by tropicalbats » Jul 17, 2007 12:09 am
Cal Butchkoski of the PA Game Commission was the primary researcher who worked out the design for the best bat boxes in the northeast (with other contributors, obviously), and I worked with him for years on this stuff so figured I would chime in.
First, that's a spiffy looking bat house, as in it would look nice in a wooded garden. As for bats, a different story. Pretty much all the bat house research has been focused on getting a summer maternity colony of bats, ie the women, and ignores the males as they have fewer roost requirements and really don't contribute anything to the next generation of bats beyond the previous fall's breeding and insemination. The bat house you have seems to me unlikely to host a maternity colony given its design.
So, why not forget about most of the maternity requirements, such as a clear southeast-facing location, and just do as Kome suggests: put it up in a place where it looks good and see if the bats don't just have a go at it anyway. You might get a pile of males or, surprise everyone with a maternity colony. A bat house design known to attract a maternity colony costs far more, so just returning the thing won't get anyone any satisfaction.
I once photographed a colony of eastern pipistrelle bats, a maternity colony, in a barn basement roosting between the wooden ceiling bits and fiberglass insulation. Bats do odd stuff some times, so hammer the bat house onto a tree 10+ feet off the ground and just see what happens.
Good luck,
Keith