It takes more than just having a bat house to attract bats into your yard. You must place it in the right spot, and you must paint it the right color. Bats are not color sensitive, but they are very sensitive to temperature. The color will help you control how much heat your bat house will absorb or reflect depending on where you live. Dark colors absorb heat while light colors reflect it.

What’s Your Temperature?
Paint your bat house black if you live in an area where the average temperature range in July is 80-85°F or less; dark where it is 85-95F°; light where it is 95-100°F; and white where it exceeds 100°F. If you have a dark bat house place it in a spot that will receive at least ten hours of sun; if you have a light bat house it should receive at least six hours of sun; and if you have a white one, you need to make sure it will receive some midday shade.

Where Should It Be?
Once you have figured out how to maintain the best temperature, you need to find the best spot. The ideal place to mount a bat house is on the side of a building or on a pole between 10 and 20 feet high–the higher the better. Bats will usually not come to houses mounted in trees; in fact, you should try to mount your bat house at least 20 feet away from any large trees. Bats prefer an unobstructed area so that other animals like squirrels and raccoons do not bother them.

Once You’ve Built It, When Will They Come?
Bats are migratory and should begin arriving around early summer. Experiments show that if you put your house up in the fall or winter, it will more likely be occupied. If you don’t have bats the first summer, don’t get discouraged; studies showed that over half of a test group were occupied by the second summer. Bats usually stay around till fall. The warmer your climate, the longer they stay; in hot climates they may stay year around.

Where Are They?
To observe the bats, shine a flashlight into the open bottom. Try to do this fairly quickly (less than ten seconds) so you do not disturb them. After awhile they become pretty tolerant of this. They do not like it when you touch either the mounting pole or the house. If you are observant, you will see the bats flying in the area at dusk. You might want to try looking at them with binoculars since in flight they look very similar to birds.

You Can Help
The North American Bat Research Project would like your help. They are looking for volunteers in the United States and Canada to participate in their project. They are researching the habitats of bats so they can help provide what the bats need. To participate in the project, contact them at:

BCI North American Bat Research Project
P.O. Box 162603
Austin, Texas 78716

Watch The Video

How to Build a Bat House : Materials for Building a Bat House