jayryan wrote:built a bat house as a gift for my wife at our last house, but we never got any occupants. we'll be trying again, no that we've moved, and have a known population in our neighborhood (including one little guy who simply flies around and around our house like he's in orbit).

Wow, that's so gothy.

Do bats get along with dogs? Like if you built a bat house on your property and you also had dogs would there be a conflict? Or would the two never interact?

Lately I've been frequenting bat houses.

falsedog wrote:Lately I've been frequenting bat houses.

Isn't that a "don't-ask-don't-tell" kinda thing?

falsedog wrote:Lately I've been frequenting bat houses.

bat where they paint the houses

I heard a rumor that King Diamond fashioned a makeshift bat house in the trunk of his Accord, but when he opened the trunk to unleash the flock of bats on one of his adversaries, they swarmed and attacked him.

- By "heard a rumor" I mean "completely made up," just so we're clear.

Uncle Ovipositor wrote:She got me a subscription to Bat Fancy Magazine, which was maybe the coolest thing in the world. I know I didn't make it up, since I still have a copy.

Bat Fancy just completely cracked me up, like, the idea that it exists. You'd better believe I would read this magazine!

placeholder wrote:Bat Fancy just completely cracked me up, like, the idea that it exists. You'd better believe I would read this magazine!

is this published by the same people who do 'varmint fancy' and 'woodchuck fancy'?

I have been meaning to build a bat house. During the summer we have tons of bats that fly from a huge maple tree in my yard to a small grove of abrovitae. I love to watch them and drink beers. I have heard that a single bat can consume 1000 insects per hour. Bats are the shit!

I bought one for the family cottage where there are plenty of bats around, but found no takers for the bat house. Probably just hung it in a bad spot.

DrAwkward wrote:This works? Like, you can build a little awning-thing with a roof and beams and little else and bats will just show up? Tell me more! The day comes that i ever buy a house in the country i'ma totally do this. Um, cuz, for eating bugs, right?

I think the bat houses have to have certain characteristics to even be considered by bats. Like, I think they need to be narrow, and they definitely need to have a sort of rough interior, so that the bats can climb the walls.

And yeah, one little brown bat can apparently eat up to a thousand mosquitoes in an hour. The most bad-ass thing I've heard about bats is that they can pick and locate a flying insect 20 feet away in pitch black with their echo-locator (though apparently they also have very good eyesight), and then grab it by making a cup out of their wing and rolling it into their mouth, all without slowing down.

Here's some info on bat houses: http://batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=149