A Batty Idea: Natural Pest Control
Gardens are made up of many things. They can be filled with fruits, vegetables, flowers and sometimes ceramic gnomes. Gardens can be also be used to attract birds and butterflies, but how about attracting something a little different? How about attracting bats to your garden? These little guys get a bad rap and are experts at insect control. Read on, you may want bats to become a part of your landscape.
First, bats are wild animals and should not be caught or handled. The risk of getting rabies from a bat bite is minimal, but it does exist. Bats are not naturally aggressive, but like any wild animal, they will bite if they feel threatened. With that said, bats can be fascinating creatures to observe and as mentioned above, they are a natural insect disposal system. That is to say that they eat insectsÉa lot of insects. A small brown bat can eat more than 1,000 insect an hour. Now imagine what a colony of bats can do. You would never have to buy insect repellent again.
Attracting bats requires a bat house. You can a buy a bat house or build your own. Many plans exist on the Internet for building your own bat house. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, do some homework and decide which layout is best for you.
If you are building your own bat house, there a few things to keep in mind. Bats need warmth. They are like temperatures between 85 and 100 F. This means your bat house needs to be painted with dark colors, preferably black or dark gray. The color will absorb the sun make the house warmer.
The house should have a chamber at least 14 inches wide and a couple of feet tall. The landing area, or entrance, should be rough to aid in traction for the little bug-eaters. The house should also be water-proof.
Placement of your bat house is crucial. Because heat is so important to bats, the house should be placed somewhere that gets a lot of sunlight, all day long if possible. It should be off the ground at least 12 feet. This will put it at a good landing height and also keep ground predators away. Mounting the house on a pole is a great idea. They can be mounted to your house, but consider the bat droppings. If you do want to mount it to a structure, see if you can find a barn or another out of the way building. Trees seem like a good idea, but they are not. Trees make the bat house too vulnerable to predators like owls, birds of prey, snakes and other creatures that might enjoy a nice bat-snack.
When placing your bat house, it should be close to a water source like a ponds, creek or garden pond. Try to get the structure within ? mile of water.
Other than making sure the house stays in good condition, the only real maintenance is cleaning up the bat guano (bat poop). But this is an upside to guano, it makes great fertilizer.
Again, remember that these are wild animals and should be observed and not caught, played with or touched. So, is being a landlord to bats for you? It may not be for everyone, but for insect control and just plain coolness, bats can’t be beat.