Bat House Forum

[splaestro]

Our house has vinyl siding. Any recommendations on the method of attaching a single-chamber house through this material?

Also, a lot of houses in my town in east central Indiana have towers for television antennae, many of which are no longer used due to the popularity of cable and TV dishes. These would seem ideal for rocket boxes; depending on the height of the tower and whether or not there is still something on top, I'm thinking in some cases a box might need to be clipped on to horizontal stays on the side of a tower. Has anyone had experience with this kind of mounting?

(Note that I don't actually have one of these towers on my property-- this would be a convince-my-neighbors-a-bat-box-is-good-idea kind of enterprise...)  

[BatMan]

You should just be able to screw right through the vinyl siding, just don't tighten it down to much cause you'll bend/deform the siding.

Yep those would make a good mounting platform. I have family in Union City, In. and I got my cousin looking for one of those antenna mounts for me. That's what I'll be using when he finds me one. I think those have a hole through the top center with a bolt that can secure a pipe, if so you could just get a 10' pipe and slide it up through the center, just enough to mount the rocket box on temporarily and then once the box is secure to the pipe then you could push the pipe up to the desired height.

 

[LarryH]

We have a TV Tower on the end of our house now, and I've been considering taking it down since it isn't really needed any more.  It is a 50' tower, and the antenna on the top of it is coming apart a little bit more with each wind storm.  But, we have to decide what to use for an atenna mount before taking it down.  And then, we have to find someone with the capability and liability insurance to take it down without damaging the house or themselves.

It would, though, make a very stable base for a rocket house.  Even at 50' in the air, it doesn't move at all with the wind.  And, since it is a self-ladder, it is easy to climb and work on.  If we decide to get the tower taken down, I'll post a note on here about it being available.

[BatMan]

Yeah Larry that's the one I'm thinking of, you can climb the rungs on it. I think it has ten foot sections so you could just use 2 sections(top & bottom) splaestro.

[LarryH]

Yes, they are 10' sections.  When I put ours up, I set 3' of the first section in concrete, so there is 47' above ground.

If you were in the Maryland area, there is 30' tower for sale on e-bay -- search fo Item # 260006574882 -- with a starting price of $20.00.

 

[splaestro]

Thanks, BatMan and Larry! I must confess I hadn't thought of actually trying to acquire one of these towers and install it... but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find someone around here who'd be ready to part with theirs. That would require a bit more ambition (and skill) than I have at present, though. I'll have to see how successful this first box I'm building is.

BatMan, are you looking to install one of these towers where you live in FL, or in Union City, IN? It wasn't clear to me from your post. Union City isn't far from where I live.

Larry, why not put up a rocket box on your tower, rather than taking it down? Have you already put up enough bat shelters?

And here's a totally unrelated question for Larry: if you live near Dayton, OH, you're in the same climatological zone as I am. What color(s) have you found to be most effective? Our house has dark purple/burgundy shutters, so I have been thinking about using the same color on my box.

Brian (splaestro)

[Joe Spencer]

I believe the colors you're considering should be fine in your area.

[LarryH]

I don't need another bat house right now.  I only have a couple hundred bats in the houses I have, so there is room for a lot more bats in the houses.

I don't really want a bat house over the house, so I'd have to move the TV tower out to the pasture where the other bat houses are before I could put a rocket house on it.  I may do that some day, but it isn't in the immediate future.

The houses I have are black on top, and grey on the bottom portion -- these are Maberry houses, and he recommened those colors.

I tried to get a good picture to show the color of them, but it didn't come out very clear.

[img]file:///C:/Digital%20Camera%20Pictures%20Download/Bird%20and%20Bat%20Houses/Bat%20Houses%20Closeup1.jpg[/img]

[Joe Spencer]

Larry would you please remind me of your proximity to the year round water source you think your bats are utilizing?  Thanks

[BatMan]

BatMan, are you looking to install one of these towers where you live in FL, or in Union City, IN? It wasn't clear to me from your post. Union City isn't far from where I live.

 

I would want to install it down here.  I do have a couple bat houses installed in Union City, one on the outside of a barn and the other at a different location on the inside of a barn. I have yet to hear if either one is occupied yet.