Bat House Forum

[LarryH]

This afternoon, I was checking the clover bed under the bat houses, and I noticed that the mound of sand that is around the post has a large colony of ants. There were a few ants working on a couple bat droppings, trying to move them towards the ant nest. I didn’t see any ant trails up the post, so it doesn’t appear that they are interested in the bat houses themselves.

Is this fairly common for ants to build a colony in the guano pile? Are ants otherwise a threat to bats? I don’t see any evidence of it yet.

[flyin-lowe]

I am not sure about the bats but I know it is common for ants to get into nest/houses of birds. If your house is on a pole it is a good idea to put some grease around the bottom of the pole which will stop the ants from crawling up and getting at pups.

[cloudman75]

Larry,
I have lots of ants here moving around the bottom of my bat houses. I have not seen them go up the poles to my bat houses. They must find the insect parts in the guano to their liking, I don't know.

Frank

[LarryH]

I have checked the pole each day, and have not seen any ants on it, so I'm going to leave as is for now. If I do see some ants on the pole, I have some Tanglefoot sticky stuff that I can put around the pole to stop them.

Larry