Bat House Forum

[kerbat]

 

Hi Folks,

My rocket peaked in the 180's several days last week, but has been running pretty steady 140's for last 4 nights.

It has a resident sticky foot frog population which I have had a problem eliminating. Do not know what the bats think of the frogs but I want the frogs to find another roosting place. I had a predator collar up about head high so I greased the botton with black bearing grease thinking they would not be able to climb around it, but their population continued to climb. Moved it up to 9+ feet thinking they were possibly jumping by it and sealed the tiny gaps between the collar and the post. They continued to multiply. Last night topped all the palmettos on the possibility that they might be launching from the top of the palmettos. There are well over a dozen sleeping there during the day. They pretty much confine themselves to one chamber, the outside North quadrant chamber. Bats are using the other two chambers on the north side. Do not know if the bats are effected by the frogs which are as large as 3 inches in length.

The frogs jump from the bat house to ground after the bats egress (about 14 feet). Still a mystery how they get back up there. Maybe they have WINGS :>)

Anyone else have or heard of this situation?

Have mounted my shingle chamber house onto a post closer to house in an area that I would like to put another utility pole with cross bars to test different house designs. The house is now a flat white which runs much less peak temps. Do not have a good survey of it's temps since keeps clouding up every day.

Bernie

[IowaNate]

 Bernie, I have observed bats and treefrogs roostiong in a bat house together. Granted they were not in close contact with each other but both frogs and bats did occupy the same chamber of the bat house at the same time. They didn't seem to bother each other in any way. Treefrogs are amazing climbers and can jump several feet in one leap so many exclusion efforts might be in vain.

  I think the frogs are telling you that there is a lack of natural roosts for them as well as the bats, so why not try to accomodate another terrific nocturnal insect eater?

  Perhaps try mounting a "treefrog house" on the pole 6 to 8 feet up. Could be as simple as a small two chamber bat house (12" wide and 18" tall) to entice the frogs to roost lower and in their own special house. Just be sure to use untreated wood (not even plywood) since amphibians can be severely affected by any chemical with their thin skin.

   I look forward to seeing how you deal with your unexpected guests, but just remember that frogs eat many pest insects as well!

         Can't wait to read your next post!

                                                                       Nate

                                                                   

                  

 

[Terry Lobdell]

I'm wondering if the tree frogs would eat bat bugs? Might be a good combination with the both of them roosting together!

[kerbat]

Nate, how did then nature center bats fair through the flooding?

I have considered building a small box below the rocket for the frogs but maybe I will leave them alone if their population does not keep increasing.

Still a mystery how they are getting by the predator shield at 9.5 high. Told the wife I was going to have to camp out there one night to see how they do it :>)

She already thinks I am crazy with the bat thing!

Bernie

[kerbat]

Am happy to report ZERO frogs tonight and a record number of bats. Best estimate is 224 but it could easily be 10 either way since they were pouring out big nubers at a time.

It bothered me that so many crashed into the predator guard. It is now 9.5 feet up since I raised it to deter frogs. It protrudes about 10 inches out from pole. Am thinking to change it tomorrow to a wrap around. The only thing is the ones that hit it have no difficulty in regaining flight before ground or palmettos. When there are so many, they seem to get tangled with each other. What say you experts, should I change or leave it alone?

Bernie

[IowaNate]

  I'd lower it to six feet if the frogs have vacated the house. Make entry and exit as easy as possible for your bats. Congratulations on the high number of bats!

  As for the Nature Center, tommorrow will be the first day I can get out there. The flooding has receded enough and I worked over 50 hours in 4 days (20 hours in one day!) doing repair work at a hospital and a yeast plant here in Cedar Rapids so my time has been limited. I am sure the bats did fine although I expect at least a foot or two of water was on the poles. I also need to get out there and see if the center needs some volunteer work cleaning up the mess.

                  Nate

[Terry Lobdell]

Nate, I hope all is well at the Nature Center for you..........Bernie, what diameter is your pole? I know a big time blue birder and he swears by stove pipe baffles..........no more than 2 feet in length.........He says 6" diameter is just as good as 8" but it must wobble at the bottom. That is an impressive number of bats for all the longer you've had it up!

[kerbat]

Terry, my house pole is about 12"+ at the predator protector, larger as you go down. It is a salvaged utility pole that the local electric company gave me. Tried to hurricane resistant the house pole and design. Would hate to get all the bats thinking they had a safe spot only to come tumbliing down in a light hurricane. Would use aluminum flashing material to wrap the pole if decide best to go that way.

Can not believe the pandemonium (sp) around the rocket about 30 minutes before sunrise when they are returning. One quadrant will hold the majority of bats one night and another the next night. If I were building it today, it would have crawl ways between the quadrants. But it reminds you of Hitchcocks bird movie when they are all making approaches from different directions.

Nate , thanks for the offer to post the pics. Will send them to layla since he offered first and we have exchanged emails.

Am considering moving my small box to a more open space since it has not attracted any of the bats in a week and there are obviously lots of them in the area.

Bernie

 

[kerbat]

FROGS are back and bat population is down by 90 bats. Do not know if frogs are why the bats were lower or it is just my wild swings in bat occupancy.

Probaly going to tried a wrap excluder higher on the pole today.

Bernie