Eastern South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Eastern Nebraska
Western South Dakota, Eastern Wyoming and Western Nebraska.
Have you noticed some new tenants in your home or outbuildings? At Central Plains Bat Removal, we like to think of ourselves as bat realtors. When it’s time for them to find a new home, we are happy to show them the way.
If you have been wondering how to build a bat house, you’re in luck. Bat houses are not too hard, and we have some hints to help you along the way.
Sometimes we don’t want the bats to leave for good. In the Midwest, many farmers hope Big Brown bats will call their land home, too. Big Brown bats like to eat insects, like the cucumber beetle, which can destroy crops if it is left alone.
Little Brown Myotis bats are also common in this part of the country, and they think mosquitos are delicious. It may be a good idea to build a place for bats in your backyard and give these exterminators a comfortable place to call home – their home, not yours.
You may like to build things yourself to make sure it’s done right, and having that eye for detail is an asset when building a bat house. Sometimes doing it yourself is the best way to get what you want, and what the bats in your backyard need.
But if you would rather leave bat house building to an expert, just make sure you shop carefully. Some bat houses are marketed very well, but built very poorly. When considering ready-made bat houses:
Bats don’t need vaulted ceilings and open floor plans, but they still appreciate a custom home designed just for them. Keep these friends close by with a simple structure where they can feel safe and warm.
Bats will live in your bat house during the summer months. They will stay home during the day, and head out at night to hunt those insects you would like to keep at bay. If you are lucky, they will reproduce and turn your bat house into a nursery!
You should install your bat house 15-20 feet above the ground. It can be mounted:
The bat house should not be shaded most of the time, because bats like a warm place to be. Houses on trees tend to be the least successful. The best location to mount the house is on a structure under the eaves.
A successful bat house will resemble the habitat found between tree bark and a tree. Bat houses should be at least 14 inches wide and hang vertically on their mount, with a good roof on the top end to protect the structure. Their depth will depend on how many roosting chambers they have. The roosting chambers will be on the inside, and they will be ¾ to 1 inch thick to keep the bat cozy while it roosts.
A bat house with more than one chamber will have a better chance of attracting bats. Since most North American bats are colonizing bats, if the house can hold up to 300, your luck will increase. A single chamber house can hold about 50 bats. That may still work for your location, but consider building bigger if you can.
There are many bat house designs out there for you to choose from, including several from Bat Conservation International. Choose your design carefully, and check it just like you would a built bat house for the specifications all bat houses should have.
Whether you build or buy a bat house, if it is missing one of the critical characteristics it will either never attract bats, or it will not be a safe place for them to live.
According to the certification standards developed by Bat Conservation International:
Now that you know how to build a bat house, you can have a home for bats near your home. If you have a colony of bats that needs a new home, a bat house is a good way to encourage them to stay close by after we have helped them leave their current roost. While we can’t guarantee they will commit to the new structure right away, Central Plains Bat Removal can certainly help them along.
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