Nature’s Mosquito Eater Finding Warm Welcome

There is a boom in bat house development, and bats couldn’t be happier. Or so homeowners hope.

After what some say was the worst mosquito summer in years, bats have their attraction as environmentally correct mosquito eaters, even though health authorities say there is a remote chance of contracting rabies.

Many homeowners caught unprepared over the summer are planning ahead and building now for next year. Small family businesses are churning out bat houses in basements or garage wood shops, Scout troops are making them for their communities and mail-order catalogs are advertising them.

“To say that bats can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour is a low estimate for some species,” said Jim Kennedy, the bat house expert at Bat Conservation International, a club in Austin, Texas. “A bat house is a perfect replacement for natural habitat, if constructed properly.”

If you build a bat house, however, they won’t necessarily come. Bats are picky about their homes.

Companies like the Nature Co., Brookstone, Gardeners Supply and the Birding Co. may be selling bat chalets, bat mansions, bat condos and “bat-chelor” pads (some made of special woods like cedar), but Kennedy predicted a vacancy rate of about 40 percent overall: Too few bat house owners know what makes a house desirable.

One way to a bat’s heart is by providing a place that is hot. So Kennedy advised painting bat houses dark colors, to hold the heat. They should be mounted 12 to 15 feet off the ground but not in trees, where predators might live and where the shade cools off the house and the branches get in the bats’ way. Bats also need a good gripping surface like plastic mesh.

Bat Conservation International publishes a Bat House Builder’s Handbook ($6.95), and its Bat House Research Project has a newsletter that is sent free to members. (Information: PO Box 162603, Austin, TX, 78716; (800) 538-2287).