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Little Brown Bat House
Bat houses have become more popular, recognizing that most bats are harmless mammals and beneficial to insect control. We've designed the ideal bat box from barn wood to make them feel right at home.
Bat House
16" x 12" x 2.5"
$24.95
OUT OF STOCK
Our Little Brown Bat box, specifically engineered for warm climate bats, is made from red oak barnwood for long lasting use. Traditionally, bats have roosted in trees and caves; they have adapted to
living in bat houses, because fewer trees and caves are available to them. Ventilation has been provided for southern climates, caulk the width spanning 1/4 inch slot for northern locations. Our bat houses are ready
to mount utilizing a pre-drilled keyhole slot in the back and anchor holes.
 All About Bats
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- Bats (order Chiroptera) make up almost one quarter of all mammal species. Mammals give birth to live offspring and nurse their young, and bats are the only mammals that can fly. Their wings are membranes of
skin, and their bodies are covered with fur. Most people think bats are blind, when in fact, they see quite well. And, their remarkable sense of
hearing makes them incredible night hunters.
- When a bat hunts at night, it emits sound pulses
produced in the larynx. These sounds, which come from the throat or nose, echo off
objects and return to the bat's ears. Responding to the echoes, bats forage their favorite food - flying
insects - at night. This built in sonar system, called "echolocation", allows bats to navigate and feed in the
dark when flying insects are most prevalent.
- The little brown bat Myotis lucifugus, is the most common specie in the US, and is ecologically beneficial to mankind. Little brown bats have glossy brown fur
and wingspans of 9 to 11 inches. Resembling mice with wings, little brown bats have a much lower reproductive output than most rodents, females give birth to only one pup per year. They also have an unusually long lifespan for a small mammal,
some living 20 to 30 years. Little brown bats are strictly insectivorous and consume large quantities of night-flying insects, including midges, moths, and disease carrying mosquitoes.
It is estimated that a little brown bat can consume as many as 600 insects per hour.
- Why a Bat House
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- A single little brown bat can catch 600 mosquitoes in just one
hour. During the summer months, bats hunt for about two hours after sunset and two more hours just before sunrise when mosquitoes are abundant. Between hunts, the bats roost in crevices,
where they form tight clusters. Maternity colonies typically roost in the attics of homes or the rafters of barns, but they also take up residence
in bat houses. By providing a bat house you are accomplishing two objectives: insect control - and an alternative to your attic.
- Bat Houses for Suburbia
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- Little brown bat females choose roost sites where the temperature ranges from 80 to 100deg.F; these high temperatures promote the
development of their young. A female gives birth to a single pup, usually during June. During birth, the female reverses her
normal roosting position and hangs by her thumbs in order to catch the pup in her tail membrane. Pups are born 25-30% of adult weight, develop quickly and are able to fly at three weeks of age.
While females gather in maternity colonies, male little brown bats roost separately, either singly or in small bachelor colonies. At night females leave their pups in the roost to forage, and upon their return locate their
offspring by its voice and odor.
- In winter, little brown bats
choose hibernation sites with temperatures several degrees above freezing, minimal air flow, and very high humidity. There they hang singly or in
small clusters. During hibernation a bat's body temperature drops to about 40deg.F, drastically slowing all of its body functions. For example, the
heart rate of a little brown bat in flight is 1,000 beats per minute, but the rate of a hibernating bat is only 5 beats per minute. Bats remain in
hibernation from November until March or April, but occasionally arouse to drink, urinate, or change locations. In the spring they return to their
summer quarters, completing the annual cycle.
- This summer, bats are more likely to accommodate your bat house if it meets their high temperature requirements. Our bat house located in southern climates
is ideal. In northern climates we recommend caulking the entire house and painting it a darker shade.
- Locating your Bat Box
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- Place your bat house under the eaves of your home, or on a pole, at least 15 feet above the ground. We recommend mounting your house facing a southerly direction that has at least
5-7 hours of direct sunlight. Our western cedar handcrafted bat house will naturally darken and absorb the heat from the sun, if you live in an especially cold climate, consider staining the outside of the box a darker shade.
Bats will swoop down from above and enter into your bat house if the house has a glide-in approach, do not mount the house in a hard to reach location such as a heavily limbed tree, or around utility lines to your home.
- How Many Bat Houses?
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- Little brown bats feed on mosquitoes and other small flying insects, and having a bat house in your
yard is likely to reduce your family's exposure to disease carrying mosquitoes. Weigh that to the size of your yard, the available areas for mounting bat houses, and your enthusiasm for bats. For most we recommend one bat house mounted on your house up high,
but if acreage (and insects) warrant, why not mount two houses back to back on a wooden 4" x 4", or metal pole?
- Safety Concerns
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- The incidence of rabies in bats is much lower than that in other native mammals, less than 20 cases of death from bat bites has been reported in the US in the last 40 years. The Little Brown Bat is not capable of biting and breaking human skin. To
avoid adverse health and safety consequences, situations requiring removal of bats should be undertaken by a wildlife professional. The accumulation of urine and feces can be a cause for concern. A fungus that grows in built up fecal matter can cause a lung disease called Histoplasmosis. There are no records of disease transmission to humans or pets from bat parasites prefering their bat hosts and
seldom bite other animals.
In addition to bat houses, we offer hand made bluebird, chickadee, and wren houses, butterfly and flying squirrel shelters, plus chipmunk feeders.
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