Bat House Forum

[kent borcherding]

Be sure to consider if grass is mowed in areas around area where bat houses are placed.

Bats will abandon an occupied bat house when lawn mower exhaust drifts into the bat house.

Also if you place a bat house and it is unoccupied reason could be lingering gasoline engine exhaust fumes odor.

[Terry Lobdell]

Kent, that is interesting info...........How often have you encountered this?

[kent borcherding]

I have not had a problem with exhaust fumes from gas engines.

What prompted the idea is an advertisement for battery operated lawn mowers.

One of the selling points for the mowers is use near and around office buildings , the air intakes for the buildings will suck in the exhaust fumes from gas engine lawn mowers.

This problem is eliminated with the battery driven mowers . Excellent selling point IMHO.

At one location I did have a problem with a person hitting a post with a tractor driven lawn mower , he was always in a hurry. Eliminated the problem by moving the post and the 2 bat houses mounted on it.

[LarryH]

My houses are mounted on a 20' pole in the middle of what used to be our pasture, until I quit raising cows, and I mow the pasture every other week with a tractor mower.  I trim right up to the pole the houses are mounted on, and I have not seen any problems with gas fumes bothering the bats.  Every year since the bat houses have been up, there has been an increase in the number of bats inhabiting the houses.  It may be that the houses are high enough that the fumes don't actually reach the bats.   I am always careful to not hit the pole with the mower, and hand trim around it.  Hitting the metal pole with the mower or tractor would not be a good thing!