Bat House Forum

[keigel]

I have been planning a bat house installation at my farm in MD and was wondering if anyone has constructed underground chambers for wintering bats. I would love to keep them close by all year, and figured if I provided good hibernation, they would be more prone to staying around. Basically i would be digging a 2'Wx6'Dx10'L trench, placing a rack of boards into it, covering it and restricting the entrance for warmth. Any thoughts would be great.
I worked at a WV national park where we had about 10,000 little browns take up for a summer in a building. It was amazing to be able to walk through a nursery. I would like to provide that in MD for our little friends. I started bee keeping this summer, and had the idea i could maybe keep bats in a different way, plus my crops would love their 'black honey'.
this is a great site. Lots of new ideas for houses. thank you
steve

[Joe Spencer]

Welcome Steve! Steve below is a link to the Bamberger Ranch artificial hibernacula. It can be done however it is a little trickier for little brown and myotis bats. Little brown bats require hibernacula with very high humidity otherwise they will dehydrate. Ironically WNS=white nose syndrom which is devastating this species is primarily found and afflicts bats which overwinter in these caves and mines with high humidity. Big Brown bats prefer cave entrances and areas of slighlty lower humidity and this is why they are able to tolerate and hibernate in drier areas such as peoples homes and buildings. We did have one member here who experimented with artifically heating his bat to hibernacula temps and he was successful in having a big brown bat stay over winter within the bat house. However, it is unknown whether this bat survived healthy enough to make it to/through the spring thaw. Good luck and we'll look forward to your future posts!