Homemade Bat Box

Attracting bats to your property can be beneficial for you. Bats are voracious insect eaters and their droppings can be turned into nutrient-rich fertilizer. Bats are very particular about their environment, however, and not just any space will attract them. By constructing a bat house with the specific needs of the bat in mind, you can create a bat house that will attract a colony to come roost.

  1. Size

    • Bat houses should be at least 2 feet tall, 13 inches wide and 3 inches deep. The larger the box, the more bats you'll have room for. When making the box deeper, put dividers that run parallel to the face of the box about 3/4 of an inch apart. Bats like narrow places to climb up into, and the dividers keep the interior snug no matter how deep you make the bat house.

    Construction

    • Make the bat house out of exterior-grade plywood and lumber, but don't use pressure treated wood. The treatment the wood received when it is pressure-treated is poisonous to bats. Score the inside walls of the bat house including the sidewalls and the faces of the dividers. Bats need a rough surface to climb on. Scoring the surfaces provides places for the bats to grip.

      Make the bat house water-tight. Caulk the seams to prevent both water leakage and drafts. Bats don't like damp, drafty bat houses.

    Paint or Stain

    • Don't paint the interior of the bat house. Paint will fill in the crevices in the wood and smooth the surface which is counter-productive to scoring it. Use stain instead of paint on the interior surfaces of the bat house. Stain the interior a dark color. Bats like it dark inside the bat house.

      Prime and paint the exterior of the bat house with exterior grade paint. Paint the bat house a dark color. In the north, paint the bat house black. In the south where the sun can be brutally intense in the summer, paint it dark brown.

    Features

    • Add a landing platform on the bottom of the bat house. Extend the back panel 8 to 10 inches longer than the front panel and score it as with the rest of the interior. This panel gives the bats a place to land so they can climb up into the house.

      Vent the bat house so air can circulate. Cut a narrow slit near the bottom of the bat house to allow fresh air inside.

      If the bat house will be installed near your house, consider installing an exterior grade video camera inside the top of the box. The video camera will allow you to watch the bats in the bat house without disturbing them, which can be an interesting diversion and an educational experience for you and your family.