Why would you want to attract bats? One big reason to attract these small flying mammals is that they eat a lot of insects. Some of the insects bats eat include mosquitoes, beetles, centipedes, scorpions, ants, flies, leaf hoppers, root worm larva, moths and grasshoppers. In fact just one bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in a night.
Using the following tips will help attract bats.
1. Have water close. Bats need to have water within 1/4 mile. It can be natural source like a spring, creek, and pond or something as small as a bird bath. Insects also are drawn to the water, giving the bats another food source too.
2. Set up your bat house. Bat houses can be either bought or built but make sure it was designed for bats. The house should be mounted at least 12 feet high and in a southerly direction. You can mount the house on either a pole or building.
3. A woods or tree line within 100 feet is also great. It gives the bats another food source with the insects that the trees attract. These trees also give the bats another place to escape to and hide in case of predator attack.
4. Put in plants to attract insects. Highly scented and any night blooming flowers do well in attracting insects that bats will eat.
5. Last but not least use lights at night to attract insects. With all the nearby insects clustering around the light, bats will like coming around just to get the easy meal.
As you can see it is pretty easy to attract bats to your yard or garden. It is also a great step to keeping insects in your garden in check naturally. One more thing to that needs to be said is that bats can live for up to 20 years. Mature females will have one baby a year for most of their adult life, so adding a few more houses could very well be in order after your first house is well established.
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