Bat House Forum

[RockAuto.com Auto Parts]

I used the backing for "latch hook" rugs to line the inside of my bat house. It gives the bats something to hang on to. Latch hook rug backing is approximately 0.25 inch mesh made out of a stiff blend of cotton and nylon. It is durable, inexpensive and will not scratch the bats. I used the same exterior stain I used on the wood to stain the latch hook mesh black. It is available at craft stores, fabric stores and the big retail stores.

[Joe Spencer]

Nice post! Yes looks like it will work. Did you staple it to plywood partitions? If so did you use stainless steel staples? Looking forward to potential occupancy and acceptance by bats. My crafty daugher has some and will post a picture of it soon. :thumbsup1: HERE it is:

photo lost

[Mark Kiser]

When testing new materials, it is best to make the partitions removable so that if the material wears out and needs replacing, the whole bat house won't have to be thrown out or torn apart to get to the inside.

Make the partitions removable by using a small cleat attached near the bottom on each side. The bottom of the partitions will rest on the cleats.
Make the cleats removable by using thumbscrews.

Good luck, and keep us posted on how the material works out over the years.

Cheers,

Mark Kiser
bathouses@batcon.org

[Joe Spencer]

Absolutely Mark! Good point. I have been making all my bat houses now for some time with removable cores to make any fixes/mods/repairs quickly and easily.
:thumbsup1:

[RockAuto.com Auto Parts]

It has been almost a year since I put up the bat house and the latch hook material seems to be holding up well to both the weather and the bats.  There is no fraying or stains visible from the ground.  

The bat house was occupied immediately, probably because I sealed up (at night) a nearby hole the bats were using to enter my home.  I no longer hear the bats chirping around in my ceiling and I find what I assume are bat droppings whenever I position a large white rag on the ground below the bat house.

The bat house is made out of 3/4 in. plywood and has a metal roof.  It is quite large,  about 4 X 3 ft. and I am guessing it weighs about 60 lbs.  I had so much fun over- building it that I did not think about how I was going to get it 30 feet up the side of my home.  It hangs from heavy cable off a large beam that pokes out the side of the chimney.  After terrifying myself and the neighbors trying to wrestle the bat house up a ladder; I rigged up a pulley and rope to the beam to hoist the bat house up there.  The bat house is now on its own.  Hopefully, it will last until I am too old to climb thirty feet up a ladder. 

By the way, the neighbors were surprised I had bats living in my ceiling and they were even more surprised I wanted to build a house for them.  Despite my best efforts to explain the benefits of bats, they seemed suspicious and never offered to help me raise up the house.  Last summer they kept asking me if there were any bats yet and did not seem to believe me when I said yes, the bats had moved from the people house to the bat house.   I guess they were expecting to see bat swarms.  Bats make the best neighbors!
 

[Joe Spencer]

Fantastic news and appreciate the feedback.  Is it still the sole bat house on your property?  Did you use regular staples or stainless steel to fasten mesh to partitions? or no staples at all?  Have you done an exit count to determine how many residents you have?  Nice going!  Joe....  

[RockAuto.com Auto Parts]

This is the only bat house we have.  I believe I read the houses should be at least 15 ft. off the ground or so and we do not have any other structures that high.  I almost put another one on the side of our shed which overlooks a ravine, but the bat house would have been only 8 ft. off the ground which I thought would be too low. 

I used regular staple gun staples to attach the latch hook mesh to the wood.  I pounded the staples further in with a hammer.  The staples got a little moisture protection from the dark stain I used on the whole thing.

I do not know how many residents are in there.  We lived here eight years with bats in our ceiling and never saw a bat.   It is a vaulted ceiling with about six inches between the ceiling and the outside roof.  Four or five times a year we would hear squeals and fluttering sounds from the ceiling.  My wife would look at me and say "roof rats!" and I would say "just blue jays".  We did not know we had bats until we had our roof replaced and a roofer carried one down to show us.   The new roof did not scare away the bats for long.  We heard them rattling around in the ceiling again a few weeks later.   I built the bat house after a bat fell into our kitchen sink through a small gap around a built-in light fixture.   The bats, except for their wings, are incredibly tiny.  The one the roofer caught scurried into a 1/2" gap between some stacked metal roofing when he let it go.   I would probably need night vision goggles and a lot of patience to ever even see these little bats at night.

 

[Terry Lobdell]

Hi,

I like the idea of the latchhook mesh. I have tried black cross stich mesh and have found that bats favor it over wood saw kerf roosts but it's just too brittle. This summer I've built a couple bat houses with the black pet-proof screen. Walmart is now carrying it.

Does the cross stitch mesh buckle much? How far apart did you place the staples when you fastened it?

Thanks,

Terry

 

[RockAuto.com Auto Parts]

The mesh is quite stiff and does not buckle.  The staples were to keep the mesh from swinging away from the wood base.  The mesh did not need staples to keep its shape.

[Joe Spencer]

Great and thanks for update:  I used the pet-proof screening on this foam rocket and although it was time consuming it worked out well: http://batnic.org/bhfshare/foamrocket/index.html :brightidea:

[Frank]

I recently put up a single-chamber house ala "The Book", using the tall option, so it is 48" tall and very heavy. My worst problem during construction was fastening down the plastic mesh. No way could I hammer Aluminum staples into the hard plywood. I ended up using Al carpet tacks, carefully hammered so that there were few, if any, sharp edges. There must be an easier method. What do you folks use for fastening mesh? Are there staple guns that will drive non-rusting staples without sharp edges into hard plywood?

[Terry Lobdell]

Lowe's carries stainless steel staples. You could either use a staple gun or just pound them in with a hammer.........I've used both stainless steel staples and poly glue on pet screen. The glue is probably cheaper. I weight it down with stacks of pennies to hold it tight against the wood until the glues dries........

[Joe Spencer]

I use the stainless steel staples as well when using any type of
screening.  As long as your straight and firm with the gun it
should penetrate any plywood.  Aluminum staples are likely too
soft and bend easily.  I have never tried them I am just assuming.

[Terry Lobdell]

The thing about aluminum is it corrodes rapidly after contact with  bat urine. It also becomes toxic as well. 

[RockAuto.com Auto Parts]

I finally developed a bat house picture I took last May.  The latch hook mesh is visible.