Recommendations For A Bat House

Q: Can you recommend a good bat house? How best to install? Is it a good method of mosquito control? 

A: From my observation, successful bat houses are a minimum of 24 inches high and wide. The best ones are the “nursery“ type houses that have several narrow chambers inside. Much of your success attracting bats depends on where the bat house is located. They are most successful when installed near open water or at the edge of a woodland. I do not recommend putting bat houses in spots frequented by kids or pets. Although putting up a bat house is a good ecological deed, bats are not very good at mosquito control. Bats prefer night-flying moths and beetles: they are simply “meatier“ than a tiny mosquito. You can get excellent tips on building and installing bat houses from Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org.