Bat House Forum

[flyin-lowe]

My friend put the two telephone poles in the ground today to hold the large bat house I built him. He said the poles were 30 foot tall and he put about 5 foot in the ground. Other then safety concerns with weight, wind etc. Is there a reason you would not put the house 20-25 foot in the air? He is going to build some braces and a pulley system across the top of the poles to lift the house. Is higher always better as far as the bats are concerned. It is in an open area of his yard were trees etc. are not an issue and the poles will be facing southeast and catching a lot of morning sun.

[Markcuda]

This one is on a 30 foot tower.
But, not more than 15 feet from the roof line.
I think 25 feet is not to high.

[Terry Lobdell]

Generally speaking higher is better......free tail bats down south need boxes mounted higher than than ours here in the north.

The little browns and big browns which use our boxes in the north will often roost lower to the ground........

I rarely ever mount a box higher than 14 feet off the ground (14 feet from the bottom to the ground).

Even with tall weeds the bats have plenty of exit flight space........

The lower a box is, the easier it is to do maintenance.......

But there should be no reason bats would not like a box mounted 20-25 feet high either........

[flyin-lowe]

Thats good info. I probably won't be around when he mounts.I told him to get the bottom at least 15 foot up but he made the comment that since he will have the pulleys he could put it all the way to the top just as easy as he can put it 15 foot up. I didn't think it would matter but again I don't want to have to move this beast, it is going to be a permanent structure. Hopefully the first location works out.