Does anyone know of easy bat house plans. With the five acres we have...there are wet lands scattered here and there throughout the county...we have mosquitoes...alot during the summer and heard that having bat houses up high in the trees helps to get rid of these nastly little insects. Bats are saying, "nummmmm".

Thanks for you help. Sherrill, Cabin in the Woods Farm

-- Sherrill in Washington (cabininthewoodsfarm@yahoo.com), September 28, 2001

Answers

Don't waste your time.

A survey a few years back showed that not even one bat house in America was occupied by bats. There were one or two occupied bat houses in Europe.

Butterfly houses have the same occupancy rates.

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), September 28, 2001.

Walt, that is an interestng comment. I was interested in getting plans as well and was surprised by your response. We have had bats living in our attic ever since we bought the house eight years ago. There were 54 when we moved in, no one had lived in the house for at least a year before. Most of the bats left, probably because of the noises of our living there. The second year there were only 38 bats and now we are down to two or three. I didn't want to get rid of them because they were doing such a good job of getting rid of the insects but I knew that they could become a health hazard if they stayed in the attic. Since the numbers dwindled I decided to let them stay. But I had been curious about setting out a bat house for them instead. Thanks for the info. I guess I won't waste my money on that one.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), September 28, 2001.

Hi; here is a link for bat house plans. I built one several years ago and no bats yet (I hope that it just still appears to 'new' for the bats). I still have hope that it will be used. bat house

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@noaddr.com), September 28, 2001.

I am sorry that the previous link did not take you directly to their plans (I guess they used java script). You can navigate to the correct page from the link

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@noaddr.com), September 28, 2001.

I have a bat house and the bats keep trying to roost in my shop. I don't think there has ever been a bat in the bat house.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), September 28, 2001.

I have bat houses all over this farm. My house, the old house next door, the cow barn, the hay barn--- They live all over the place around here. I can't imagine them moving into a skimpy little mobile home when they have manor houses available to them!

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), September 28, 2001.

Thanks for all the info.

Sherrill

-- Sherrill in Washington (cabininthewoodsfarm@yahoo.com), September 28, 2001.

Sherrill, Bats do live in our bat houses! The survey was wrong! there are 100's of bat houses built all over this nation by various organizations and they are used. Call your Fish and Wildlife amd your county extension sevice, that's what we pay them for. MY plans came from fish and wildlife. The problem with most family built and installed bat houses is people don't bother to learn about the bats and what they need and and prefer to roost. sucessful houses do not get used if they are in trees! Too much shade. Get a book, learn about bats, build a good bat house, mount it on a firm, high post, out in the sun and you'll have bats. Hope this helps. :)

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), September 28, 2001.

I hung a bucket,, upside down,, with sticks thru it,, like an upside down roost,, took 3 weeks, and brown bats moved in

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 28, 2001.

My freind has bats in his bat house. He has it mounted half way up a very tall cottonwood. Does get lots of sun.

-- Joan (JTYTOR@pressenter.com), September 30, 2001.