cell phone.







If you've seen bats flying around at night be patient, they will find the house and occupy it. When I first put my bat house up I never noticed any bats at all and I live in the country. Now it's easy to spot a bat on any night.

Great pictures, Loretta. One question - considering gravity etc, shouldn't they be facing the other way because of the pooping etc?

LOL, you would think so but they always hang upside down! Maybe they shift positions at the appropriate time, IDK. I've always wondered about that too.

I got the same brand bat house you have that is endorsed by bat conservation organization. Mine is a little bigger in it will hold 300 bats. They claim these bat houses have 80% better chance of attracting bats. Here is a link to it on Amazon and yes they are Made in USA.
http://www.amazon.com/Looker-Products-Ap...words=bat+house

The addition of a nylon mesh on the landing pad is a good idea. I think the adult bats do fine without it but it helps the babies stay in the box. Over the years a few babies have fallen out of mine then I attached some nylon netting to the landing pad with a stapler. I extended the mesh down and folded up the bottom and stapled along the sides making a pouch, this worked great and also caught the poop. (Remember I mounted mine over a door on a old building) I replaced it yearly and then went to my mesh tray which worked better for me because I could empty it. I had a baby fall into the tray this summer and it managed to crawl back into the house. The old wood that my house is mounted on is course enough for the babies to do this but the scored wood inside the box might not be sufficient for them to hang on when there's so many bats in there.

I'm sure your gonna enjoy your bat house once the bats start occupying it, it looks like a good one!

I have two bat houses around my pond. I purchased at http://www.flybynightinc.org/ They have eaten so many skeeters. One house has at least 1K of bats. Hard to count.

Dang that's a lot of bats.

Got my bat house up just now. Had the genius idea to mount my weather station on top. Should get more accurate readings now. Threw in a shot of pond. It's about 6 foot right now. I can't wait till this drought is over. I wannna see full pool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFyFCUX4...mp;feature=plcp