Researching About Bat Houses

We have so many mosquitoes here in Florida that I would have to spend a fortune on bug zappers to make a modest dent in the swarms. So, I decided to look into building a bat house.

I had built a very small bat house before and placed it on our telephone pole. Within a year the only thing in it was a ton of wasp nests, so I removed it.

This time I wanted to do it right (or at least much better!)

I did a lot of research on how to build a bat house and where you should place it for best results.

Bat houses placed on metal poles high up have three times more of a chance for occupancy than ones places in trees or wood poles where squirrels and other critters can climb. They say houses should get about 6-8 hours of sunlight because bats like it about 85-100 degrees.

The coolest and largest bat house (pavilion) in the country was built and is mantained by the University of Florida (where I went to school for a year and a half) - GO GATORS!!

You can read about it at:
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/wildlife_uf/bathouse.php

The one design I like the best I gleaned from the following website:
http://www.batconservation.org/drupal/free_plans

I liked the simplicity of it, the size of it, and that the poles for the house were on the outside instead of the inside.

I didn't purchase any plans.  I only had a picture to work with...