Bat House

To learn more about bats, Rebecca invited Kathy Schwellenbach to show how to attract bats into your yard by building a bat house. Bats have gotten a bad rap, so Kathy debunks some of the misconceptions. You can actually contract rabies more easily from a cow than from a bat. And what about the so-called aggressive nature of the bat? Although bats might swoop down near your head, they are not coming after you directly. They're going after the insect that's attracted to you. People are a food source for that insect, but the bat wants to eat the insect because it's the bat's food source. Remember, bats are pretty mellow, but as with any wild animal, they will defend themselves if they think they are being attacked.

It's important to keep a bat house out of trees because they hide sunlight. A bat house needs to be warm. You should hang a bat house about 15 to 18 feet high, so that the bat can fly in and out of the house. When a bat house is located on the side of a human home, a predator can't get to it. Bats also need to be within a quarter mile of water that provides an ample food source, because a lot of insects like to feed on water.

One of the most popular and most proven bat houses is an economy-size bat house. This fits about 30 to 50 bats and can be made for about $20.

Materials:

Wood (preferably a wood with a rough texture to it)
two 20-inch-long 2x2 boards for the side of the bat house
one 16-inch-long 2x2 board for the ceiling
five 16-inch-long 1x8 boards, three for the back side and two for the front
one 16.5-inch-long board for the roof
one 1x4 board for the bat perch
nails
staple gun
a section of window screen
paint (Builders in cooler, northern states will want to use a dark color, while those in southern states should use light paint. Dark colors absorb heat.)

The economy size bat house is an oblong box for housing 30 to 50 bats. To start, measure and cut wood into sized pieces. Paint one side of each piece with two coats of paint.

Line the two 20-inch-long 2x2 boards up across from each other so that they are parallel. These are the sides of your bat house. Next, place the shorter (16-inch-long) 2x2 board at the top of the others to form the third side, or ceiling, of your outer frame. Continue by laying three of your 1x8 boards on top of the completed three-sided frame. Nail these boards down, using three nails in each, to add on the back side of the bat house.

Next, construct the front of the house, leaving a small gap between the two boards for ventilation if you live in a southern U.S. state. (If you live in the north, you can skip the ventilation gap.). To do this, nail the remaining two 1x8 boards to the frame in the same way you nailed the previous ones, this time making sure that the two boards are nailed closer to the upper half of the frame. If you live in the warmer southern states, be sure to leave a small (about 3/4 inch) gap between the two boards so the bats can get some air.

To complete the lower half of the front side, you will need to add a bat perch. Take the 16-1/2-inch board designated for the roof, and nail the 1x4 perch on the lower half of the board. This perch will allow the bats a place to hang.

Now, nail the finished roof piece to the top of the house, perch side to the interior. This closes up the top of the box, leaving the bats the bottom, open area to enter the house. To make sure that the house is airtight, caulk the seams of the house. Bats like their homes dry.

The little brown bat and the big brown bat live in the northern two-thirds of the United States. In the south, Mexican freetailed and evening bats are most common. In general, any species that naturally roosts in buildings or under bridges will live in a bat house.