Bat House Forum

[jimso]

Hey everyone. I'm new to this and have been wanting to put a bat house for a few years now. My problem is that I live in the city. A historic part of the city so we have large yards and big trees, lots of mosquitoes and bugs, but no lakes, ponds, rivers or streams nearby. Every site i visit says you should set up your house within 1/4 mile of a water source such as a lake or stream and i was wondering what my chances were of attracting bats if that were not the case.

Thank You
JimSo
Chicago, IL

[Markcuda]

If this was me, I would still put up the house/houses.
I just put two up a week ago, probably won't get any but I'm ok with that.
I have water a 1/4 mile away but I can look for bats at dusk and I have never seen any

[Terry Lobdell]

If you have some old houses with slate roofs they usually have bats...........I am a full mile from a primary water source (trout stream) and I have about 110 little brown bats and about 40 big browns bats here on my property........I would say go ahead and put up some bat houses!

[William Bagwell]

I would try at least one house especially if you have ever seen bats flying around your yard. 1/4 mile is not a hard limit, just a very realistic one for attracting a nursery colony of little (or big) brown bats. Bachelors will roost much further from water. As will Mexican free-tails, though I'm not sure if this is only in arid regions where they do not have a choice or all over there range.

William