Bats migrate and get pregnant when they mate at the migration destination. Here in
Austin, they migrate to Mexico. Generally, only the females return with their
pregnant bellies. They give birth and don't leave the bat house for weeks at a time,
then will fly east at dusk. They feed on big juicy moths, mosquitoes, and other
flying insects at night. I have a bat house for 200 bats. It looks like it can fit
ten bats!

It is south facing, on a 15 foot pole and I put some bat guano around the base and
filled a sock and dunked the sock in water and hung it on the back of the house. The
bats are starting to return to the area from their migration, so I haven't seen any
yet. There is the second largest urban colony about 2 miles west of my house under
an overpass at Mc neil Road and I-35. They fly by our backyard by the hundreds of
thousands every night. It looks like a huge bunch of swarms as they emerge.

Go to this website to find out much, much more than I can ever tell you:

http://www.batcon.org/

Victoria


On 16 Mar 2003 11:17:47 -0800, (mypet) wrote:

We are located in AL and have procrastinated about getting a bat
population started. We have looked at plans for the houses and where
they prefer to be positioned and I had a few questions.

As we are so far south will the bats get too hot in summer if we put
them in full sun and up a 15-foot pole? Could that be why some of the
rec.garden listers are saying they had inhabitants at below that
height?

On the bat houses that some house different numbers of bats. How many
bats should a person try to cultivate per acre? Have any of you had
your population long enough to see a decrease in the amount of
mosquitoes?

I note that you should live within one-quarter mile of a water source.
We live within that distance of a small river. Will the bats leave
the bat house and head for the river or do they mainly hunt close to
home?

Are the houses sufficient to build a population or do you need to get
a brood box as well?