Sorry, looky-loos - no bath house action here. I mean bats, for real.
I saw some plans for a bat house on the This Old House Pinterest feed, and now I’ve convinced myself that I need one. I need one because I hate mosquitoes (my body reacts painfully and grossly to their bites) and if I can get some free, dependable mosquito control I’d be all for it.
I was thinking about putting one on the front of my shed, which is 15’ high and south-facing like the article suggested. But then the idea of going into my shed during the day, or at dusk, or at night, and disturbing the bats sort of creeped me out. I also didn’t want to have to walk through bat poop to get in my shed.
Then I decided I could put it in the back corner of the yard, where I can’t reach with the mower anyway (it’s a fenced-in yard, I can’t get the corners with the riding mower) on a pole, facing south.
My mom’s a little creeped out at me inviting bats around but I read this FAQ on a bat house website and it seems all good to me.
We put up a bat house ten years ago. As far as I know, we haven’t had any bat guests at all. This might be due to all the dogs in the immediate neighborhood (including our own yard) or the cats that roam all over, and your yard may have better conditions.
The only concern I had was whether it was wise to attract a species that is a vector for rabies in this area. I decided that, given the really low incidence of the disease, it wasn’t something I needed to worry too much about. Now, of course, I worry even less about it.
We put a bat house at my parents’ farm 5 years ago, on an eastern-exposure wall of a workshop. Bats moved in the year after it was put up. They then proceeded to raise a very loud bunch of babies in there, (or what we assumed was babies), who chittered their little heads off in the second half of the day. The said bats have been back every ear since. No rabies so far, but no apparent reduction in bugs, either.
One side-effect was that some of the bats eventually did start using the roof-beams over the porch as a day-time resting place. So, tiny piles of bat poop.
Overall, they are cool little buggers. It’s nice to sit out on the porch in the evening and watch the bats swoop from their home to go on their nightly hunt.
We put up a bat house since we had tons of mosquitoes and had seen a few bats around. However, I don’t think we got any occupants.
It’s interesting that the bat house link in the OP doesn’t mention anything about positioning the bat house. We followed this info, which is very specific about placing the bat house so that it receives sufficient sun and is within 0.25 mile of a water source. Maybe Maryland bats are pickier than Wisconsin bats
Our yard backs up to a 160+ acre park. At our end it’s all heavily wooded, no trails, etc. We frequently have bat visitors around our pool. They are very cool and will swoop within inches of our heads, especially when we’re in the pool. Probably shouldn’t have told you that, but they are amazing acrobats and I never worry about them hitting us. I love watching them. Never put up a house for them, though. I’d say go for it, they are good neighbors. Also, with the way white-nose syndrome is taking them out, they need all the support they can get.
Sigh. Doesn’t sound promising for bats. I don’t want to buy a house and erect a pole (ha!) at a cost to me and not end up with any bats.
I saw in the recent purple martin thread that dragonflies were good for mosquitoes and I happen to have dragonflies around (there’s a sort of swampy area behind the house, and a creek down the road). Maybe I just need to work on attracting more dragonflies.
We used to have a lot of bats so I put in a bat house about 8 feet up a tree. Never been used. These days a bat sighting is rare. I hope those aren’t connected in some way.
It’s not at all unusual for bats to be roosting under eaves, in attics, and roof spaces if bat houses aren’t available.
Healthy bats - and the vast majority are healthy as nature is pretty ruthless about eliminating the weak - will leave humans alone and keep their distance.
Bat houses are like anything else you build for wild creatures - they may or may not come. They may be there one year and not the next.
We have a bat house high up in the gable under the eaves of the east side of our house. I always read east was the right direction, not south. It’s been there for at least 15 years. Sometimes there are bats sometimes not. Sometimes there are arguing bats (like a cross between angry mice and scolding birds). We never have a huge amount of mosquitos due to the climate (dry when warm, cool when wet). I love bats. However, if I had been more thoughtful I would not have positioned the bat house right above our bedroom casement window. Sort of like a mouse turd shower.
If you have a house but no bats there may be something the matter with your house or its placement – too hot or cold or high or low or something.
There is no way bats or birds can make a dent in the mosquito population, even in the immediate vicinity of your home. There are billions and billions of them. It’s cool to put up housing for them, and observe and appreciate their lives nonetheless.
