Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

I am doing some side by side comparisons this year of different baffle surfaces. I am comparing mesh (both pet mesh and regular fiberglass mesh), rough sawn boards and wafer board/oriented strand board.

I am noticing that a lot of guano sticks to the rough sawn surface. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Erik]

Hi Terry,

I have about 50 bat small houses with multiplex boards with 1 cm spaced grooves and only 1 large nursery house with mesh-surface. In the small houses I hardly ever find guano on the boards. However, the small droppings from Pipistrelle bats seem to fit in the mesh of the nursery house, so there I have some guano sticking to the surface. But then the nursery house is a home for approx. 200 bats and the best small houses have between 8 and 25 bats each year.

Erik

[Joe Spencer]

I have had guano stick to rough sawn boards but once it dries out it inevitably seems to fall off.  I suppose the length of the adherence would depend on how rough it is.  It just seems to me that wrapping boards with mesh or fiberglass/petscreen screening adds a lot more time to the project than simply putting in rough sawn boards which when thick improve thermal mass and keeps it simple.  I'm still looking into foam bat houses and I saw recently where environmentally conscious builders are using a new expanding foam in the 2X walls and ceilings in homes which is made from SOYBEAN oil.  The key is to see how durable it might be over time since bats could scratch it off in time I suppose. 

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Eric and Joe! I have noticed I don't ever get any guano sticking to pet mesh or regular fiberglass window mesh.

Both my little and big browns seem to prefer mesh. But just using rough wood is so much easier and less expensive to build.

[IowaNate]

 In regards to fiberglass window screening, pet mesh, and rough sawn...my fiberglass screening lasts about ten years, I have just started using pet mesh which is basically is fiberglass screening with a light plastic coating. I expect this to last at least twice as long. I have used rough scoring the partitions in the past with good success but I am not sold on the idea that baby bats get the greatest foothold on just rough partitions alone (granted they do in the wild) but I want them to have no difficulty holding on. In terms of guano sticking to the partitions, I have the most (which is VERY LITTLE) stick to the rough partitions. As noted in the forum, once it dries it seems to fall off no matter what the partition is treated with for footholds.

   Just remember that rough scoring the surface CAN reduce the life of the wood,  but I haven't done enough long term studies to show how much. I only use 1/4" plywood for my partitions now, so scoring is not an option. I expect to see pet mesh be one of the standards for bat houses for the future, but it does cost more than regular fiberglass. But for something that should last twice as long, it's worth the money for me.

[KC5TPA]

Here is a teaser for those that have read my post about 'my' new house design. I have looked almost everywhere with google and ask.com at the ready and have found no design like I am thinking. The design keeps morphing in my head as I have yet and probably won't make a plan of the design, I am kind of like Tesla in how he would put something together take it apart something many times in his mind before he tried to build it. Does anyone have a good resource for outdoor, weather resistant (proof) cameras for use in a house preferably with IR and RF (RF optional)?

About the comparision here I never saw a reason to use wood and mesh together because you can rough up the wood just fine if you take the time, and most rough cut cedar is already to go if it is sawn just right. So why spend the money on both, however any kind of wood you buy will eventually fail due to the constant contact from urine and feces.

[Terry Lobdell]

Nate, I agree with you that pet mesh will become the standard for a baffle surface.

KC, from what I've seen in many bat houses most of the wear from urine & feces on the baffle surface is at the bottom third (or even lower) of the baffle.

I've got some bat houses that have had 30 - 50 bats for approx. 5 years and the upper portions appear just about as clean as when they were constructed.

This past season I had around 30 bat houses that I monitored to observe baffle surface preferences. My maternity colonies so overwhelmingly preferred mesh surfaces that I stopped recording data.........Later in the year my bats started using the other surfaces more (rough sawn, osb board, & scored one inch boards) I think parasites probably get worse later in the season causing the bats to explore other roosts more.

The last 2 years I have helped count bats at a state park. There are 4 very crude bat houses with unscored waferboard baffles that receive heavy usage. Because the bat house roofs leak the wafer board has become very weathered and rough making an ideal roosting surface.

I may experiment more with weathered wood which would simulate some of the surfaces bats would find in their natural roosting sites.

One house I counted 102 adults exit in June, then shined a light up in and watched approx. 50 pups crawling around with ease!

I have since put new roofs on these houses and hope to get some pics on here soon!