A little background . . . I purchased a small house on stilts at the edge of a swamp 3.5 years ago. It is in the panhandle of Florida and surrounded by multiple bodies of water (a river, a few ponds, a slough, etc.).
I Lived in the house for a blissful year, before I was transferred back to Atlanta. Since I plan to retire there in 8 years, I kept the house and use it as a vacation house for me, family, friends, and church members.
The house is on a small, swampy island that floods completely when the Blackwater River floods, so all homes on the island are on stilts, mine included. About once a year, I notice mouse pills on the concrete under the house, look up . . . note that the siding at the corner of the main level above has a 3/4" gap behind it, and mentally make a note to catch that mouse and foam the gap shut. The breakdown in this process is the "mentally making a note," because I reboot the memory banks every night. And by the time I return a few weeks later, I have 20 other chores to do, or the mouse pills are gone and I forget completely.
About six weeks ago, I was putting out pinestraw and found a dead bat on the ground, so I kicked it over into a flower bed and covered him with pine straw. I never notice bats flying around, but it's the second bat I've found dead this year. All of the sudden, I looked up at my gap under the siding and said, "OHHHHHHHHH . . . ."
It hit me. I had never had a mouse. It was bats living under the siding there. But they apparently don't stay long when they decide to roost there. A few weeks and they are gone. Then they might come back 6 weeks later for a couple of days, etc.
From my internet research, apparently, they like their roost at 95 degrees and when the afternoon sun hits the lakehouse siding, it warms the wall up to a nice toasty temp all night long. Then when it gets scorching hot (like it is now), the bats hightail it to a roost that is a bit cooler.
And I learned that I can't evict them until the babies are teenagers and leaving the roost to save the world from a swamp full of mosqitos all by themselves. So the first step before eviction in September is putting up a new "condo" for them, much more upscale than the lake shack they are currently squatting in.
Because the elements are tough on things in Florida, and I'm not down there to enough to maintain even what little I now have, I selected a PVC "Bat Can" for its durability and resistance to hurricanes (hopefully . . .).
Attached are a few pics. It is mounted to a large dead cedar tree at the edge of the swamp forest. A 1.5 acre lily pond is about 50 feet away. And it is about 30 feet away from and level with the upper back porch of the house where the outdoor patio furniture is, making the upper back porch a prime observation platform.
- Full view of dead cedar with Bat Can
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- View from the top of the back porch stairs
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- The close-up shot
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I do have my doubts about the color, although I followed the advice of the experts. The dark color makes me think it's going to be a "bat incinerator" instead of a bat house.
Hoever, it is facing north (yeh, I know, but I can't see it if it's on the Southeast side of the tree and it does get at least 5 hours of sun a day where it is).I'll be checking for guano every visit. And preparing for my eviction proceedings (not that I think they are there now) next month.
Wish me luck. If I have some success, I'll add a few more bat houses around the property with varying sun exposures over the next few years.
Making myself a mental note to pick up one of those remote temperature gauges at Harbor Freight in Pensacola. Oh . . . who am I kidding . . .
