Sometimes enjoying the outdoors becomes 'batting' practice when flying insects decide to enjoy the outdoors with you. Toxic sprays, used within safety guidelines, or citronella, subject to the slightest breeze, are both ineffective in reducing the population of flying insects. Inviting a family of bats to help is a great way to put nature back on your side. One bat can consume half its' weight in flying insects each night. Imagine the amount of insects that won't be flying around you with a whole bunch of bats. The bats come out at night, the same time most mosquitoes do. Providing a batbox for these shy animals benefits you and them.
The Medium Batbox
Our Batboxes are made of the finest Western Red Cedar. The Dimensions are approximately 20 inches in height, 18 inches wide and 2.75 inches deep (5" with roof over hang). The BATBOX will hold about 70 to 100 bats.
Place the Bat Box 12-15 feet above the ground ( 15 would be best or a little higher if you can ) on a post or tree trunk away from branches in an open area orientated south-southeast (135° azimuth is optimal) where it receives at least six or seven hours of direct sun. Our bats are friendly, give them a home and at the same time rid our living areas of mosquitoes and other undesirable insects.
Our medium BatBoxes are $50.00 (US) plus shipping and handling ($14.00 per batbox). Ship to the U.S. only. We accept cashiers checks or money orders, personal checks ( must wait for personal checks to clear ) or Paypal. If you are using cashiers check or money order please e-mail me with your Zip Code and I will get a total with shipping and handling. If you pay with Paypal it will be calculated when you go through checkout. If you have any other questions please send me an e-mail.
The bat is a winged mammal with the ability to fly. Its ability to maintain sustained flight, unique among mammals, results from the modification of hand like forelimbs into wings. Bats belong to the order Chiroptera and are divided into two suborders: the Megachiroptera (megabats) and the Microchiroptera (microbats). Microbats detect their prey using echolocation. Bats are nocturnal or active at twilight (crepuscular). Their average weight is less than 30 g (1.058 oz) as adults. The smallest microbat, Craseonycteris thonglongyai, weighs from 1.8 to 2.0 g (0.063 to 0.071 oz) and has a wingspan of about 16 cm (6.3 in).
Nearly two-thirds of the 950 species of bats feed mainly on insects, and all insectivorous bats are microbats.
The bats in Michigan are known as, Plain Nosed Bats. They have 1-2 babies a year. They are known to live in areas such as hollow trees, under loose bark, attics and of course, caves. They thrive on mosquitoes, beetles and the like.