Bat House Forum

[Brian]

So I bought a bat house to put from Gardens Alive

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2284&ss=bat%20house

and then have read that the house should be at least 20" inside. This is 11" at its tallest measurement. Did I waste my money or is there a chance some bat may actually move in?

If it is hopeful. I have some questions:
1. It is black on top only. Should I paint it all black? I live in CT and it will go on a south facing wall because the east facing wall faces my neighbor who thinks leaving his garage spotlight on all night is necessary for some reason.
2. It is already May but it has been a cold start to the Spring season...is it too late to mount it?
We have had bats flying around most every year since we moved here so I know they live somewhere. Why will any move into this house if they already have a place to hang out?

Thank you for your help.
Brian

[Emersombiguns]

Hi Brian ,
This is Randy In Haughton, La ....I think the house is probably way too small for any serious population . If you put it up on a pole up at least 17', in the right place may get a few.. I think you need to get one around 20" or more wide, and 24" tall. My first house is doing well. It has 5 "chambers". I built mine from 3/8" plywood sheet from Home Depot. They pretty much can cut a 4' by 8' sheet down the middle. Then you can make some more cuts of those 2 at the 2' mark. I would make one longer say 30" for the back mounting sheet, and it will have a 6" landing strip...
Take some spacer strips on top and outside to keep about 1/2" distance between boards and some liquid nails to help seal it on the edges. Bunch of dry wall screws and cordless drill and you can build it. Rough up the boards with a rasp or saw so they can grab on inside. DON"T paint the inside with anything. I would paint the outside with brown to black paint. Oh yes, My inner sheet boards have 2.5" inch circular holes cut in random places so they can "move" between chambers without having to go outside the house, and back up.
Mine has worked well. I had 182 or so come out tonight...You can see my house on You Tube-Bats in Haughton,La #3..
Terry or Cloudman on here can help also. They both have many houses, and years of experience...Oh, Yes, it took few years before they found my house. So put a good one up and leave it...Randy Haughton,La

[flyin-lowe]

I am a total newbie so this may be wrong but I don't think the light will bother them. Buy the time his light gets bright enough the bats should be out for the evening. I think as long as there was not some type of light during the day that would reflect up into the house you should be ok. Again some of you old pros can chime in, I was just thinking out loud. To me if you are going to take the time to try to attract bats you might as well do it right from the beginning. I would get or build a little larger house if I were you.

[cloudman75]

Hello Brian,
I found a formula on the internet once to calculate bat house capacity was 3 cubic inches per bat in the chambers. I personally thought it was a little too
liberal so I use 4 cubic inches per bat for a maternity colony.
Your house inside the chambers looks as if it could be 10.5 inches high x 6.5 inches wide x .75 inch wide chamber =51.19 cubic inches per chamber.
You have 3 chambers or 153.57 cubic inches total chamber space. Divide that by 4 cubic inches per bat and you have room for about 38 bats.
While your house is on the small side and was not a good value for the money in my opinion, all is not lost and you will most likely get some bats.
I would also paint the house a dark color in CT. If you decide to keep it and not opt for a larger house. I would certainly put up a larger 3 chamber at my first opportunity in order to get a maternity colony. Bats, I believe will move to get better housing or temperatures more suitable for pups or themselves. I have found that they do investigate new houses in summer and some do move at times. I am in the Atlanta GA. metro area, but I have a good friend in West Suffied CT up near Hartford so I am somewhat familiar with your weather. Also I worked on a construction project for a few months in Stamford.
Good luck and welcome.


Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Brian, As long as the crevices are approx. 3/4" thick I would say paint it all black or dark brown and put it up......

Another thing good about it is it has 3 crevices.......on cool nights the bats will all pack into the middle crevice as the outer crevices serve to insulate the middle one........

Generally speaking, bigger is better......but in good bat habitat they will roost in almost anything........

Here is a link to pictures of some smaller bat houses I have mounted that are about the same size as yours.........These boxes were heavily used by pups last summer.........All together I about 50 bats roosting through out the boxes on this T-post........I think the most I had in a single box was about 12.......
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