Introducing the worlds first rotationally molded bat house.


White prototype bat house

Heavy duty outer shell molded in one single piece from over 12 pounds of UV stabilized polyethylene. Eliminating the need for nails, glue, caulking, roofing, paint or any of the other dozens of expensive and time consuming things folks dream up to *try* to make wood hold up in the weather.

Inside view

The only fasteners of any kind other than the ones that attach the bat house to the pole or other structure, are a few small stainless screws that keep the inner partitions from sliding out.

Four chamber with poplar baffels

Despite the slick interior the overall baffle assembly is trapped by a 3/8" wide lip at the bottom.

Just add bats

An experimental bat house with a few pounds of sand mixed in with the plastic powder. Since these are made on a roto-molding machine and not in a volcano this real sand does not melt. 99% goes to the inside where much of it sticks to the last bit powder to melt. Quite non slick compared to the gray bat house above. Note also that this bat house lacks a front and back 'one sided' baffle since I am predicting that bats can cling to the rough sandy surface just as easily as they can rough wood. Addendum: As of June 8 2011, less than two months after installing it, this bat house had bats!
Sadly they only stayed a little over one week and left at the same time our main colony abandoned their roost in the eaves of the 'people' house.

Recycled pallet baffles

An early test bat box. Outer single sided baffles are 1/2" plywood which will probably only be offered in economy models. Inner baffles are recycled pallet wood which will not be offered at all due to the unknown nature (and uncertain supply) of pallets. Do plan to furnish detailed plans and dimensions to anyone who wishes to purchase a shell alone and build there own baffles from what ever material they chose.

Thick poplar bafles

Another view of the four chamber poplar bat house showing the much more uniform groove spacing compared to the test box. More examples of the capabilities and even some construction details of the modified wood jointer used to make these grooves are available for the curious. And yes, those center baffles are over an inch thick! I need to buy a thickness planer ASAP so the poplar houses can be offered in a more logical five chamber design.

Rotten wood

While wood has long been the traditional material to build bat houses from, it suffers from rot and decay unless protected from the elements.

Junky 'construction' material

For this reason bat house builders have been experimenting with alternate materials for over fifteen years with varying degrees of success. Virtually all of them long out last traditional wooden bat houses with far less total maintenance. While bats love the choice of micro-climates that alternate materials offer, these other non traditional houses suffer from their own problems. Material and labor costs to assemble them is as high and often higher than wood so they end up quite expensive compared to most wooden houses of comparable size.

'Sandstone' meet sandstone

Close up of a bat house in stone effect material called Sandstone contrasting with a real sandstone slab. Here is a more subtle stone effect called Wheat. While these and other special materials will run slightly more than plain colors due to the raw material costs, they should still compete favorably with 100% cedar bat houses on price.

Not really bigger than the moon

No, they are not really bigger than the moon:) Actual outside dimensions are 30 1/2" high, 17 3/4" wide. 8 1/4" deep front to back.
Location, location, location

Open field, close water supply, near trees but with none close enough for a predator to hide in, facing due east and 15 feet up to the bottom of the house. An almost ideal location that attracted its first resident in less than two months! Installed April 16 2011, first guano found (and a scolding received from the bats) on June 8 2011. Was unable to get pictures of the bats this season.

Nineteen bat house shells

Until remaining woodworking machinery is acquired completed bat houses will be in limited supply. Still have a few shells available if you would like to try your hand at designing your own baffles. Please contact sales@mysecondbathouse.com for exact pricing until I get a proper shopping cart set up.

Bit of background to explain the weird site name and my sudden desire to acquire my second bat house twenty years after my first. Documentation of building the actual rotational mold for metal working friends. Warning to mobile or dial up users, lots of large pictures! An FAQ page, mosquito myths, and the beginnings of mounting instructions. These last two will eventually be combined into a printed brochure to include with each bat house sold. A test page with a tool bar that will eventually replace this ugly paragraph full of links.

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William Bagwell

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