Bats are an essential component of a healthy environment and bay houses encourage them in. Making a bat-friendly area in your backyard helps to promote bats’ ecologically important roles in the environment, such as pest control, pollination, and seed dissemination. Bats are Nature’s mosquito police and feed on moths, wasps, beetles, gnats, midges, and mayflies, as well as other unpleasant insects that disturb your outdoor activities.

Explaining how many insects bats can eat is one of the most effective methods to urge people to protect bats. Some little bats have been revealed to be capable of catching 1,000 or more microscopic insects in a single hour, according to scientists. A nursing mother bat consumes the most insects, taking up to 4,000 in a single night.

While having them live in your house isn’t ideal, you can still benefit from them if you install an artificial roost, such as a bat house. This is one of the finest ways to help bat conservation. Bat houses can be very valuable in providing secure roost areas for bats, especially since bat populations have declined dramatically. Bats serve humans and the environment in a variety of ways, and they need your support!

Place your bat house in the best possible place to stimulate bat activity. The site is equally as crucial as its design. The bat house should be properly situated for maximum occupancy.

Houses facing South or Southeast usually do well. It shouldn’t be too close to a tree or anything else that will obscure sunlight or let predators to get in. The higher the better. Place the bat home on a pole or outbuilding that is at least 15 feet above the ground. It’s not a good idea to hang it on your house since bats carry mites, fleas, and insects (and, in rare cases, rabies) that you want to keep out. Furthermore, bats are untidy.

The temperature has a significant impact on whether or not bats will use a bat house. It should be kept at a comfortable temperature that is neither too cold nor too hot.

Without exception, bat houses should be placed in areas that receive at least eight hours of direct sunlight every day. Allowing your bat house to enjoy some afternoon shade, especially in the hottest sections of the state, may be useful. It should be located near a water supply, and in an open area.

Bat boxes can be erected at any time of year, but they are more likely to be used during their first summer if they are erected before the bats emerge from their winter hibernation in the spring

There are many pre-built bat houses and plans to build your own. The National Wildlife Federation has a great article. https://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife/cover/build-a-bat-house