Bat House Forum

[heynow]

I had a large colony and they have seemed to have moved on. They have been here since spring. Do they migrate in florida?

[Joe Spencer]

To my knowledge there are floridian bat species which do migrate.  Are these back to back bat houses pictured?  If so did they occupy both bat houses or switch houses on any occassion?  Thank you...

[Shin-Thaibatmania]

what's a cool house!!!!!!!!!!!!

[heynow]

They were back to back bathouses with a little one on the side. The first guests were in the east side as the colony got larger they were in all of the chambers even the little house on the side. The bat house was up for 2 years before the bats moved in. I hope they come back it was way cool.

[BatMan]

By the looks of it, they may have moved to a cooler location. Did they often roost outside the bat house in the middle of the day, like they are in the pic ?

If so, you may want to put some vents in the attic, if you don't have any already and/or try painting one side a lighter color.

From my experience with the bat houses I have put up at my parents house, the bats are migrating here from somewhere else, I'm guessing up north.

[BatMan]

Also, how far off the ground is the bat house and what are the dimensions of the house ? Can they move from one house to the other through the interior or do they have to come out the bottom of the landing pad to switch ? How close is the nearest water source ?


You might want to try building a rocket style house as well, just to give them options.

Take a look at the pics of my rocket style house, even though I have yet to get bats in it. You'll notice the vents in the attic, I basically drilled lots of 1/4" holes in the inner roof which vent out into the attic then out the "gable vents"

http://home.comcast.net/~mh701/wsb/html/view.cgi-photos.html-.html

[Terry Lobdell]

I agree with Batman that they may have been too hot. My big browns up here in Pa will roost low on very hot days. When the hot weather continues they leave.......

They also leave to avoid parasites, specifically bat bugs. I have approx 30 bat houses around my home and both my big browns and little browns rotate around the different bat houses throughout the year.

The fact that you had that much usage means they liked your site and most likely will be back at some point.

[heynow]

http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/tv/handyhints.asp This is the link to the bat house I built. I put saw curfs in it instead of mesh made two and put them back to back. I put them on two 16 foot 4 by4's on top of two 8 footers 4 foot in the ground for a total of 20 feet. I carraged bolted 2x4's on the side at the joint added some swing arms so I could lower it and clean the bees. I have vents in the side but not in the attic. I think I will build a rocket type before spring. In my house they have to climb out of the bottom to get to the other one. next time I will make a hole between so they can go back and forth. I still have more pics and some video I will try to get out. Thank you for all your responce I thought I was the only one interested in bats. My neighbors do not know what to think but enjjoyed watching when they were here. Go Bucs! Glenn

[BatMan]

See, I thought you were alright before you said "Go Bucs", I think what you meant to say was "Go Jags".

Nope, you are definitely not the only one that is interested in bats. The rocket house that I built and mounted at my parents, got bats last fall/winter and we are waiting to see if they come back this fall. I can only imagine what I would do if I got as many bats as you did in one of the bat houses I have installed at my house, I would probably end up building bat houses all over my 1/2 acre yard.

Really looking forward to more pics and the videos !

[Eumops67]

 Very cooool Bat houses!!!!!! & those Mexi Freetails would have me droolin havin them in my yard!!!:P

if it was me,I would be building the same 1's with some mods as discussed & getting them up ASAP so I had more Mexi's to enjoy........Fer Sher :D

Great job!!!

Greeeeaatttt pic!

I Wanna see sum vids!!! Pleeeeeze :shock:

[Joe Spencer]

I'd recommend a combination of modifications with venting in the existing houses and erecting some rocket style bat houses at least 1 preferably 2.  Giving the bats additional options on temperature, colony expansion, parasite factoring with additional houses would help too as suggested.  When you satisfy all of the latter, the bats will leave for expected reasons such as seasonally related migration etc.  In time the goal is to see or a achieve a regional pattern based on species, roost  availability and relative expectancy or any patterns leading to future predictability.  We'll never get the Swallows returning to Capistrano effect predictability wise with bats but to achieve and notice some sort of annual pattern is invaluable in learning more about them.  Great info from all and thanks.

[Shin-Thaibatmania]

cool knowlege Mr. Joe