Bats are extremely important. Yet due to years of unwarranted human fear and persecution, bats are in alarming decline. By putting up a bat house you are helping by giving them a home. You will also benefit from having fewer yard and garden pests, and will enjoy learning about bats and sharing your knowledge with friends and family.

As the primary predators of night-flying insects, bats play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature. And, as consumers of vast numbers of pests, they rank among humanity’s most valuable allies. A single little brown bat can catch hundreds of mosquito-sized insects an hour, and a typical colony of big brown bats can protect local farmers from the costly attacks of 18 million root-worms each summer.

Bats are not blind, and are actually very clean animals. They do not get caught in peoples’ hair or chew through the attic of your house. Bats will not interfere with feeding backyard birds, and they will not be disrupted by pets or children.

Not all bat houses are built properly. Short and stout houses tend to have little chance of attracting bats, where longer, wider houses are working quite well. Older designs only have about a 10% occupancy rate, OBC's design is enjoying an 80% occupancy rate. Pretty impressive!

Order an OBC bat houses
Design to make your own bat house
How to put up your bat house
See an OBC bat house working
Photographs of bat houses

Love the OBC Triple-chamber Bat House

My husband and I bought 11 acres of rural / wooded land last spring in Venango County, Western PA and are "developing" it as a personal wildlife refuge. Birds, bears, deer, turkey, fox, nocturnal mammals, etc. wander through the property. This summer we replaced the roof, and in doing so, discovered that at least two bats were living behind the vinyl siding / chimney / possibly in attic. Small brown bats, most likely, i.e. nothing out of the ordinary.
The siding is light green, and faces to the east, approximately 10-11 feet off the ground. We researched bat houses, and we liked the OBC Triple - celled the best. It had the long landing pad, and a small opening throughout which they could determine the box was hollow. We ripped out the vinyl siding, painted the box black, mounted it where the bats were heard, and within 5 days or less, one moved it! The other took up residence under the drip edge behind the soffit / facia. Your houses really work!!

We had considered mounting it on a nearby light pole, or mature tree further away, but both seemed too dangerous for my husband to be up on a ladder. The ground is rock so installing a pole seemed remote. Besides, we figured if the bats living behind the siding didn't mind facing east, and being only 11 feet up, then so be it. That's where we mounted the house. Now, we'd like to figure out how to encourage a hoard of bats to move in.
We see plenty of un-occupied bat houses in our hikes, and it's really a shame that well - meaning persons don't use well-designed bat house such as yours.

Vaughan Boleky
Utica, PA