Wondering how and where to put up your new bat house? Here are some tips.
- The cooler the state you live in, the darker you want your bat house. According to studies by BatCon, or Bat Conservation International, Most of the US is able to use a black or darkly stained bat house. The only exception is in Central Texas, Arizona, Southern Californa and the very southern tip of Nevada, where you should use a lighter stain or paint. The reason for the dark color is to absorb heat, so the sun heats up the bat house to a temperature the bats need.
- The best place (for the bats) is on a building, near the top, facing the morning sun, so as high on the building as you can get it, facing south-east.
- You can also mount your new bat house on a post or pole or even a tree, but the odds of attracting bats will decline.
- The construction of the bat house DOES matter. The bat house should be at least 24" tall, have chambers 20 inches tall and be at least 14 inches wide. The bat house should also have some type of ventilation. We recommend the bat house we build, the three-chambered bat house, which is built to the specifications given by the Organization for Bat Conservation and BATCON, (Bat Conservation International). Looker Bat houses are built to the Organization for Bat Conservation specifications as well. (or OBC)
- You will want to put your bat house at least 12-15 feet above ground, the higher, the better.
- Put up your bat house withing 1/4 mile of water.
- Dark Colored houses- Black or Dark Brown- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania and north-east of Pennsylvania.
- Medium colored houses- Dark to light brown or dark grey- Almost the rest of the United States, with the above and below as exceptions.-(Our darkly stained houses are perfectly colored for most of the US.)
- Light Colored, or no stain- Central Texas, Southern California and Arizona.
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