Bat House Forum

[Gary Springer]

Oh, and about the request for photos.

I would love to have photos too, especially the white bat!!!

But, I'm always way behind in my work, and have so many problems getting good photos and resizing so they can be sent by computer that I don't enjoy photography any more. My expensive digital went bad and I should throw it away and get a new one.

I haven't tried to take photos of the bats yet, but it seems it would be impossible to do so without a flash. And, I just don't think the bats would appreciate that. I'm trying to develop a strong sense of trust in these bats and I don't think the flash would work well in that regards.

One of the nicest things about bats is that all you have to do is put up the bat house. DONE, NOW ENJOY!

Almost all other species you assist, you need to clean out the artificial housing, there are problems with insects(fire ants, blow flies, etc.) and predators, especially snakes. If you don't do the constant work in helping these other species, you don't get results.

But, for bats, as I said, put up a good bathouse and enjoy the bats. Nothing quite like it.

I may be wrong, but from an unpleasant personal experience I had, it may be that the bats collectively urinate when a predator starts its way up the pole. Every snake within a mile knows there up there but they just don't bother them, diddo for fire ants.

Also, I have never watched any other species that is so at peace with members of its own and other species, insects being the exception of course.

Most animals are always either chasing or fighting their own kind or other animals.

Even the tiny fragile hummingbird will run off all your other birds, even hawks.

I do hear a lot of racket coming from inside bat houses. Sometimes it sounds like a shoe box full of mad flying squirrels. But, because they never attack each other when on the outside, I suspect they're just socializing, exercising their wings preparing for their exit into the evenng sky, or plerhaps having massive amounts of sex. Yeh, that might account for all the commotion.

Unlike most animals, it seems bats seem are very peace loving.

Occasionally one bat will follow another in flight, but it doesn't seem as though a chase is in process because the follower doesn't appear to be trying to take the lead or make contact with the lead bat.

Only once did I ever see two bats make contact in flight. And, the way it ocurred, it was obviously simply an accident. One bat was flying past the bat house as another was at the beginning of its exit dive.

I'm sure there have been instances where snakes have raided bat houses, but, in over 5 years I haven't had one snake attack. For birds, flying squirrels and other small animals, snakes are always taking their share and deterring them without harming these wonderful but mistakenly maligned animals is a constant struggle.

I have not had to put 5 minutes maintenance or work into these bats after putting up the bat houses. All I do is watch them come out in the evening and watch them swarm in the morning.

Bats are a great hobby!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary Springer

[Terry Lobdell]

Good info there Gary..........I was wondering.........what about redwood? It is rot resistant.........does it have similar properties as cedar?

Here in the east we have larch........it is very rot resistant.........I've used it for many bat house poles sinking it right in the ground with no preservative of any kind and so far it has held up very well.......I have one pole that has been in the ground for 7 years and is still very solid...........

Are you aware of any harmful vapors that could be emitted from larch wood?

[LarryH]

Terry – I’ve wondered the same thing about using Cypress. When I had a commercial apiary, with about 120 hives, I used cypress for the bottom boards and stands – nothing bothered it, and it never rotted. I wonder if it could be used for bat houses, with the same durability. I wonder if it would have a chemical reaction that would affect the bats.

Larry

[Gary Springer]

I visited Coudersport, PA a couple times, right on the central Pennsylvania, New York line.

I wish I had a boat load of larch! That's some beautiful wood, seems to be a little lighter than pine, and has a nice reddish color, very pretty. Rough sawn larch seems to be more suitable for clinging animals too. At least that's the way it looked to me. The wood fibers seem to seperate more than pine when sawn. Perhaps it was the saw that was used, but I think it there's a difference in the wood fibers that causes the rough sawn larch to be rougher.

Larch seems to be somewhere in between coconut wood and pine.

When I use fresh lulmber to build a bathouse, I make a stain from water and charcoal to darken the outside of the house, not to make it warmer, but to make it more natural looking. I use rough sawn lumber so the charcoal color penetrates pretty well. I only do that to give it a more natural weathered look. They look so bright when I put them up if I don't use the charcoal/water stain.

You can also make pine any color you want without adding any chemicals or solvents. Just mix natural artist pigment powders in water and use this homemade concoction as a stain.

About the bats clinging on the outside of the box, they do this when active at night and early morning. They swoop in, land on the outside momentarily, then dive off again. I have no idea why they do this, but they do constantly while active around the box. Sometimes they land on the outside of the house and crawl up until they get to the next ventilation slot, then enter the box through the ventilation slots.

It's amazing how these bats can get in through a ventilation slot that is only about 3/8 inch wide. Sometimes they have to wiggle a bit but they get in.

Gary Springer

[Terry Lobdell]

Myself, I don't use larch on the inside due to it's many splinters........besides I have enough red pine and quaking aspen for baffles...........I save the larch for poles and exterior components of the box.

Interesting about the charcoal..........I never thought about trying that.........I have used walnut husks and food coloring........

On the subject of bats chasing each other, I may be wrong but I think they are teaming up to catch insects............I have watched them around my light pole going after moths............the lead bat will pursue a moth and when the moth zigs or zags the trailing bat will grab it much like two lions hunting antelope.........

On very humid nights, little brown bats sometimes will be in kind of a feeding frenzy over moths around my light pole...........Once I had 5 of them swarming around after moths and 2 had a mid air collision! So funny to see!

The same night one bat flew into my light pole.........all bats recovered from their collisions nicely and kept flying like nothing happened..........

[stephenpeter4]

Although pesticides are used to treat lumber, preserving lumber protects natural resources by enabling wood products to last longer. Previous poor practices in industry have left legacies of contaminated ground and water around wood treatment sites in some cases.

Treated Pine Timbers