Bat House Forum

[LaChauveSouris]

I am new to bats and to this forum. I put up my first bat house recently. Sadly, it is only a single chamber. I put it on a pole where there was a blue martin house full of wasps. The wasps are sitting on top of the bat house and some are inside, seemingly only an inch or so up. My question is "will the wasps interfere with bats moving into the house, or will the bats evict the wasps?

I love this forum and hope to put up a better house soon.

[Terry Lobdell]

Welcome! If there are a few wasps then they and the bats can coexist peacefully........if you get a wasp nest that takes up half the width or more of the bat house then the bats will leave.......

Each year on a cool night after the bats have left I take a thin board or sections of half inch conduit and knock the wasp nests out......this works pretty well for me......

Paper wasps seem to be worse during hot dry summers.........

[LaChauveSouris]

Thanks. I doubt that I have had a bat yet, even though I took a picture in which I could see some wasps, and something larger. It was probable a cluster of wasps though.

[Terry Lobdell]

Where are you located? Here in NWPA Late summer is when bats seem the most eager to try new houses in my area.......I am pretty sure they are mostly pups......Bat pups seem to want to explore everything when they start flying.....

[LaChauveSouris]

I am in Central Louisiana about 20 miles east of Alexandria. It is a rural area near a large wildlife management area. There is a beaver pond, and a pond of about 1 1/2 acres, each about 1/4 mile away. There is some pasture land and lots of woods.

[flyin-lowe]

I know in purple martin housing sometimes wasp's are an issue. It is generally recommend to coat the ceiling of a house or gourd with something slick like pam cooking spray. The wasp will not try to build a nest on the slick surface. I don't know if there is something that could be put on the ceiling of a bat house that would keep the wasp's from attaching to it and still be safe for the bats as well??

[Emersombiguns]

Welcome. Good to see another person in La. I am in Haughton,La near Bossier City in NW part. How big did you make the chamber. Mine is no more than 1/2" and I get lots of bats and no wasps. It has been up 6 years. I don't think it is good to have them up there. Have you had any bats yet? Watch around 7:48 to 7:55 pm . Tonight I counted 65 come out of my old faithful house. Randy

[BrackishBatter]

Greetings form Baton Rouge, guys. I see quite a few bats in the evening and will put up a house eventually.

Geaux Tigers!