Bat House Forum

[dentdominator]

Hello,

Im new to bats and houses, I did lots of homework before placing this bat house. I live in Southern Michigan and placed my bat house facing SE on the edge of my property. My wife and I have noticed lots of bats at night before we concidered buying and placing a house. I just put it up over the weekend and nothing yet, I get a little inpatient, but thats me in general. The house is 18' in the air, I feel it gets the morning sunrise but then gets shaded until 11AM then full sun there after.

Let me know if anyone has had their bat houses occupied before 1 week.

Thanks.

[LarryH]

Hi! Welcome aboard! 

Nice looking mount for the house.  It seems to be a little closer to the tree than desired, but it may be further away than it looks in the picture.

I was lucky, I think, in that I got bats in my houses about 2 1/2 weeks after I put the houses up.  There had been bats roosting for years in an old barn adjacent to our property, and the location of my houses is between that old barn and the creek.  So, I think they found my houses a better place to live than the old barn.

With bats, and Purple Martins for that matter, all I can say is Be Patient.  :cool:

Larry

[dentdominator]

Thanks for the input, the house is up on one 14' 4x6 10' out of the ground then I used one 12' 2x6 and one 8' 2x6 screwed together staggered so 4' is on the 4x6. sounds confusing but willing to post close ups.

The tree you are talking about is 40' away, but there are others within 15', that concerns me alittle. Now I have seen bats flying around there at night, but whos to say. I have a creek and pond within 100 yards from the bat house so I feel its perfect other than the sun shading here and there.

 

[Terry Lobdell]

Hi,

The house looks really good! I have had the best luck mounting bat houses on a building first. They are used to roosting in attics so they naturally explore roof areas of buildings looking for places to get in. Once I have them roosting in a bat house on a building then I mount one nearby on a pole. About a week is the earliest I have found guano under a new bat house.

I've had successful bat houses now for 6 years and have noticed they explore more starting in late July and August. When I mount a new house in the spring I don't really expect any occupancy until later in the summer.

Everything looks great from your pictures.............it will be just a matter of time before you have bats in it.

[LarryH]

There is a good diagram, with measurements, of a pivot-pole bat house mounting at http://www.batcon.org/bhresearcher/bv5n2-4.html

 

[Joe Spencer]

Is the bat house mounted in the states?  How far is it from a year round water source?

[dentdominator]

Yes in the States, Southern Michigan. I have streams and a pond within 100 yards of the bat house. Im just concerned about the summer morning sun, it gets the sun at sunrise but then its shaded until 11AM then full sun all day. I know in the winter it will be fine with all the leaves off the trees.