Welcome to Best Bat Houses
Bats are an essential part of a healthy environment. They can be an important part of insect-control strategies aimed at reducing pesticide use, thus reducing pesticide contamination of our watersheds. One little brown bat can catch 1,000 mosquito-size insects in an hour! My smallest house can hold approximately 50 – 75 bats.
Unfortunately, many bat species are declining in numbers at an alraming rate. They are slow to reproduce, most bat species have only one “pup” per year. Bats suffer from habitat loss and human fear based on myths.
I have three (3) bat house models, all of which are certified by Bat Conservation International (BCI) — meaning they have passed all the criteria years of reseach by BCI has determined goes into the success of a bat house.All of our Bat Houses are Certified by Bat Conservation International!
Why Best Bat Houses?
My houses are made with AC plywood, no chemically treated wood and pine. During and after construction I use a 40 year latex caulk on the joints, bats don’t like drafts. I countersink exterior grade screws and cover them with wood putty for added weather protection. The climbing mesh is stapled on with stainless steel staples to resist rusting. The interior gets 2 coats and the exterior 3 coats of Behr 25 year latex deck stain.
Other’s bat houses I have seen have 1½ inch chambers. This size is more attractive to non-target tenants such as wasps, chipmunks, etc. requiring more frequent monitoring.
5% of all sales will be donated
5% of all sales will be donated equally between Bat Conservation International, Wisconsin DNR Bat Program, Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Listen
Mary Dussling talks about her bat houses (2:56 minutes)
Placement of Bat Houses
Bat houses should be placed by early April, however it may take a year or two for the bats to find it. Once residency is established, repeat use is the norm. Plus, if bats have their own home they won’t have any need for your attic. With every order, I include instructions for bat house placement, as well as mounting techniques.
Testimonials
We purchased a bat house from you at the Farmer's Market. I've seen a couple of commercially made bat houses, they are not near the quality of yours. Good luck!
Sometimes bats find their way into classrooms and offices in our older campus buildings. Our Honors class recognized how important it is to coexist with the bats and adopted their cause as an eco-project. We held a fundraiser "Bat House Party" so that we could buy artificial roosts from BestBatHouses.com. Now we can safely exclude the bats from our attics and still encourage them to stay on campus and eat our mosquitoes! We are impressed with the quality of our new bat houses!
My bat house arrived last week. You were right, it was easy to hang.
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Installing Bat Houses
Whether a bat house is pole/post mounted or mounted on the side of a building several things need to be taken into consideration. All bat houses should be mounted at least 10 feet above ground, and 12 to 20 feet is better. Bat houses work best with at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight (if only partial day sun is available-morning sun is preferable). Bat houses should be placed at least 20-25 feet from the nearest tree branches, wires or other potential perches for aerial predators.
Download PDF of mounting on structure instructions or mounting on post here.