Offering bats a place to live "outside" your home is a great idea. A bat house helps give bats an alternative to moving inside your attic, while at the same time encouraging them to stay close enough to help with mosquito control. In fact, just one bat can eat over a thousand mosquitos per night. Correct placement and installation will be important and we can gladly help you with this project as part of our bat removal services, as a conservation effort or simply as a way to help you enjoy the many benefits bats have to offer.
Bats are dangerous in the house, however, we believe they can be of great service when living outside the home. Bats are incredible hunters and often chase down their prey while in flight. The feeding diet common to Florida bats consists mainly of insects and fruits.
The mosquito is one of the bat's favorite foods and just one bat can consume thousands of mosquitoes every night.
Bats have developed a bad reputation for carrying rabies and other disease, but in fact, the odds of getting a disease from a mosquito bite are much greater than getting rabies or another disease from a bat.
Installing a bat box on or near your home is a valuable part of any exclusion or bat removal service. Boxes encourage bats to stay around and help balance the ecosystem. And giving them an alternative roosting location helps keep them from trying to find a way back into your home.
When The Wildlife Whisperer does a full bat exclusion on a commercial building or home, we typically install at least two bat houses on the outside of the building at no charge. If our clients want to retain their bats, we want to encourage that and at the same time, prove to you that we did a great job at sealing up the building and bat-proofing it.
We recommend installing these 2 bat houses on or close to your home, at least 15' high, one in the sun and one in the shade. It can take anywhere from a few days to several years to see occupancy in your bat boxes.
It is important to choose your box carefully - not all houses are created equal. If you buy junky, unproven houses you will be disappointed.
Instead, look for quality in design and plan ahead for the colony to grow. A 300 bat capacity may sound like a lot of bats, but actually, it is not.
When it comes to bats, the more, the merrier. More bats equals more fun, and fewer mosquitoes. You can expect to pay $75 plus for a quality 3 tiered bat house that consistently has an 80% occupancy rate.
There are places to go to find plans if you want to design and build your own wooden box, however, chances are if it is not tested by a wildlife expert in the process, you may not get the results you want.
It might be tempting to look for a nicely painted, frilly bat house to adorn your home, however, the most important thing will be attracting the bats.
If you live in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Boca Grande, Pine Island, Sanibel Captiva, or surrounding areas, and would like assistance installing your bat house, please contact us online to see how we might be able help.
