08/18/2026
Bat Facts
They're mammals, just like us. Bats give birth to live young and nurse them with milk. They're closer to humans than they are to birds.
They won't fly into your hair. Bats use echolocation so precise they can dodge a single thread in complete darkness. Your hair is not a challenge for them.
They're not blind, either. Bats actually have perfectly good eyesight they just don't need it at night.
They're insect-eating machines. A single bat can eat over 3,000 insects in one night. That's roughly half its body weight. They are, in effect, a flying pest control service.
They're ancient. Fossil bats date back 50 million years. They were catching insects before your favorite dinosaurs went extinct.
Rabies? Rarely. Fewer than 40 people in the U.S. have contracted rabies from bats in the past 40 years. You're statistically more likely to be struck by lightning. Still, don't handle them.
They're disappearing. Habitat loss, pesticides, and human disturbance have caused dramatic population declines. Which is all the more reason to put up a bat box.
A bat box is a small wooden shelter designed to give bats a safe place to roost, rest, and raise their young. Bat boxes are built to mimic the narrow, warm spaces bats naturally seek out beneath tree bark or inside hollow trunks.
Bat boxes are typically mounted high on a building, pole, or tree and are designed to absorb warmth from the sun, keeping the interior at just the right temperature for a colony to thrive. A well-placed bat box can house anywhere from a handful of bats to hundreds, providing critical shelter at a time when natural roost sites are increasingly hard to find.
