Bat House Forum

[zululad]

I put up my bat house last summer...no bats...

And still no bats this year...should I think about moving the house?

It's on the west side of the house and gets full sun from about 2pm till dark.

Thanks

[cloudman75]

Have you seen bats flying in the area? I would not move it as it takes time to get a colony sometimes. I had a house up empty for two seasons. On the third season they used it and have continued each year since. I had bats in houses no more than 25 feet away yet it stayed empty. I have no explanation but to say please be patient and hope for the best. I would also consider installing another house with a different exposure. Listen to what others say and make your decision on the best advice. We all have different experiences.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Frank

[Markcuda]

It's on the west side of the house and gets full sun from about 2pm till dark.

I think all the information I have read says morning sun for 6/8 hours depending on your location,geographically.
I will not tell you to move it but I would put up another one with full morning sun till dawn.
But that is just me and by no means am I a expert, just have been doing tons of Internet reading about bats and their house placemant

[Markcuda]

In that picture I posted, there was a bat house in the far north east corner.
Some how it got cut off.

[Terry Lobdell]

Keep experimenting........the more bat houses you put up the better your chances will be of attracting them.....kind of like a shotgun effect........they explore the most in late summer.........that's when I get bats trying out new bat houses the most....

[cloudman75]

I have been to N.O. many times so I can tell you that you don't need a lot of sun there. It gets hot as you know in summer. The purpose of sun exposure is to provide warmth for the pups and bats. Based on my personal experience, a bat house in N.O. needs little or no sun during pup season. Even in my metro Atlanta area all my houses were too hot for the bats last summer no matter which direction they faced. There are many locations that need the heat from the sun but you can judge N.O. temps based on your personal experiences. My sister went to nursing school there for three years at Charity hospital years ago.
I found it hot and humid then and during my work conventions there on business in past years. Putting up another house with a different exposure is a good idea in my opinion. Bats are very unpredictable.


Frank

[zululad]

Thanks for the replys peeps...

Frank, I thought it would be hot enough here too...my neighbor said that he sees bats flying around all the time...so it seems they are here.

Also I'm very near a large park with bayous and lagoons...maybe 150 yards away from the bayou. I though it'd be easy to get bats under these conditions.

[cloudman75]

Sounds like an ideal location. Based on my experience with bat houses over several years I have a theory on bats. Here it is :

Bats don't just move from an existing roost unless some event happens that makes them unhappy. They could find a house or roost that suits their requirments better say for temperature, feeding, or colony numbers which in general increase every year. They appear to be looking at new roosts
all the time like shopping for something better. However if they are happy where they are it is almost impossible to get rid of them. If they are excluded then
they will be certainly looking for a new house immediately. If they get too crowded or hot or cold they will take a better house.
The point is you will have to wait until an event makes the bats want to leave their existing roost. Also freetails move around quite a bit. I could not believe I had freetails here in my bat houses as they are not that common. They just appeared all of a sudden about two seasons ago and have decided that this will be their home. Perhaps you will get some freetails that are over-crowded where they are, or little browns. Maybe someone will exclude them in N.O. and they will use your box. It make take a season or two or they may use it this year. If some have been seen they probably have already found your box. I used to put a white walmart bag at the bottom of my houses and find a few droppings when the houses were not being used. This to me was an indication that they had been investigated by bats for future use. Hang in there and be patient. Once they get started their numbers will grow rapidly.
Of course this is just my opinion, not scientific info so remember that.

Frank

[Charles Parker]

Hello,
glad to see there's someone on here from NOLA that wants bats! I own a nuisance wildlife company here in NOLA and regularly exclude bats from buildings and structures. I do not recommend folks put a bat house directly on the side of their house but hey to each his own. I have installed some bat houses and with success. I think the key is to place them in an area a bat would frequent and to get some fresh guano (and anything urine laden) and smear it below the landing board, even though its not entirely necessary.
I also sell (or should I say resell) and install bat houses for a fee but advice is always free! I haven't looked around here much as this is my first post or I would post some links to my websites and etc. but again this is my first visit and don't want to come off as a spammer.

If anyone in the area wants to know where a few bat roosts are - just to visit or check out let me know and I will point you in the right direction! We primarily have the Mexican free-tailed bats here, and I would be interested to hear of other species sighted.

[Markcuda]

I do not recommend folks put a bat house directly on the side of their house

Why not?

[Charles Parker]

Sounds like an ideal location. Based on my experience with bat houses over several years I have a theory on bats. Here it is :

Bats don't just move from an existing roost unless some event happens that makes them unhappy. They could find a house or roost that suits their requirments better say for temperature, feeding, or colony numbers which in general increase every year. They appear to be looking at new roosts
all the time like shopping for something better.

Frank,
we have large numbers of freetails here in new orleans, and the interesting thing about them is that the sexes segregate. This causes a lot of house jumping of large numbers of males - I personally believe this is when they are marking new roosts, in other words the bachelor pads mark the future maternity sites if they are decent sites. I think bats are looking for certain tempatures, stable temps. I think a bad place for a bat house is anywhere that gets sun then shade. I see colonies mostly in south-west facing brick structures. The bricks maintain temps, and do not fluctuate quickly, in other words; in the evening shade of a northern wall made of vinyl siding you will find that the surface is cool to the touch and the brick of the southern wall is still warm - in fact the bricks of an all brick home are cooler on the shady side of the house. Now, this does not mean I have not seen bats on all fours sides of a home but 4 out of 5 will be on the western wall facing the afternoon sun!
I would say also that if you were placing a bat house on a brick wall of a house it would be better suited on the corner rather than the middle of the wall unless it was at the peak. I have watched bats return in the AM at hundreds of roosts and they always fly in a circular pattern on entry. It seems if they were not able to land or changed their mind they would zigzag over the roof, if I saw an entrance along the middle of a wall it always resulted in what looked like a real pain in the behind for them, like they were struggling to get in.

[Charles Parker]

I do not recommend folks put a bat house directly on the side of their house

Why not?

Mostly for health concerns for the bats and humans, also unless you know what your doing you could endanger yourself, your neighbors, as well as the bats. A bat house hung too low to the ground could subject the bats to raccoons, opossums, and also the roosts that I have seen that were on single story houses, there was almost always dead bats under the main entrance - etc. there are numerous reasons to NOT live with them, I think people are the greatest danger to the bats. What good would you do if you mounted a bat house, attracted a few hundred bats and then your neighbor called for their removal and by law you had to comply?

I see the same thing go on with honeybees, everybody loves them until someone gets hurt then they got to go! I am also a beekeeper and had 8 hives in my backyard! When my neighbor got bees in his soffet of his roof he informed me that MY BEES were in his house and I needed to get them out.
It is easily conceivable that there are people who would throw a fit over a bat house going up next door! Like I said I don't recommend it but if someone wanted one I would help them. I would also mount it for them, they just need to understand that much like pet ownership - with a bat house comes the responsibility of stewardship.

I like nature and would have no problem mounting one on my house - except its a single story house and one I would consider too low for happy bats!

[cloudman75]

Diplomatic answer Charles.
There are other reasons as you very well know I'm sure. Being in the removal business I'll bet that you have seen and heard it all.
I subscribe to your advice about not mounting them on a dwelling as I prefer and have had great success with pole mounted houses. I don't entirely agree with your theory about bats needing sun in NO based on my own experience here in metro Atlanta. I just posted a new photo of my Little browns hanging out
due to extreme heat. I had great success with a house facing east under the eves, and one facing north on a pole. Once I had a colony under the eves, I moved them into the yard on a pole the next season. I have had freetails here for several years, but this year they left and have not returned. I have posted photos of them here even during warm spells in winter. The bats here also split into males and females, but we see very few males in or around the bat houses during pup times. You certaily know more about your bats than I do so I would advise anyone in NO to listen to you and disregard my theories.
Experience is a great teacher I think.

Frank

[Charles Parker]

Frank,
I think we are both right but for slightly diff reasons, your noticing bats hanging out due to extreme heat might have been due to extreme drought not necessarily the heat itself. Also, I only deal freetails and your dealing with little browns (which I know little of) - each species will differ in breeding, flight, etc but one thing is for sure many people tell me that they will see both browns and freetails mixed in the same colony!

Oh on a much lighter note, everytime I think I have seen it all - something totally absurd,new and entertaining occurs! Thats why I love my job!

[cloudman75]

If you look on the right of this photo,and toward the bottom right you will see some freetails in with the little browns.This was taken in July,2010

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Frank