Anyone encourage Bats to their back yard?
 

I was watching an episode of Shark Tank and was intrigued by a company “Batbnb”. I ordered one of their bat houses last night and am super pumped to get it. My wife is definitely on board, 14yo daughter not so much lol

I built a nice patio last year and would like to enjoy it with less mosquitoes around. My wife suggested we use one of those mosquitoe spraying companies to treat our yard but I’m not too into lots of chemicals being put in my yard with my dogs and kids playing out there.
I always see bats flying around in my neighborhood so I hope to have good success at housing them in my back yard!

We have lots of bats around our house.

Only negative is they seem to hang out at night above our patio/seating area and leave lots of poop.

Looks very much like mice poop, but the ends are pointed.

My friend had one installed up high, under the soffit, at his house. He said it seem to help.

I put up a bat house but it was probably too low on an open fence. Only got sparrows.

Mosquitoes can also be controlled with big fans, citronella candles, and/or just barrier nets.
No need for spraying chemicals throughout the neighborhood.

Mosquitoes also pollinate and provide food for a lot of great critters such as barn swallows diving throughout the night.
Free entertainment.

I really wanted one at our old place, but the perfect place to put it would have meant the guano would have been in a bad spot.

Our old place had a lot of mosquitos during the summer if there was ample rain. I sprayed demon WP which kills stuff dead. The mosquitos bred so fast that I couldn't keep up with the spray.

When we lived near downtown, we lived ~1/4 mile from a bridge with a colony of 250k bats. I almost never saw mosquitos there.

When I was thinking about getting one, I did some research. There are several criteria for the best place to put them.

Yep we have swallows and rarely have mosquitos.

Yes hanging it on a fence will not work, it needs to be at least 10’ off the ground. When the bats leave the house they drop and use the momentum to gain flight.

I have a 12x16 shed in back corner of my yard, the front wall is 15’ high. That’s where I plan to hang it

they will decimate the bug population

We put up purple martin houses when I lived in Texas, happy side effect was far fewer spiders. They eat their weight in bugs daily.

They were on a pole that telescoped, so you could bring them down and clean them out at the end of the season without a ladder. Also would be good for your bat condo

My elderly neighbor come to find out had 3 colonies of bats living in the attic space of his home. The tell tale sign was staining on the wall below the louvered gable end of his roof/home. Cost him a bit to eradicate them with an exterminator and a fortune to clean up the attic that his homeowners insurance didn't help a bit.

I would love for bats to migrate here. They would be fat.

I have this and it helps.


Your friend has shared a link to a Home Depot product they think you would be interested in seeing:

Dynatrap1/2 Acre Insect and Mosquito Trap With Pole
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dynatrap-1-2-Acre-Insect-and-Mosquito-Trap-With-Pole-DT1260/313875190
SKU# 313875190



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Bats used to love my patio, but I had bat poop here & there so discouraged them. I bought a bat box & put it up on the side of one of my sheds out back. Since then I haven't seen any anywhere. It's kind of strange.

We used to have tons of bats many years ago but white nose syndrome has almost wiped them out. We have plenty of trees and insects, so food and shelter are not lacking.

A waste of money in my opinion mosquito "traos" generally don't trap mosquitoes.

No encouragement needed. They just appear each summer.

If you can still find one, look for a Mosquito Deleto by Coleman, a good friend used one and swore by it. We use tiki torches and citronella candles. You can also use a product called a thermacell my friend and I use the portable units during early fall trips to the woods and for hunting.

We have one on a tree 15’ up. It’s been empty for 2 years.
The critters appear to be fussy about placement.

They really are: https://batmanagement.com/blogs/bat-roosts/how-to-choose-a-bat-house-location

We have so many Swallows we haven't pursued the bat house angle to increase the bat population, especially after we looked, as many have written, at placement issues. The only option was to use the power poles (nope) or drive in some poles. Again, nope.

But if you have a small opening in an attic vent, they'll move in without any qualms. Just ask my F.I.L. Every night he'd have a whole flock of them pour out of his attic.

They go in and out at the bottom. The hole way up top is just a vent.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1648126637.JPG

I built my own bat house and installed it up on a pine tree, but never had any residents. We do have around 2-4 bats that visit rather frequently around our back field. They appear right around dusk and hang around for about 15 minutes or so. It's neat watching them dive and swoop in the field while enjoying a beverage sitting in the hot tub.

I have bats that live between the rain gutters and the house facia. Had one fly out close to my face when I was up a ladder. That was a rush!