Why Should We Provide Bat Houses for Bats?
Bats
have long been disliked by humans -- shunned and thought of as a taboo
creature. Some consider them ugly ("a face only a mother could love"),
furry little animals that fly and seem to be half-bird and half-mammal.
With
proper education and communication, humans are giving them their proper
recognition as valuable to mankind in the ecological system. Many
night-blooming plants, such as bananas and saguaro cactus, are dependent
upon bats for pollination. Give bats credit for helping to reseed
tropical rain forests through their inadvertent dispersal of seeds.
Their
most appealing feature is their enormous capacity for consuming
insects. A nocturnal mammal, they eat when the insects are out, in
contrast to birds, which eat during the day. Some bat species consume
half their weight in one night -- as many as 600 or more gnat-sized
insects in one hour!
The
most common bat in North America, the brown bat, can eat 3,000 to 7,000
mosquitoes each night, and a bat can live to be 20 years old. That's a
pretty effective insecticide, especially when you consider that they do
not poison other creatures or create holes in the ozone layer.
Bats are Cute!
Bats
are harmless to people. They do not become tangled in your hair, nor do
they attack humans. They are far less prone to be rabid than your
everyday household dogs and cats. "In more than four decades, public
health records indicate that only 16 people in the United States and
Canada have died of bat-borne diseases. Placed in perspective, this
means that the odds of anyone dying of a disease from a bat are much
less than one in a million. In contrast, in the USA alone more than 10
people die annually from dog attacks, not to mention dog- and cat-
transmitted diseases." (Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle America's Neighborhood Bats, Univ. of Texas Press, Austin, 1988.
There
are approximately forty species of bats throughout the United States
and Canada, the most common being the little brown bat.
In
Asia, bats are symbols of good luck, long life, and happiness. They are
meticulous in their grooming, spending much of the day and night
combing their fur. They generally congregate with their own gender.
Bats
are the second most common land mammals, with rodents being first. As
they fly, they navigate by means of a sophisticated echolocation system.
The bat sends out signals of sound energy, which are reflected back,
giving it the location of an object as well as its texture and other
characteristics. They can avoid a single human hair with extreme
accuracy, even in total darkness, giving lie to the myth that bats are
blind.
Bat Housing Crunch
Places for bats to roost have become increasingly limited as their favorite old hollow trees, barns, and old houses disappear.
Bat
houses have narrow crevices at the bottom for bats to enter and rough
surfaces inside for them to hold onto. A bat house should be hung at
least 10 to 15 feet above ground, sheltered from the wind, and
unobstructed by items that would inhibit their flying, such as power
lines. To keep the interior very warm, place the house on the side of a
tree or building which receives maximum sun, especially in the morning.
If your location is not sunny enough to warm the house to the 80-100
degrees Fahrenheit required by nursing colonies, you may want to add tar
paper or dark colored shingles to the bat house roof. Do not paint it,
as paints and stains are toxic to the bats. However, a cooler location
may attract a colony of bachelors, who frequently prefer cooler roosts.
Bat boxes located near a source of water, especially a marsh, lake or
stream, are the most likely to attract bats, as this habitat provides
the insects needed for their food. Twelve to eighteen months is a common
waiting period for bats to move into a new house. If you hang your bat
house in the fall or winter, it may be occupied in the first active
season. If it is not occupied within two years, try a new location. If
bats live in your area and your bat house is appropriately located they
will find it.
During
the winter months bats living in Canada and the northern two-thirds of
the United States migrate south or to nearby caves to hibernate, as most
bat species cannot survive subfreezing temperatures.
Conservation
If
bats are to survive, they need our help and protection. They have
proven themselves as valuable members of our ecosystem, and we must
increase the awareness of people who have the ability to protect or to
destroy these little creatures. A bat loose in a house is probably a
young one who is lost and looking for a way out. He should not be
killed, but gently caught with a towel and allowed to escape without
harm. Bat colonies in warm attics can be evacuated safely and encouraged
to take up new residence in a bat house of their own.
Cave explorers should not
disturb the caves of roosting bats, as rousing them from their
hibernation may cause them to use up much of their stored body fat and
die before spring. Unfortunately, thousands of bats have been destroyed
this way.
Bats
are declining, world-wide, at an alarming rate, due to human
misunderstanding. They typically have only one offspring per year,
making their comeback a slow process in need of our help. Coveside
Conservation Products is a supporter of Bat Conservation International, a
non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about these
beneficial animals and helping to conserve them.
Products
Our
bat houses are handcrafted of select, kiln-dried Maine White Pine for
durability, attractiveness, and insulation qualities. The walls are
thick to keep the interior warm and rough-sawn to provide a surface for
the bats to cling to.
Inside
are several partitions, because bats like narrow spaces, and this
allows more surface room for roosting bats. The house is open at the
bottom to eliminate the need for cleaning, and to prevent birds from
nesting in their house.
The
bat house is not painted or stained, because these chemicals are toxic
to the bats. The pine wood will weather nicely to an attractive silver
gray color which will blend in nicely with the outdoor environment.
Mounting Instructions
First,
decide where the bat house is to be mounted; then place a nail or screw
into the tree, pole, or wall so that the head is sticking out 1/4".
Hang the bat house by placing the metal hanger (located on the back of
the bat house) over the nail or screw. After the house hangs securely,
drive a nail or screw through the bottom of the board.
Thank you for caring about North America's bat population.
Source: Coveside Conservation Products
