While bats have at times received a bad rap, they're actually incredibly diverse and beneficial crea...

1. How to Add a Bat House to Your Backyard
While bats have at times received a bad rap, they're actually incredibly diverse and beneficial
creatures. If you're thinking about placing a bat house in your backyard, you've come to the right
place. Let's take a look at why you should add one to your property and then we'll share some tips
and tricks for making sure that, once you place your house, the bats successfully come to roost.
Why have a bat house? There are many reasons why attracting bats to your property can be
beneficial. Placing an outdoor house can provide a family of bats with a safe and secure home for
themselves and their babies. Due to habitat loss, ideal roosting conditions are sometimes hard for
these flying mammals to find. Through providing a home with perfect conditions, you help restore
bat populations while at the same time providing a protected place for them to rest their head. If
you reward them with a home, they will return the favor through their appetites. A single bat is
capable of eating between 2,000-6000 insects a night! That's an awful lot of mosquitoes that will no
longer be bothering you when you're outdoors in the backyard. They also help the local farmers
with their pest control in addition to all you neighborhood gardeners out there. I'll take that solution
over a pile of pesticides any day of the week.
Where can I find one? Once you've decided to install a house in your yard, you'll need to determine
whether you want to buy or make one. If you decide to build one, check out the prominent bat

2. conservation websites online for ideas. Many of them provide detailed instructions for making your
own. Bat conservation International, The National Wildlife Federation and The US Fish and Wildlife
websites all have step by step plans for successfully building your own house. If you'd rather buy
one that's already made, you can check at the same web locations above or head over to Amazon and
run a search for bat houses (that's where we ended up purchasing ours).
Audubon Bat Shelter
Model NABAT
Amazon Price: $35.99 $26.17 Buy Now
(price as of Aug 3, 2014)
This is the bat box that our family uses.

3. How do I successfully install it? Alright, you're ready to start benefiting from having a few bats in
the neighborhood and you've bought your house. Now what do you need to do to ensure the bats
choose your space for their next roost? A couple of tips to remember include:
Make sure your bat house is installed at least 12 feet off the ground and even a bit higher is
preferable.
Make sure the location you choose receives at least 8 hours of sun a day if you're in a northern
climate and at least 6 hours if you're in a southern climate. The ideal temperature of a bat house
during the day should be between 80-100 degrees Fahrenheit. If you live in a northern climate, you
can also paint your house a darker color to help absorb more heat vs. a lighter color if you're living
in the south. Do not paint the inside of the box, only the outside.
Try to get your house installed before the spring thaw for the highest chance of occupancy. Most
bats migrate to their roosting home in spring and early summer when they have their babies.
Having your home ready to go will give you a higher chance that the bats will find and use it.
For the best chance at success mount your house on the side of your home under the eaves or at the
top of a pole, not on the side of a tree.
Adding a bat house to your back yard can not only be beneficial, but a fun learning experience for
the whole family. Teaching your children to respect and appreciate the creatures that live among us
will help them to become better stewards of the land and in turn help preserve populations for many
generations to come. So what are you waiting for? Head out and grab yourself a box today!
http://www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Add_a_Bat_House_to_Your_Backyard