ouses in various dark colors and with different sun exposure are installed in a group, occupancy is 80 percent. Single houses are only successful about half of the time, Chenger says.
In most climates, bat houses should be oriented to the east, southeast or south. On wooden or masonry buildings, bat houses should face south or east. However, in the warmest regions, north-facing houses do best. Those on poles should be mounted as a back-to-back pair with one box facing north and the other south. Avoid bright substrate, which reflects light up into the box, or anywhere near smoke. Bats also don’t like drafts and will vacate structurally unsound roosts.
The Audubon Certification program for golf courses advocates the use of bat houses. Saucon Valley County Club in Bethlehem, Pa., is certified, and incorporates bluebird boxes and other nature-attracting devices on its course.
Will Varner, of Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU) in Allentown, Pa., one of the company’s 300 franchised nature shops, sells 100 bat boxes a year, including to landscapers.
“A lot come in and say, ‘Who would want bats in their yard?’” says Varner, who partners with wife Pat in the business. “Then I explain how they catch thousands of mosquitoes a night, and the next thing you know they’re bringing a bat box to the cashier’s desk.”
Varners says, “They work, they really do. Then, you don’t have to use pesticides and bug killers. And, no more zapper lights. We don’t need candles, or to burn citronella. It’s fun just watching them fly, too. All of a sudden they’ll swarm out like they’re on a timer when it’s time to eat.”
To entice them, Varner suggests smearing banana on the outside front side where the bats enter. “The immature bats get in there, and the cycle starts,” he says.
Minnich agrees that bat boxes are the right thing for the environment and his clientele—and at a time when the bats need us the most.
The author is a widely-published writer and English teacher at Emmaus (Pa.) High School. For over 25 years, he’s written in nearly every journalistic genre and been published in 75-plus national and regional magazines, as well as dozens of daily and weekly alternative city newspapers.