I lost a horse last fall from West Nile Virus even thoguh he was vaccinated. This is something we have not really had way up here yet. We had a very wet year and the mosquitos were awful. I am trying to figure out ways to reduce mosquito numbers and protect my remaining animals. My first project is bat houses. I got some pretty nifty instructions for building them online and am going to get them done and up this spring but I don't have any experience with the potential pitfalls of bat housing- any tips?
I took a class last year at our Natural History Museum (in Cincy) but I haven't had the time to build my houses.
The one thing that I recall the most about why bats either don't come, or they don't stay, is that the houses need to be VERY high--so that they go unnoticed by almost every species. Not because they're hunted, but apparently they're very solitary and private.
They also need to be painted in a color that reflects the heat during the day, so as not to toast the little ones inside.
Thank you so much for your reply. Do you recall how high is very high (ball-park)? and also, the instructions I have say to paint the outside black for warmth- what color is better on the outside that won't cook the little guys?
The black won't cook them, I'm sure any dark color would be fine. I have lots of bats who live on the top floor of my barn. Since I have a big pondnext to my house with a stream running into it, moving water for the blackflies, still water for the mosquitos, I am very grateful to have the bats. I guess if I had the bat houses I would just mount them as high on your house as you can...good luck. Bats are wonderful.
Bat houses
Posted - Jan 08 2009 : 08:34:01 AM
