National Bat Week is October 24th-31st! Installing a bat house is one way to encourage bats on your property.
A little brown myotis is in flight and pursuing a forest moth.
Mandatory credit: Michael Durham/Minden Pictures, Bat Conservation International
Bat houses can come in various shapes and sizes, from thin boxes mounted on homes or buildings to rectangular towers mounted on poles. Thin box-shaped houses are called nursery boxes and often contain multiple layers called roost chambers. Having multiple roost chambers will allow for larger colonies and help the bats to regulate their temperature. If the box is only a single layer, mounting it on a wood or brick building will help to keep a more constant temperature inside. Tall tower-shaped boxes, called rocket boxes, are mounted on poles and let the bats move around the box as needed to regulate their temperature.
A bat house provides a roosting site for bats in the home landscape.
N Jordan Franklin, ©2018, Clemson Extension
When determining where to install a bat house, consider how much sun the house will receive. Colony roosting bats like it hot, between 80 and 100 degrees inside the roost. With the South Carolina heat, a vent will be necessary to prevent overheating, but you want to look for an area that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. Color can impact how much heat the house retains since darker colors absorb more heat. Cooler parts of the state, like the mountains or Upstate, may need to paint houses black or dark brown, while the hottest parts of the state may want to look at using natural color wood.
The house should be mounted at least 12 feet high, but higher is better. Houses mounted on buildings or poles get used faster and more often than houses mounted on trees. Tree-mounted houses are more challenging to find and less predator-resistant. If you mount the bat house on a pole, a predator guard can help protect the roosting bats. Keeping brush or trees away from the pole will also help prevent predation. Proximity to a water source is also important. Successful bat houses are often within a quarter mile of a river, stream, pond or other water source.
A bat house that meets all the requirements will usually be occupied the first summer after installation. A house put up this fall may not receive its first occupants until next summer. If you do not have bats after a year, check for drafts and move the house to a new location.
Visit www.batweek.org for more information on making a bat-friendly space. You can also download a free manual on building and installing a bat house.
