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ROB
Member
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Posted: Mon Feb 13th, 2006 07:35 pm |
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| I am going to build my first bat house soon and I want to put in my back yard . the area I want to use has an dwarf apple tree real close to where I want to put my post. Will this affect my bat house? the tree is about 10 feet high
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 529 |
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Posted: Tue Feb 14th, 2006 08:32 pm |
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Hi ROB. It could and often does Rob. If you could get any kind of space between the two, it would help. If you could somehow get the bat house up high enough it would help as well. If the apple tree is 10 and you could get the bat house up 15-20' that would increase your chances. How close are you to a year round water source? Have you seen any bats flying in or near your yard or neighborhood? 
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ROB
Member
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Posted: Wed Feb 15th, 2006 07:09 pm |
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| Joe, thanks. I am now thinking about mounting my bat house to my chimeny (which is brick) it would be about 30-35 feet in the air facing the south. As far as water, I have a 20'x30' water garden in my back yard. And I see bats every night flying around my yard and the neighbors yards. Between the 3 of us we have about 4-5 acres back there and it is all farm fields behind that. Do you think I will have better luck putting the bat house on my chimeny?
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
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Posted: Wed Feb 15th, 2006 11:32 pm |
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Rob, chimneys or any brick or masonry is fantastic for bat houses and helps buffer temperature extremes. They heat up slowly and give off heat slowly. Just ensure the bat house is reasonbly snug ( little to no air gaps ) when mounted on the chimney. Two bat houses I mounted on a house/chimney in my town after I performed an exclusion, were welcomed and occupied immediately by the excluded bats. Put up a decent size nursery. Also to make it easier if your building it yourself, I recommend building the shell ( front back sides roof ) and core dividers separately. Mount the shell on the chimney and then insert the core ( baffles-dividers-chambers ). The works great especially when and if you ever need to remove the core to clean out wasp nests if they become a burden. Good luck! When you finish/erect your bat house would you consider taking some pics and posting them at the forum? Cya 
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ROB
Member
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Posted: Fri Feb 17th, 2006 03:11 pm |
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| Joe, that is a great idea about putting the dividers in after I build the shell. I am going to get my wood and supplies today so I can start building it this weekend. I plan on building a house with 3 or 4 chambers. I am thinking I can put a stop made of wood 1x1's on the inside bottom of the house so when I slide the divider in it will just set there and then I can attach the roof. I plan on using a chimeny strap like you use to mount an antenna. Do you suggest that I stain the inside of the bat house black? Is this necessary? I will take some pictures as I go and post them. Thanks for the advice!
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ROB
Member
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Posted: Fri Feb 17th, 2006 03:21 pm |
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| I also forgot to ask. Do you think I should add any air vents to the side or front of my bat house? I have seen plans with them and without. I'm not sure if I need them in Michigan or if those are for much hotter regions of the country. What are your thoughts?
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Fri Feb 17th, 2006 10:01 pm |
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Rob, I don't believe there is a need to stain or paint the inside. Actually some paints and stains inside could actually discourage bats. The only reason to do so is to darken the interior and I personally didn't see any increase in occupancy rates with it on the few I tried. Maybe others have and could comment. Regarding construction, I place all the dividers and partitions together into one unit and insert it into the house as one piece. Some people router out the interior sides for partitions and put one partition in at a time and secure it, but I like to keep it simple. Because your chimney is likely to help buffer temperature extremes you my not need any vents. I usually put them in anyway and drill some holes in the sides which go through the side and are aligned with the chamber space/spacer itself. The trick on latter is that you have to drill through the outside side wall and through the spacers themselves for adequate ventilation. You could also simply vent the front of the house as well as seen in one of my older single chamber bat houses below. It is all about experimenting. Rob are you mounting just one bat house? If so are you familiar with the parasite factor with regard to mounting multiple houses and occupancy success rates? The bat house below I built out of Doug Fir Plywood. I have buried it and set this plywood out in the elements without paint etc. and since it is naturaly decay resistant it just lasts and lasts. Good luck with your project!
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Terry Lobdell
Member
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Posted: Sun Feb 19th, 2006 02:05 pm |
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From my own experience I feel bats do prefer a darker interior, especially down near the bottom. I have 5 bat houses mounted on the outside of my home, some with darkened interiors and some not. On really hot days my big brown bats will hang down near the bottom. On houses with light interiors they scoot right back up inside if they see me. With the houses that are darker, they are less shy and will just hang there and let me observe them.
The trick is in darkening the interior without filling in the wood grain. I think wood that is weathered a gray or brown color is dark enough. I have found it hard to find the right stain that does not fill in the wood grain.
This summer I will be trying pet mesh on my baffles. I've had excellent luck with fiberglass screen mesh and the pet mesh will be longer lasting. The fact that it is black in color will provide a dark secure interior as well.
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ROB
Member
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Posted: Sun Feb 19th, 2006 04:09 pm |
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| I am mounting 1 house on my chimeny and I don't know about the parasite factor in regards to multipe houses. Please let me know what this about.
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Sat Feb 25th, 2006 06:28 pm |
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Rob, the bat parasite factor though still relatively new with only marginal data from what I understand, is this: For example, when identical multiple bat houses were painted and mounted closely together (i.e. on the same side of the house or building) with near identical temperatures, bats would frequently abandon one house and move into another identical bat house. Why? Host specific Fleas, Mites and Ticks (parasites) can invade the bat house and become bothersome to the bats not unlike any outdoor animal which hosts and has them. I had witnessed the bats in my identically mounted houses switch between them throughout the season often switching up to a few times. It is thought that bats may evade or keep parasites low enough at a tolerable level by occasionally switching roosts as necessary. Ok, why should this matter if the parasite is attached to the bat right? Wouldn't the parasite stay on the animal and accompany it to the switched roost? Roost observances found many parasites in the roost after the bat left for foraging for the evening. Is it possible the bats could shed some of these parasites during night flying/foraging and that the parasite would hop off the bat before it would leave to forage only to get back on a bat when it returned? Hmm sounds amazingly unbelievable doesn't it? By switching roosts is it possible bats are able to keep parasites at tolerable levels since many colonies could easily be emaciated by them. In a few bat colonies I observed here in New England in some old barns: I saw guano all over the place on the floor however, the guano was more abundant on and near two gable ends of the barns where the bats existed as a group and may have moved together. Minimizing parasite factor? Who knows? Maybe Mark Kiser or someone has some more recent evidence or data to either support this or debunk it. What is known is that you are able to attract and keep more bats when you give them options like multiple bat houses and it is possible that the bat house parasite factor could be credible. Any news on this anyone? Terry awesome feedback on the darkening factor. I formerly used Tar Paper because it is cheap quick and effective however, I'm concerned with the petroleum issues and that it could harm bats longterm so I have been hesitant to use it recently.
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