Wanted Bat House & Info

[Kurt]

Wanting to get batty. I'm also interested in hearing of anyone's success installing house and attracting bats.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bats eat 33% - 100% of their body weight in insects every night. That's 500 - 1000 mosquitoes, moths, stinkbugs, leafhoppers or other horticultural pests removed per hour, by one bat, per night, depending on the time of year.[/FONT]

 

[TooFarTampa]

The University of Florida, in Gainesville, is one of the best clearing houses for bat house infomation.

 

[TooFarTampa]

Florida Bat Conservancy | UF bat house article

 

[DD]

Bats are very cool. I think SJ may know about this. Seems like we discussed it at one time.

 

[Mango]

I have tons of bats. Green fruit bats also. I bought bat houses when we first moved here to keep them out of my shingles, but they didn't take to them. I guess it was warmer next to the house and my cedar shingles are a darker redwood color. They like the heat.

The guano makes a mess on my decks, but I scoop it up with a pan and throw it in the compost heap for fertilizer. I do not think there is a way to attract them other than providing a warm dry environment. My shingles seem to be the ideal spot. It's funn watching them fly out at dusk. It spooks some people because they dip and come close to our heads sometimes, but I have never had a bat bump into me. They also make little squeeking noises when you pass them. I have one or two that live under my overhang and I think they may have had a roost since they sounded like baby birds.

TFT's link for some reason did not allow to click on bat houses, but this one did.
WEC246/UW290: Effective Bat Houses for Florida

It tells you how to make your own to attract the most bats. Looks like the cedar shakes is the best with a metal roof caulked well with proper spacing.

Have funn. They are really cool to watch.

 

[30A Skunkape]

I would like to hang a few bat houses over here. Last night the mosquitoes returned in force
Don't you have to hang them really high on a tree?

 

[Hop]

sounds like a great project for my elementary kids!

 

[Kurt]

sounds like a great project for my elementary kids!

A field trip to Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna may be in order. They have bats there. Although unlikely you'd see any you could learn about them. They also have a neat cave tour.

I have seen some bat casa kits online. Also plans to build them from scratch.

A lot of the plans involve, painting, staining, and caulking which makes sense if you want them to last and remain dry but I'm thinking the smells would keep them away until they aged.

Most recommendations are to mount them on poles rather than trees or houses.

Maybe we could get some local builders to make them for the school. I also think there might be a good little business for someone handy with tools. If someone wants to start building them I will help them advertise.

_______________________________________

A couple of links.

Bat Houses

How to Build a Bat House

 

[Franny]

A field trip to Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna may be in order. They have bats there. Although unlikely you'd see any you could learn about them. They also have a neat cave tour.

I have seen some bat casa kits online. Also plans to build them from scratch.

A lot of the plans involve, painting, staining, and caulking which makes sense if you want them to last and remain dry but I'm thinking the smells would keep them away until they aged.

Most recommendations are to mount them on poles rather than trees or houses.

Maybe we could get some local builders to make them for the school. I also think there might be a good little business for someone handy with tools. If someone wants to start building them I will help them advertise.

_______________________________________

A couple of links.

Bat Houses

How to Build a Bat House

Canuck has talked about building Purple Martin houses forever and I am sure he could build bat houses. I will talk to him about this. Also have noticed the Purple Martin's are back.

 

[DD]

Canuck has talked about building Purple Martin houses forever and I am sure he could build bat houses. I will talk to him about this. Also have noticed the Purple Martin's are back.

I hope he does this. Keep us posted. Canuck rocks.