I built a bat house 2 years ago and had it up all last summer, from early spring on. Not a single bat. I live near a stream but Im in town and there are a lot of street lights in my area so I think that might be an issue. I took it down last fall and plan to move it somewhere more appropriate early this spring to see if it gets any action. I was hoping for a local source for guano!
I got no action on my bat boxes until I disturbed their original nesting place. I think bats are fairly loyal and require some serious motivation to look for something new.
Ive thought about capturing some and transplanting them during daylight hours into the bat house. Maybe once they find it and spend a bit of time in there, they might realize its a nice padā¦
I wouldnāt recommend capturing and relocating bats, itās probably illegal and dangerous for you and the bats.
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Iām going to give it a go this year, figured it was a good winter project. Still have a few things to do to it, but here is my basic design.
How have others faired? Wish me luck!
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I have a colony of bats that occupy the space between my metal roof and rafters in my barn. Probably between 75 and 100 of them. Im not sure if its the same colony that used to live in a crevice behing my chimney or not. They were forced out of that crevice and it was sealed up. The bats in my barn showed up shortly there after. These are little brown bats. Hit pretty hard by white nose syndrome.
I believe they migrate back to the same locations every spring.
Ive made bat houses in the past, but never put them up on my property. With that colony in the barn, i dont really have a reason to try to move them to a small box.
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We put up a bat house over a year ago. Tried to give it a Southern exposure, and the neighbors have a pond, hopefully close enough for a water supply. No signs of occupation yet.
The tree its in lost its top 2/3rds a couple years ago. Had been well over 100 feet tall.
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Thought Iād revive this subject by asking if any of you guys have had any luck getting residents in your bat boxes?
I was thinking about putting one up, but after reading here maybe my time could be used in better ways.
I have bats that fly around at night, and a few use to live in my barn. I had some cheap boxes up I bought at an auction, that they never gave look at.
I even thought about putting a small solar light out by the orchard hoping it would draw the moths up and into the open for them.
Iād love to here how things have gone.
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Seconding the interest in updates as weāve been planning on building one per all the guidelines. Hoping it will help with mosquitos.
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I put a up a bat house some years ago, with very little success.
Had some bats , but they wouldnāt stay.
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We put up a bat house years ago and never saw any evidence that it was occupied. I havenāt checked in a while.
But about a week ago I saw at least 5 bats at dusk swooping around pretty high up, maybe 20 - 40 feet presumably catching flying insects. They must live somewhere. I should check our house again.
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Iāve had no luck attracting residents. Its up so Iāll keep trying. The vines below probably donāt help.
All black and in full sun, wouldnāt that cook the bats in high heat or am i missing something?
I thought they should be put in shade? Or dapple sun?
Depends on your location. From what Iāve read grey to black is best for my spot. Bat body temperatures sit higher, up to 104F, so they like it hot. Or I should say thatās what Iāve read. Since I havenāt had any residents that may be a factor.
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I had read that bats could get COVID, so took mine down. Never got any bats, either. Nothing ever came to the
barn owl house, either. Most other bird houses get occupants.
Ironically while ive been unsuccessfully trying to lure bats my friend in town ended up with a colony behind her shutters that was very unwanted. I never asked if they moved on.
We have had a bat house up for 5+ years and no takers yet. It is quite large and can hold over a thousand bats. Cable hoist for up and down
Plenty of bats at night
Adamās Family style
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we have a big one and two small ones up high on the front, thereās no place āaway from treesā here in town. the two small ones i put up 2 years ago, no takers. the big one i only put up this year.
when i moved here we had bats in the attic now and then, and in an old shed we had to tear down. they would fly around the streetlights at night behind the garden. so they used to live here.
i have not seen a bat in maybe 4 or 5 years now though. i think they are more living near the river, nearer to wild water, and are not in town anymore. it is a shame, i love to see them and have my hopes they will return. we provide water sources and the houses are the right direction, color, etc
bats here are a species that live in two ways, either one large breeding group that want a big space with babies and female and male bats all together, or smaller groups of ābachelorā bats that are mostly males that leave that colony and roam around as they mature. those often stay a while then go to a colony to breed, so if bats come but donāt stay, you have a bachelor pad. which is ok. they need one
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I never thought about adding a bat house. we have so many in my area. Never had one get my house but one year I found one in my garage so I used an old goalie lacrosse stick I had laying around and was able to get it outside. thing was hissing and clicking at me the whole time. I love taking my kids outside in the twilight to watch them hunt. Always exciting.
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