Exactly what makes a good bat house was not known until recently thanks to decades of research by Bat Conservation International and Dr. Merlin Tuttle. I sincerely appreciate and acknowledge their work without which we would all suffer a great loss. Because of their efforts we know bats prefer a nice, dry, draft free home much like humans. They don't like roof leaks or cold drafts any more than we do and they have very specific preferences for chamber sizes and roosting grips.

Habitat for Bats uses quality exterior AC grade plywood, cedar, weatherproof fasteners and screws. When assembled all exterior joints are sealed with a 50 year polyurethane adhesive so strong that the screws can be removed and the house will not come apart.  We only use cut grooves in our roosts giving bats a natural and permanent gripping texture that will never become loose entangling or injuring bats.  Internal baffles are spaced ¾" apart; the research based, bat desired spacing.  All interior surfaces are sealed with a water-based black stain to resist moisture and promote a darker roost. The shingled roof improves appearance, durability and maximizes solar heating.  Finally, the house exterior is painted to order with several coats of quality paint and apply asphalt shingles.

Your new Habitat for Bats bat house comes completely finished with precut cleats, screws, a manual that includes detailed suggested mounting procedures making installation easy even if you are working alone. We take our bat houses very seriously and do what we can to make sure our houses are complete, easy to mount and last decades once installed. Our manual is more comprehensive than a flyer and includes details such as color choices in case you decide to repaint your house, mounting guidelines, sample pole designs and extended bat information.

So now you're thinking "that's great, but which one should I buy?" Generally, we suggest the largest bat house you can reasonably expect to have space to hang. While this may seem like an "of couse you want me to buy the most expensive house" answer, it really isn't. Larger houses retain and buffer heat exchange better than smaller houses and provide more internal area for roosting, birthing pups and nursing hungry pups. You need to consider where you will be hanging the house (is the space large enough and strong enough to support the weight) and how many bats you ultimately would be comfortable roosting in the area. While a larger bat house is not guarantee of a large colony, it does offer the potential.

Now you are probably wondering how many bats these houses will hold. We list our houses with a stated roosting volume in cubic inches. I can not, in good conscience, tell you our single chamber house will hold 150 bats even though others advertise a smaller house as able to do so. I also don't know which species of bat will roost in your house. The roosting density of different species vary widely. Instead, we state the cubic inches of roosting volume of our houses and you should ask other vendors to provide the same information so your can compare apples to apples. The more volume, the more bats.

Research has shown that Mexican Freetail bats will roost perhaps as dense as 75 bats per 144 cubic inches of roosting volume. These means, in theory, a single chamber house with 250 cubic inches on roosting space will hold 130 bats. Unfortunately this kind of math is misleading. I suggest taking the volume of the house and dividing by 144 then multiplying by 75/2. That's [(volume/144) x 37.5] For a single chamber house that comes to about 65 bats. In my experience and professional opinion that is about the most bats you can reasonably expect to squeeze into a single chamber house. Results will still vary based on location and species and I will continue to update this formula based on real world research. Still, 65 flying bug eaters can make quite an impact every evening.

You've probably noticed we offer three bat house colors and you're wondering which one to choose. The simple answer is the hotter your climate, the lighter color you should choose. Bats prefer a roosting temperature between 85 and 100 degrees. In the Northern States black is the best option, it absorbs heat quickly. In the desert and sandy States the lighter color grey does well. For the moderate areas, the medium brown is the best choice. But remember, moderate means for the bats, not you and they prefer it hot. In mid to north Georgia the brown houses seem do so the best though we have had luck with a few grey ones as well.

I said that was the simple answer. Next you have to consider where the bat house will be mounted and if it will get enough sun (it needs sun most of the day normally). If you live in a hot area like Texas or Arizona but your bat house is going to be partially shaded and on an open pole, brown and maybe even black might be the best choice as the grey would likely stay too cool. If you are more toward the north and your house will be mounted on a brick building that retains a lot of heat and is in direct sunlight all day instead of black you might opt for brown or even grey if enough heat will be retained by the brick. Use the following color chart as a guideline to help you make your choice.

I'm sorry to complicate your choice but in the end if you are in doubt I suggest brown and remember, it can always be repainted with a quick coat of paint.