# How noisy are bats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616 "2014-12-31T14:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mithril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mithril/32/3517_2.png) [@Mithril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithril)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/1 "2014-12-31T14:21:19Z")
My cool neighbor bought my husband and me a bat house for Christmas. I am really excited about it, and have done some research about siting it. It should be 15 feet up, with a 20 foot clear radius, and should catch the early morning sunlight. The best place for it is pretty much right outside my bedroom window. But I am a terribly light sleeper, and an insomniac. The road noise on the highway two miles away wakes me up. We love the neighbor’s outside cats because they keep the songbird population down. You get it. So, am I in for trouble if I put the bat house right outside the window? The hours I need it to be quiet are about 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM. Would they be out hunting then? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/2 "2014-12-31T15:52:56Z")
bats will make some noise. their wings and feet will be moving as they crawl into the nest, they will climb the height of the house. they also do warm up exercises before flight, they go out at dusk. wood transmits sound very well. so a wooden bat house attached to the side of your house will transmit sounds into your house very well. mount it on a post not attached to your house a few inches or whatever away from the house. the bat house will still be sheltered and warmed by your house. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/3 "2014-12-31T16:23:52Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > wood transmits sound very well. so a wooden bat house attached to the side of your house will transmit sounds into your house very well. > > mount it on a post not attached to your house a few inches or whatever away from the house. the bat house will still be sheltered and warmed by your house. I think it’s pretty clear from the OP that it will be about 20 ft from the house. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/4 "2014-12-31T16:34:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think it’s pretty clear from the OP that it will be about 20 ft from the house. > [@Mithril](#): > > … It should be 15 feet up, with a 20 foot clear radius, and should catch the early morning sunlight. > > The best place for it is pretty much right outside my bedroom window. … > > So, am I in for trouble if I put the bat house right outside the window? … it think that means there is 20 feet to the front of the house for flight access. right outside the window is mentioned twice. ---
**Author:** ![Mithril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mithril/32/3517_2.png) [@Mithril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithril)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/5 "2014-12-31T16:35:17Z")
Sorry for my bad communication…actually, it won’t be 20 feet from the house. It would be mounted on the house, with twenty feet of semi-circular radius around the bat house. I read that it should be sheltered to some extent, so I thought that would do it. I am trying to think of how to sink a pole into the ground with minimal effort, considering how much went into digging out footings for a deck last September. I guess I don’t really have to set it in concrete, because if the pole heaves or falls over, I can just put it back up. But I would still need an 18-19 foot long pole. That will be hard to move in my Corolla! What would it be like if I set it near a deck? If people are enjoying the deck at nightfall, will the bats come out and scare the visitors, or hide away until the coast is clear? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/6 "2014-12-31T16:49:18Z")
two pieces of 8 foot lumber can be joined (a 1 foot piece overlapping the two long pieces butted together, one on each side, screwed or nailed) to give a 16 foot pole. this pole can be set 2 feet into the ground. bats will early in the night fly near the bat house and near your house. the bats won’t run into people or their hair. they will be distracting until they’ve gotten the nearby bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/7 "2014-12-31T16:51:21Z")
In addition to scratching sounds when entering and leaving the roost, bats may make audible chirps and squeaks, sounding like crickets or katydids. I don’t know how disturbing this might be. I don’t think they would be deterred very much when entering or leaving the roost unless someone was very close. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/8 "2014-12-31T16:58:46Z")
We have bat houses mounted on our home, shed, and barn. It’s nice to sit at dusk and watch them hunting. I remove my hearing aid when I go to bed, so the bats could be playing their stereo and it would not bother me, but my gf says she’s never been bothered by them. If species plays a role, we have little brown bats here in western PA. We are seldom bothered by mosquitoes. ---
**Author:** ![Mithril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mithril/32/3517_2.png) [@Mithril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithril)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/9 "2014-12-31T17:00:54Z")
Thanks, **Colibri**. You just talked me out of putting it anywhere near the house! One of the most angry nights of my life was because crickets were keeping me awake and I so desperately needed to sleep. I thought of one more place to put it, since the pole is now in play. It will be snuggled into a spot near a little vegetable garden. This brings up another question, though. Should I expect a big pile of guano under the bat house? I wash my veggies, but something about putting them directly in the line of poop fire turns my stomach. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/10 "2014-12-31T17:42:07Z")
Guano is an excellent fertilizer, but brand-new (fresh) guano will “burn” plants the same way fresh chicken poop will – high nitrogen levels. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/11 "2014-12-31T17:51:18Z")
I live in MN, so bats are always welcome - they eat mosquitoes, our state bird. I have never noticed them to be particularly loud. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/12 "2014-12-31T17:52:54Z")
there won’t be a big pile, just a little pile which you can spread out once a week. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/13 "2015-01-01T06:40:20Z")
> [@Mithril](#): > > What would it be like if I set it near a deck? If people are enjoying the deck at nightfall, will the bats come out and scare the visitors, or hide away until the coast is clear? That’s a good location! The bats will keep down the insect population near the deck, so better enjoyment for people using it. Just make sure that the exit hole is on the outside, away from the deck. And you might consider an angled pole, so the bat house ends up at least a couple of feet away from the deck, thus bat guano is falling outside, not onto the deck. ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-noisy-are-bats/708616/14 "2015-01-02T01:29:57Z")
If crickets keep you awake, I suggest starting a thread where people can discuss what helps them sleep. I used to sleep so lightly I would wake up when my cat walked into the room. My doctor prescribed low doses of Naltrexone, and now I sleep much more deeply. Maybe someone would have a suggestion that helps you.