Includes pdf with step by step instructions.
Have you ever sat out in the evening, wanting to relax with friends with a glass of wine only to find that you end up running indoors or lighting all kinds of ‘anti mosquito’ candles because the mosquitos are eating you alive? We’ve looked into zappers, ultra sonic sounds and all sorts of repellants yet none of them have solved the mosquito problem by even the smallest amount.
Sound familiar?
So, this year we are doing something different.
We found a unique way to get rid of thousands, and tens of thousands, mosquitos every night without even thinking about it or doing any work. If you think we have gone a little batty, you are 100% correct….we are building a bat house!
Each bat eats a couple thousand mosquitos every night and will come back to the same “house” year after year. So once you’ve done a bit of work to build your bat house, the rest is just sitting back and enjoying the evening with friends, while your little ‘friends’ are devouring thousands of the pests every night.
So, how can you build a bat house simply and easily and at nearly no cost at all!
You could just buy a bat house off of a web site online but many of these online bat houses are far too small to attract bats. The Massachusetts government has a great page on building bat houses and most interestingly they state that a bat house should be at least 20” tall and 14” wide with multiple chambers. This rules out most of the bat houses I’ve seen for sale on the web.
A chamber is the narrow area where the bats roost and raise their babies.The depth of each chamber should be 3/4” at the most and as mentioned should be at least 20” tall and 14” wide. If your chamber is smaller than 3/4” the bats can’t get in and move around and if it’s much larger they won’t feel cozy and will not make your house their home. Large chambers also attract wasps and mud daubers which we do not want around.
Bats sleep in the day need heat while sleeping, so the bat house needs to be on a south facing wall and not shaded by trees and needs to be at least 10 feet off the ground. It should be a dark colour to attract and retain heat from the sun. Bat-houses should not be placed in trees, as the foliage shades the house and predators can easily climb the trees to try and have an easy meal.
You’ll also need to have a source of water for the bats. A nearby river, stream, lake or pond is ideal.
Once your bat house is up and occupied, the mosquito control takes care of itself and you’ll enjoy seeing these little creatures coming out at dusk and zipping around feeding on those pesky mosquitoes. Oh, and bats help pollinate fruits and flowers as well.. another bonus.
Finally, contrary to what some have heard, bats don’t fly into your hair, they don’t spread disease and won’t bite or attack people. Also, they are not blind and can see very well in the dark, and hunt by sight and a type of sonar in order to find and catch mosquitos and other flying insects
Now is the time to start if you want to attract these little guys and to have your own army of mosquito eating soldiers.
