DIY Bat Box - Saves the Bats, Kills the Mosquito's, Pollinates Flowers
3 Materials
$30
8 Hours
Medium
OK, OK. You can’t really hug a bat today, but you can build them a warm and cuddly home. And that’s nice too. Why would you want to build them a house?? Because bats are cool. At least that’s what it says on the Bat Conservation International website (www.batcon.org). I can’t disagree, they can pollinate plants (like our beloved honeybees) and eat many agricultural pests and mosquito’s, people! How stinking nice of them is that? In southern Texas, mosquito’s torment us nearly year round. We just had a cold enough snap to kill them off and it’s December. The threat of Zika coming to Texas makes mosquito’s an even scarier threat. I can’t even imagine being pregnant and worrying about mosquito stings in a place where Zika has been found. It is absolutely terrible what Zika can do to a developing fetus. According to the Bat Conservation website, throughout the United States, scientists estimate, bats are worth more than $3.7 billion a year in reduced crop damage and pesticide use. And that, of course, means fewer pesticides enter the ecosystem. The pesticide issue is another plus with me, if I have to spray less to kill the mosquito’s then I don’t have to worry about how those sprays are affecting my kids, animals, cute little backyard lizards, and the beneficial bugs in my yard. So, it’s time to build a bat box and embrace the bat as your friend and partner.
Plans for different types of boxes and recommendations on which color works best for your area can be found on the bat conservation website.
You can build from their plans or buy one.
A bat box makes cute barn decor too.
You can see the 4 chambers of the bat box.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 comments
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Great idea!
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Lovely to see a batty post. I volunteer in bat care and conservation in the UK, which means I do get to hug them! Well, really, I get to handle them now and again when we have to pick up grounded bats or rescues. Bats are cute and furry, and very valuable to the ecosystem.
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That sounds like a cool volunteer job. I'd be afraid to hold some of the small ones. So tiny. :)
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