Bat House Forum

[punchinello prairie]

Hi, Folks ~

I've been lurking at this forum for awhile. Now that I have a bat house up, it's time to delurk!

We put up a nursery-sized Chiroptera Cabin house toward the end of last summer near our home in Hudson, WI (Minneapolis/St. Paul area). The black-stained, vented bat house is on a 15' wood pole and located in what would seem to be ideal habitat: in the middle of about an acre of unobstructed lawn surrounded by about 3 acres of weeds, 1/4 mile away from a marsh. The bat house faces south with just a tiny inclination toward southwest (because the pole turned out to be a little warped.) There are no lights shining on or near the house, and other than me looking up into the house once a day and the occasional lawn-mowing, there's no foot traffic out there.

Yet the house is unoccupied. Last summer we saw bats in our yard several times, but we figured we got the house up too late for 2006.

Could it be that bat season just hasn't started yet in our area? Or is there something wrong with our setup?

Though the bat house makes a lovely perch for our bluebirds, we'd really like to see some bats move in (preferably before mosquito season. And too bad bats don't eat ticks!)

Thanks for any advice you'd care to offer!

Regards,

Diane
Hudson, WI

[KC5TPA]

No real advice other than to say be patient, I had mine up for over a year before I saw any and then I only had them for a month.

The month of April I had my first group, and then all of the sudden poof they were gone, and none have replaced them.

So I would say that getting them and then losing them is alot harder to cope with than continuing to wait. :P

 

Good luck to you... and keep up posted...

 

 

 

[Terry Lobdell]

I've had the same thing happen to me.........a seemingly perfectly mounted bat house and no bats.

If you can mount a small house on a building nearby I can almost guarantee you will get bats in it within a month. Once they find that one then they will try your other one on the pole.

I continuously find that it takes longer to get bats in a pole mounted house than it does a house mounted on a building. I think it's because they just naturally explore rooflines looking for places to get in.

Another thing to try is just to mount a small single crevice house on a pole in a flyway.........that is along a treeline about 25 feet out from the trees. I was successful doing that last year in a situation much like your own.

The more bat houses you mount, the more chance you have of attracting them. And when they find one, they will find the rest!