Bat House Forum

[Erik]

In the Bat House Builders Handbook and on this website people mention durable plastic mesh for roughening the landing pad and the partition walls of the bat house.
Sometimes product names are mentioned as well. I am not that familiar with different construction materials and I can't find that type of mesh in the construction shops here in the Netherlands.
What is the normal use of the plastic mesh that is recommended for bat houses? That may point me in the right direction....

The Dutch bat houseI posted earlier about has mesh used for screen doors for roughening. I know it is not ideal because it is easily weakened and damaged by high temperatures. I am going to build more bat houses this spring so I want to use the right mesh in the future.

greetings,

Erik

[Terry Lobdell]

Erik,

I have had very good luck with fiberglass screen mesh but like you, do have concerns about long term durability.  The maternity colonies seem to really like it maybe because it's easy for the pups to cling to.

I have started using pet mesh from Walmart because it is made to withstand dogs and cats jumping and clawing on it........so far it has worked well..........I plan on experimenting more with roughsawn boards this summer........much less expensive and should be adequate for small bat houses used by bachelors.

[Joe Spencer]

Erik, search on pet mesh in this forum search box and you will see some more information just that some links and photos are gone since I lost the site.  At least the comments are there.  Terry is correct.  After trying and experimenting with 1/8" and 1/4" plastic screening I too have found that since the size of the holes within it are so large, it allows guano to become trapped between the mesh and the baffle to which it is stapled.  I don't recommend it long term since it will create problems longterm. Pet mesh is a dark (black) durable door and window screening available here in the U.S. whose holes like most window screening are small enough that bat guano won't penetrate it.  The weave on the pet mesh is not flat unlike standard fiberglass screening.  I have had good luck with basic fiberglass screening though some have reported it deteriorates over time. For now I'm keeping it simple since I have not seen bats prefer any type of screening over good rough sawn wood which is placed horizontally (grain is horizontal) in bat houses as baffles.  Of course it is the opposite direction grain in a rocket style house made out of 1" pine but for those I choose lumber which has more roughness and if a board is too smooth I score it quickly as necessary with a homeade scoreing jig.

You can see the Pet mesh below on the foam rocket bat house I made a few years ago:



Here I am below heating the pet screening with a hair dryer to make it flat before fastening it to the foam panel with poly glue:




 :mrgreen:

[Erik]

Thanks Joe and Terry!

I am going to look for pet mesh for screen doors and windows. That's not going to be easy I'm afraid, because we are still in winter here. Who's making screen doors now? Although winter? It is to warm for winter here in The Netherlands. It has hardly been beneath 0 degrees celsius (32 F) and we had 1 day of snow uptil now. Not really hibernation weather and in our hibernation counts the numbers of bats are very low, especially for species that are very flexible in their hibernation behaviour.

On TV I saw that is quite different from the weather in northern USA!

Erik

[Joe Spencer]

Wow amazing Erik!  We have only had a few inches of snow all winter but the place you are referring to on the edge of one of our Great Lakes received 100 inches of snow (2.5 meters) in one week! We have had a mild winter all year in NewEngland and only recently has it been cold starting in February. Can't last too long with the sun getting higher in the sky.

[Terry Lobdell]

Erik, Most hardware stores and lumber supply stores sell mesh year round........Do you have Walmarts over there?