Bat House Forum

[Bam_Bam_of_Atlanta]

I have two places to mount a bat house.

1.  It can face SouthEast as recommended, but it will be in the shade.

or

2. It can face WestSouthWest (about 250 degrees) and get afternoon sun.

This will be in Atlanta Georgia.

If I have to compromise optimum placement/construction, which is the lesser of two evils?

BTW, our neighborhood already has 2 bat houses up. Sadly, they are both small single chamber and mounted to trees.  We have a major mosquito problem.

 

Thanks

Dana

 

[Terry Lobdell]

I would go with the location with the most sun. But I live in Pennsylvania and don't have Mexican Freetails up here. Even better, would be to mount 2 bathouses, one in each location.

[LarryH]

I lived in NE Atlanta for 7 years, and one thing I remember best about my stay in Paradise was how incredibly hot it got there in the afternoon/evenings of the summer months.  I didn't have bat houses when I was there -- I didn't discover the pleasure of them until years later -- but, I would be concerned about the SW-facing site getting way too hot in the afternoon. 

I have two bat houses mounted on a pole in the middle of our pasture, and last summer the bats left the houses during the heat of August, and stayed somewhere else.  They came back to the houses in September, and stayed there until they left for the winter.  So, I wonder if the SW-facing houses wouldn't be too hot for them.   I'm sure Joe will join in on this discussion with more scientific knowledge than I have, though.

[Joe Spencer]

I think both of the latter replies have merit!  Dana will this be a building/home mounting or a post/pole mounting?  The reason I'm asking is temperature extremes are buffered by buildings.

Joe..

[Bam_Bam_of_Atlanta]

It will mount on the second floor of my home.

[Joe Spencer]

Dana is it on the Gable end of the home or on a soffit side of the house?  I would try it on either side and switch it if you have no luck after 1 full season on the first side ie South east (shade).  Could you push it all the way up to the soffit vent if applicable?  Bats love soffit areas and will move up and down rafters to find the right temperature.  The soffit can transfer heat if a flat-roofed bat house is in contact with it even if the bat house itself is in the shade.  See below: