Bat House... 1/4 acres of property... Recomendations?

[spacescape]

We are trying to be more environmentally friendly and last year we opted to not use a lawn fertilizing company and just watered our grass a little more, used milky spore graduals (for the grubs) and Milorganite and occasionally spot treated weeds... Either way, the grass seems much happier and greener and besides... it's better for the environment... and the kids and guinea pigs can come out and not worry about what is in our grass / soil...

Now, I'm trying to keep mosquitos down a little bit and thinking about getting bat house (versus spraying)... We have one tree we could attach it too... or the wood fence (privacy)... or the telephone pole... So, just need to figure out "which one" would be best for our home and how we would go about attracting them to hang out in our yard more... Our yard is about a 1/4 of an acre and we already have bats flying around so shouldn't be super hard...

Here are the ones I'm looking at...

https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Bird-...awn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1494979802&sr=1-2&keywords=Bat+House

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M8LGC1Y?psc=1

[Mike Johnson]

Well, if you attached it to the telephone pole, what would keep the phone company from removing it? If it were occupied, that’d be terrible.

As for which model and how high and facing which direction, I’d strongly advise talking to somebody in your area who has some expertise, or at least some experience. What works for bats in Arizona may not work for bats in Minnesota.

[Acer]

Size of the property does not really matter; the bats will work the whole neighborhood.

For bat houses, the bigger the better. If you want sufficient numbers to help with the insect population, you want a box big enough to attract females and pups. The males might use a smaller box but they don't roost in large numbers.

Here are the guidelines from Bat Conservation International (PDF Download)
They recommend 20" long x 14" wide at least (depth front to back is not as important, as there are partitions inside 3/4" to 1" apart, as many as will fit the depth you have.)

With that in mind, if I had to pick between the two you show, I'd go with the first Nature's Way model, because it has the bigger roosting chamber of the two, though it's actually still under the recommended size.

The rest of your questions regarding placement are addressed at the bat conservation site, too: http://www.batcon.org/resources/getting-...bat-houses

[btfc]

Install a bat house:

http://www.batcon.org/resources/getting-...es/install


Bat House FAQ:

http://www.habitatforbats.org/bat-house-faq/

[NewtonMP2100]

......get a Batgirl.......

[steve...]

is it true that a pond with fish is good for mosquitoes?

[michaelb]

I put up a bat house and bats never moved in. It was high up on our barn, so maybe that wasn't right location. Anyway, I just noticed that someone has a birds nest on top of the bat house, so at least someone eventually moved in.

[Racer X]

I think the design, size and location depends on the region and bat species. Here in Western Washington, our native bats are tiny, and need specific locations and house designs for it to work. On that note, they are very cute little creatures.

Check for a local bat organization or local college/university biology dept. Maybe even a local wildlife rehab place.

[A-Polly]

How nice, hope the bats will move in! Not sure what kind of location yours would prefer. Here are some bat houses on the UF campus, but they are large, and hold hundreds of thousands of bats (photo from the internet, not mine):

[NewtonMP2100]

....you need a Bat....signal....