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Dave Miller
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| Location: | Washington USA |
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Posted: Fri Apr 25th, 2008 12:27 am |
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Here is a bat house that I recently designed. I have just finished building two of them and will be placing them at a local wildlife refuge in the next month or so.
I will add more info & construction photos later. I just wanted to start a thread for this little experiment.
This is definitely more labor-intensive than most bat houses, but I wanted it to last a long time and due to its location it had to have a somewhat natural look. I built my last bat house 10 years ago so I don't mind labor-intensive once every 10 years  . Also I find building bat houses to be very relaxing.
Later I will explain the somewhat unusual features and the reasons for them. I hope to keep a running log (blog?) on these bat houses.
4/27/08: I have posted all the construction photos & some notes on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/
Here are the completed houses:
Last edited on Mon Apr 28th, 2008 04:32 am by Dave Miller
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Terry Lobdell
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Posted: Fri Apr 25th, 2008 01:20 am |
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| Dave, that is an excellent plan and drawing! How did you do the sketch?
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Fri Apr 25th, 2008 04:30 am |
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Terry Lobdell wrote: Dave, that is an excellent plan and drawing! How did you do the sketch?
Visio
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BatMan
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| Location: | Florida USA |
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Posted: Sat Apr 26th, 2008 12:06 am |
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| I thought it was Visio, how did you post it ?
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Mon Apr 28th, 2008 04:26 am |
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BatMan wrote: I thought it was Visio, how did you post it ?
I just saved a copy as a jpeg, which I put on flickr.com then used the image icon at the top of the post editor to insert it here.
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IowaNate
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Posted: Mon Apr 28th, 2008 11:09 pm |
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| Great looking bat house Dave! I love the slate exterior, may I ask where you got the tiles?
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 02:13 am |
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| Elegant and appealing Dave! Nice work... Looking forward to the progress and potential occupancy. Are you planning on mounting these back to back on a post?
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 03:33 am |
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IowaNate wrote: Great looking bat house Dave! I love the slate exterior, may I ask where you got the tiles?
Home Depot, less than $2 each.
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 03:38 am |
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Joe Spencer wrote: Elegant and appealing Dave! Nice work... Looking forward to the progress and potential occupancy. Are you planning on mounting these back to back on a post?
No, the refuge manager would not allow me to place a post, but one is not necessary as there are a number of standing dead trees (killed by beavers) which have lost all branches and would be perfect natural roosts if they had cavities. So I am just providing the "cavities".
I am debating the pros and cons of placing both houses on the same dead tree vs. separate trees, but have not decided yet. Any recommendations?
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 08:03 pm |
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I believe I remember some data that showed that clustered bat houses were occupied more readily than those mounted singularly. I had two on a dead tree and they were occupied in my yard. 
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Thu Jun 5th, 2008 06:22 am |
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I finally got the first of the two houses mounted tonight, 6/4/08. I also posted descriptions with my mounting technique, etc. on the flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Sat Jun 7th, 2008 05:42 am |
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We got the second house up tonight, 6/6/08. No occupants in the first one yet (but I wasn't really expecting any, after just one day). More photos & notes on the flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/
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IowaNate
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Posted: Sat Jun 7th, 2008 03:25 pm |
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| The locations look great, especially the house just a few yards from the creek. And those are some huge dead trees! The photo with your truck really puts the size in perspective. I really hope you have good success with these houses, the lack of peeling bark on the trees definately suggests a need for artificial roosts.
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Mon Jun 16th, 2008 06:23 am |
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FYI I checked the houses today but found no evidence of bats using them. But I wouldn't really expect them to be occupied yet. Of course if bats are using the attic space I will not be able to see them except with an exit count. I should probably put something under the houses to catch the guano. I placed a piece of moss-covered bark under one, which should catch some. I was out working on some irrigation pipes, and there were a few mosquitoes biting us even during the middle of the afternoon (which is very unusual in this area), in the middle of a field. I think there is plenty of prey for the bats.
I just wanted to get this report in the log for the records.
Dave
Last edited on Mon Jun 16th, 2008 06:24 am by Dave Miller
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Dave Miller
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Posted: Wed Jul 2nd, 2008 04:59 pm |
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7/1 - Checked both houses, no bats yet. There are a couple of paper wasps starting to build nests, which I was expecting. Last summer the wasps built nests in every single planting tube in the restoration area that is just north of the bat houses (2000 tubes). So there are a lot of wasps around.
I also noticed a definite increase in mosquito activity today, both at the refuge and later back at my house. I was trying to work in the garage with the door open but they would not leave me alone, so I went inside to finish. Mosquitoes are what first got me interested in bats and bat houses.
The grass & plants at the base of the trees are about five feet tall so it is impossible to find any droppings. I found a couple pieces of moss-covered bark which I placed on the ground below the houses to hopefully catch some droppings:
What do you all use to catch droppings under your houses, if anything?
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