On Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:52:24 -0400, William Bagwell
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:40:55 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

From what I understand, dem leetle guyses have tiny feetzes and tiny
clawzes on 'em so a single cut with a table saw blade will give them
enough purchase to climb and roost.

That's what I used for my neighbor's bat houses. He tells me he hasn't
seen any occupants yet. shrug

How long has it been up? Current consensus is that if it fails to attract bats
after two years try moving it to a different location. I got lucky and had a
few in a house less than two months after I put it up. Sadly they only stayed a
couple of weeks then left at the same time the slightly larger colony they had
split from left its roost in the eaves of our house.

Yeah, they've been up a couple years now. I'll mention it to him.


http://www.fws.gov/Asheville/pdfs/beneficialbats.pdf

Do NOT stain the inside like the idiot from the NWF site suggests.
It's both toxic to animals and the smell will drive them off.

At least they specify water based stain, but some of that stuff stinks too.
Have not tried either yet, but charcoal and homemade 'stain' from walnut husks
are both supposed to work well. Only need to darken the wood that sticks out in
the light and the bottom few inches of each baffle. The rest of the interior
absolutely does not need any paint or stain.

If you're doing this as a talking point for your house, stain.
If you're doing it for the bats, don't.

--
[Television is] the triumph of machine over people.
-- Fred Allen