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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  General Discussion  |  Topic: Bat Houses 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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ghost
The Dentist
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on: July 22, 2018, 10:12:22 PM

So we have a new pad, and it has a pool.  We were hanging out in it just after moving in (in the thousand degree Louisiana heat) around dusk and a bunch of bats started swarming around.  It seemed like there were tons of them, but it was probably just 10 or so.  I hadn't really experienced anything like it, having never had a pool.  I guess they were after the insects that were buzzing around the lights, and probably drinking some of the water.  So after doing a little research about the critters, I think it would be nice to have a swarm of them eating mosquitos nightly, if possible.  Has anyone here got any experience with bat houses?  I'd love to get one set up, but it seems a bit like having a kid or buying a dog, once you get one started there's no going back. 



schild
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Reply #1 on: July 22, 2018, 10:17:08 PM

ghost
The Dentist
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Reply #2 on: July 22, 2018, 10:25:16 PM

You know you want one too. 
SurfD
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Reply #3 on: July 22, 2018, 10:39:07 PM

Only thing I would say is: I hope you like guano...

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ghost
The Dentist
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Reply #4 on: July 22, 2018, 10:42:11 PM

How much can 200 bats shit?
HaemishM
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Reply #5 on: July 22, 2018, 11:19:57 PM

Fuck a bunch of that shit. I just recently had a short infestation of the fuckers in my house and they can stay the fuck away from it. Nothing like being on the shitter and hearing a rustling in the shower next to you, opening the shower curtain and realizing that sound was 3 bats chillaxing in the tub.

Hawkbit
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Reply #6 on: July 22, 2018, 11:58:11 PM

TheWalrus
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Reply #7 on: July 23, 2018, 01:39:56 AM

Bats are awesome. They're welcome at my house anytime.

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rattran
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Reply #8 on: July 23, 2018, 06:24:50 AM

At the last house we bought several commercial bat houses from Menards, and mounted them on the trees away from the house. Just had to add a baby-bat landing bar underneath. After about 6 months they were full of bats, and the soffits of the house were not.

They were full of squirrels, but that's a whole different thing.
ghost
The Dentist
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Reply #9 on: July 23, 2018, 06:39:09 AM

Did you do any preventive stuff to the house? 
01101010
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Reply #10 on: July 23, 2018, 07:16:11 AM

First time I ever saw a wild bat was after me and the x-gf moved into her new house with a pool out back. We were out on the pool deck around 9pm and had the spots on the pool for a night swim and saw these what we thought were birds flitting about. Once I saw one swoop to the water surface and noticed they don't really glide like a bird, I figured out they were bats. Cool shit.

Fast forward 4 years and I had a n odd sound coming from the kitchen one morning before work. Didn't see anything, but thought it was a sound reminiscent of the time I had caught a mouse in an old apt. took a shower and thought nothing of it. Got out of the shower and heard something strange in the living room. Got dressed and noticed something on the carpet... it actually looked like someone took a shit on my carpet. But looked a bit closer and noticed it moved and started high pitched chirping. Little brown bat... Grabbed my old leather work gloves and gently picked him up which cause a lot of loud screeching, but only for a few seconds. Carried the little guy outside to the wooded ditch in back of my apt and set him on some branches. Pretty cool encounter. Always thought they were cool, if not a little creepy. After actually handling one, they are not that creepy... still had the leather gloves because I am not taking any chances.

If you get a bat box, you will have to take pics... I'm genuinely curious about them.

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Sky
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Reply #11 on: July 23, 2018, 07:57:49 AM

I've been wanting to put a couple in along the tree line at teh far end of the yard. Since I'd also like to put in a pool, sounds like it would be an even better idea than I'd thought about.

Fiancee haaates bats. I asked her if it was because they'll nest in her hair and she said yes. This has not altered my plans any more than any other logic of a 4th grader would.
Mandella
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Reply #12 on: July 23, 2018, 10:13:56 AM

I enjoy sitting out in the evening on the porch and watching the bats come out and feed in the twilight. Never put in houses -- they seem to be finding places to roost all on their own just fine.

Also be careful about artificially increasing a predator population to combat some pest (like mosquitoes). What can happen is that the predators totally wipe out the pests (their food) and then die off themselves, usually after becoming very aggressive and intrusive in their search for something else to eat (in other words they start getting into your house).
Samwise
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Reply #13 on: July 23, 2018, 12:26:14 PM

I put a small bat house on my fence several years ago and haven't seen any signs of bat habitation yet.  Back when I put it in I remember reading a caution that most bat housing remains vacant, so you might not get instant results.

I'm not a great case study though since I'm in a city and don't have any trees in my yard.  We do have bats around here, but they probably make their homes in the parks.

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rattran
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Reply #14 on: July 23, 2018, 01:55:56 PM

Did you do any preventive stuff to the house? 

The bats/squirrels couldn't get from the soffits into the house due to hardware cloth placed when the roof was redone. I didn't mind the squirrels in the soffits, bat guano is nasty though and I wanted it farther from the house.
Khaldun
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Reply #15 on: July 24, 2018, 07:23:41 PM

Keep a bat house small, make just one, build it a good ways from your house. But they're basically good to have around. Frankly you may already have them--many attics and eaves in the US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic have had bats or have them now, in small numbers.

Their populations are crashing right now due to a serious fungal disease, though.
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