Build a bat-house

Birdhouses are quite nice and all, but isn’t it about time we showed some love to nocturnal flyers? The design for a bat house is much different from the usual bird types -

You might be surprised: bats don’t always live in caves. Some bats spend winter months in caves, but most bats spend summers in trees, under bridges or in old buildings, where they give birth and rear young. Your goal is to make a bat house that mimics the space between bark and a tree trunk. That would be the bats’ ideal nursery. That’s why the space inside a bat house is very narrow, unlike a bird house which would house a nest. Bats like tight spaces. They also need it nice and warm for the babies. That’s why we paint the box a dark color in most climates and why we caulk the sides to keep the heat in. Also, you’ll be using a saw to rough up inside the box. That makes it more like tree bark and easier for the bats to climb up.

And hey, bats can consume 500 – 1,000 mosquitos in an hour. That’s a welcome practice around most woodsy dwellings.

Bat House(s) on Ben’s world -Link
Why I Built A Bat House -
National Wildlife Federation -Link
PDF guide, instructions @ Bat Conservation International -Link

Related:

Make Podcast: Weekend Projects – Batometer -Link

2 Responses to Build a bat-house

Emrikol on February 11th, 2008 at 6:56 am said:

But, how do you get the bats to come? If there’s been a standing tree without housing for sixty years, and all of a sudden it has bat-capable living, how do the bats know to check it?

Bat bait?

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Volkemon on February 11th, 2008 at 3:08 pm said:

I would assume that its the same as birds- they are always looking for homes. Match what they are looking for, and they will stay.

Or is there a bird bait I have been missing out on?

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