Bat House Forum

[bchbum]

I put up my first house about 6 months ago .I had bats in it in about 3 months until the middle of july when they all left.I've had a woodpecker banging on the bathouse since I put it up but it was occupied all the time.I see a few bats around just before sunup but they are not going back in the house.Any suggestion,It's a single chamber house up 18 ft on a pole in central florida.

[Terry Lobdell]

My bats come and go all the time...........they always come back though...........when pups start flying the bats will move around more.........

Here in NWPA I have yellow bellied sapsuckers tap on my bat houses a lot especially in the spring. I'm not sure if it bothers the bats or not. It seemed like many of my little browns moved one year when that was happening.

I would not be too concerned about your bats leaving unless you don't see them for a couple months

[kerbat]

Hi Beachbum,

There are no beaches in central florida except at Disney :>)

I have had the same experience of large variations in bats especially the first year I had bats in houses. I live out west of ft pierce and have mostly brazilian free tails with a few evening bats. this is my most consistent year and longest duration of bats but still the numbers have varied from zero to over 200 without a real explanation by me.

Believe owls are most likely the cause, but no hard evidence. Have frogs that occupy 1 of the 12 chambers in the rocket house. The bats are apparently OK with the frogs. Have not experienced the woodpecker knocking experience, they just seem to do that to our house!

Good luck with your house.

Bernie Kerr 

[cloudman75]

My little browns leave for a week or so and stay gone for up to two weeks about this time every year in north Georgia. They have always come back in about 2 weeks or less so don't despair yet. I think they may swarm with other bats near their hibernation cave, but don't know just guessing. I mark a calendar every year as to events with them so I don't panic if they have done it before. It is time for them to go for two weeks, but they are still here this year.  Good luck and I hope they return for you. You might have to give the woodpecker a little talk.

[Richathome]

Very interesting about the bats leaving their house, moving into another house or as Terry said they may dissapear for a week or so then return again. Upon returning home a few days ago I only have 2 to 4 bats exiting in the evening. That is a big change from the 24 plus that were exiting the first week of July so I'll not worry about them and see if some return. I'm certain they will use the housing again next season. Thanks for the reassuring comments from you experienced bat landlords.

I place traps in my Bluebird houses this time of year to eliminate some of the young house sparrow population. This morning at 6 AM sitting out back and drinking a cup of coffee I saw a trap was tripped, I immeadiately looked to see what had entered the House and there was 2 little brown bats looking at me when I opened the front. Both looked at me a while then flew into the nearby trees. One of them flew under my bat houses but choose a large pine tree instead. The traps are now removed so the bats can use the houses if they choose. Last season I also had bats using Bluebird houses late in the season in September. I wonder if these could have been juvenile bats. The houses are only 6 foot above ground.

Kerbat you mention you have a 12 chamber rocket house. That seems like a magnum sized house. How tall is it and its outside width? Any idea of the weight of the house? I would like to put up another pole to mount additional houses on for next year and am considering a rocket house for this winters project. I looked to see if you had posted pictures but didn't see any other than Terrys neat popcorn tin idea.

[Terry Lobdell]

Rich, I also have bluebird houses but have yet to find a bat inside one. A local bat rehabber gets tons of calls this time of year. She says almost all are pups that have just learned how to fly and are inexperienced. Most likely those are pups in the bluebird houses. Are those Van Ert traps you use?

[Richathome]

Terry, yes I use Van Ert traps in my BB houses. I've been checking my BB houses early each morning and again found a small little brown bat in the bottom of a different house than the other morning. This one chose a round Gilbertson PVC style BB house. I left it undisturbed and will check this evening at dusk to make sure it gets out. I am going to change the PVC houses out and replace them with the cedar wood Gilbertson style because the PVC has to smooth of an interior surface and I'm worried the bats will have a difficult time climbing back out of the PVC box. This is the same PVC box that I discovered a bat in last fall.

I hope everyone realizes that when using nest box traps to get rid of nuisance birds--Starlings and House Sparrows--That they must be montiored quite often as not to harm our song birds by leaving them trapped to long of a time. I've removed the traps after finding two little browns in one box a couple days ago.

As you said in your post to Bat21 "A Baby Bat Story" these bats appear to be young of the year learning their way around. Your rehabber seems to be 100% correct and must get quite a few calls. I'd wager that if you checked your BB houses each morning this time of year through late fall, you just may discover some young bats making good use of them.

At present I only see 2 to 4 bats exiting my 3 and 5 crevice boxes that I raised in May and had a colony of 24 plus using it eariler.

By the way--Ive had 2 broods of Blue birds to fledge 9 young, 2 pair of chickadees fledge 5 young each and 70 Pair of Purple Martins fledge 314 young. Looks like my bats have some catching up to do. One more pole in the yard with 2 more bat houses on it is in the plan for next season.

[Terry Lobdell]

Rich, that is awesome news about your purple martins! I don't have the right kind of habitat for purple martins. I did fledge 13 bluebirds from 2 pairs. Also had 2 pairs of tree swallows fledge 7 young. I will have to check out some of my bluebird boxes to see if any bats are in them.

My hope is someday there will be as many people mounting bat houses  as there has been for bluebirds and purple martins.

The Purple Martin Association is headquartered in Erie Pa. They do a lot of their research on Andy Troyer's farm who lives about a half an hour from me. He designs and sells a lot of purple martin and bluebird housing.