This Bat Kit, by Lone Star Woodcraft is made of 100% Western Red Cedar. The Bat Conservation International recommends using durable woods such as cedar.
Bats are environmentally friendly mosquito eaters and reduce your risk of West Nile Virus! "One colony of bats can eat 500,000 insects each night. A single brown bat can catch and eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in an hour. Most bats can eat up to 3,000 mosquitoes a night!"
This house was designed based on the results of more than 10 years of research and meets and exceeds all 10 criteria as outlined by "Bat Conservation International" bat certification program. Bat houses such as this tend to have higher occupancy rates than the smaller houses. The interior surface and landing platform is made of rough cut cedar make it easy for bats to cling when roosting and landing. The ventilation gap in the front of the house in conjunction with the attic space / birthing chamber serves to maintain proper temperature and helps with air circulation. The roof is slanted forward at 30 degrees for better rain run-off. This bat house weathers beautifully as it is made of weather-resistant Western Red Cedar.
The house is fully caulked and offers a longer design which is a key factor in occupancy. 3/4" chamber(s) give protection from predators, and deters wasp and hornets which prefer 1 1/2" chambers. The chamber(s) are also constructed with rough cut cedar which provides great grasping points for bats. Proper bat house design is a very important factor in occupancy. This design is proven to have a greater than 80% occupancy rate. Triple-celled bat houses tend to work quicker and for longer periods (i.e. throughout spring, summer, and fall).
Bats that use this house: big brown, cave, eastern pipistrelle, evening, little brown, Mexican free-tailed, northern long-eared, pallid, Pallas' mastiff, Rafinesque's big-eared, southeastern, and Yuma bat.
No pressure treated wood, no plywood because they don't stand up to the environment, and because of the problems that may be associated with chemicals used to treat the wood. Lone Star Woodcraft uses rough cut Western Red Cedar for the qualities it possesses, extreme rot resistance, naturally insect resistant, lighter in weight than pine or plywood for easier mounting, stays very stable when exposed to the environment, and it comes rough cut from the mill. Western Red Cedar costs qualities mean low to no maintenance.
Dimensions are 13½"H x 7¼"W x 2½" depth. This bat house may be mounted on a building or a pole and comes with mounting instructions/screws. Handcrafted in the USA.
