Bat House Experiences

SprigOfTheLivingDead

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Hey everyone,

So I think the topic was touched on in the Mosquito..be gone... thread, but I thought a more specific thread would be helpful on the topic of bat houses.

I have seen them up on poles and on barns but honestly never really looked into building/buying/posting a bat house until last spring and at that point I was looking at them with a side eye because one of the pieces of info I kept running into is that they're not guaranteed to house bats. They're obviously better than not having one, but it's also not a if you build it they will come situation. That being said, who on here has experience with buying and putting up bat houses, be they successful in controlling your mosquito population or not.

As I began my homework I found myself on the Bat Conservation International and realized that with my other projects going on I just didn't have the time to sink into building a bat house when purchasing one could be done for an amount of money that I could stomach. However, hanging it turns out to be the problem, which is where my specific questions for you all come in. If you hung it on a timber tell me how tall and how deep a hole you needed to dig and how successful you found it to be. If you hung it on a tree did you find that to be successful? the Bat Con site specifically calls out to not do that as they are less successful, however, that's obviously the easiest solution and keeps me from having to buy a 16' 4x4 and sink it into the ground with cement.

Anyways, to simply say it: I want to learn from your experience. Have you installed them? Have you had success with them? Was it worth the time and effort or did it not even make a dent in your skeeter population.

my location is Minnesota where our state bird is the mosquito :(
 

tortoise

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I'm in WI. I haven't bothered with a "bat house" because my hay mow IS a bat house! :eek: We are in a natural bat flyway. They do a pretty good job of keeping the bugs down. I would say we have 12 - 20 bats living in the barn. They live on the south end, I assume it's warmer there.
 

Britesea

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Not sure where they live around here, but if you're outside at dusk you can see them flying around, going after the bugs.
 

Lazy Gardener

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Same here. I usually have 2 circling the yard in the evening. However, IMO, the greatest evening bug patrol is the armies of dragon flies.
 

flowerbug

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i had one take up residence over my patio door behind a bit of wood i put up there to discourage birds from nesting. i would see it come out every evening as if flew away. as the season got cool i worried it would be unable to survive up there when i took the chunks of wood down so i had to disrupt its life. i was surprised it thought that was a good place to hang out for the winter. no insulation or not even much enclosed. was really cute and i didn't mind having them around.
 

frustratedearthmother

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DH has attempted twice to attract bats to a commercial bat house. The first one blew down in a hurricane and the second one housed nothing but wasps. However, they're hanging out somewhere because we have them in flying around in the evenings. Good luck - if you figure it out and have success - please let us know!!
 

SprigOfTheLivingDead

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i had one take up residence over my patio door behind a bit of wood i put up there to discourage birds from nesting. i would see it come out every evening as if flew away. as the season got cool i worried it would be unable to survive up there when i took the chunks of wood down so i had to disrupt its life. i was surprised it thought that was a good place to hang out for the winter. no insulation or not even much enclosed. was really cute and i didn't mind having them around.
It's frankly amazing that many creatures survive the winters up here when it's dropping past -30. I know bats can move towards caves or human structures, but it's still crazy.
 

TexasLisa

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Could this be the reason why? (love the old movies)

Dracula.gif
 
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