Bat houses for North Carolina
Bats hunt mosquitoes, moths and beetles every summer night. We build bat houses, install them where bats will use them, sell them ready to hang, and teach people why it matters.
Why bats
Peer-reviewed studies show what insect-eating bats do around homes, on farms and in forests. Several were done in the Southeast, on pests North Carolina growers already fight.
DNA from bat droppings at 22 Wisconsin roosts found mosquitoes in 71.9% of little brown bat samples and 33.3% of big brown bat samples, covering 15 mosquito species. Big brown bats live across North Carolina and readily use bat houses.
Wray et al., 2018, Journal of Mammalogy 99(3):668
In field enclosures, northern long-eared bats cut egg-laying by wild Culex mosquitoes by 32%. Culex mosquitoes can carry West Nile virus, and this bat species lives in North Carolina too.
Reiskind & Wund, 2009, Journal of Medical Entomology 46(5):1037
Bats take the night shift. For the biggest drop in bites, pair a bat house with the basics.
DNA from 180 bats in Alabama, Georgia and Florida showed 61% had eaten at least one agricultural pest. The 23 pest species included corn earworm, fall armyworm, tobacco budworm and soybean looper. Evening bats, common in North Carolina, were among the species studied.
Hughes, Braun de Torrez & Ober, 2021, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 314:107414
When researchers netted bats out of Illinois cornfields at night, the ears had 56% more damaged kernels and 59% more corn earworm larvae, plus more fungal growth and mycotoxin. The authors put bats' value to corn growers worldwide at more than $1 billion a year.
Maine & Boyles, 2015, PNAS 112(40):12438
In Spanish rice paddies, rice borer moth levels fell after bat boxes went up and soprano pipistrelles moved in. Merlin Tuttle also documents a Georgia pecan grower who attracted thousands of free-tailed bats with houses and went organic.
Puig-Montserrat et al., 2015, Mammalian Biology 80:237; Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation
In counties where white-nose syndrome killed off bats, farmers' insecticide use rose about 31%. Those counties also saw crop revenue fall and infant mortality rise, and the study estimates farmers lost about $26.9 billion from 2006 to 2017.
Frank, 2024, Science, doi:10.1126/science.adg0344
The first national estimate valued bats' pest control for US farms at $3.7 billion to $53 billion a year, depending on assumptions.
Boyles, Cryan, McCracken & Kunz, 2011, Science 332:41
Oak and hickory seedlings in plots closed to bats had three times the insect density and five times the defoliation of open plots. That matters for woodlots and timber.
Beilke & O'Keefe, 2022, Ecology 104(2):e3903
Bats are one part of integrated pest management, not a replacement for scouting, spraying or yard care. These studies measure bats across whole landscapes, so one house won't clear a farm or a yard. Results grow with more houses, good placement and water and habitat nearby.
What we do
Most bat houses stay empty because of where they were hung, not how they were built. We handle both.
Wall, barn and pole houses, plus larger colony houses built for your site.
See the housesWe visit, pick the spot bats will actually use, then mount the house on a wall or set a pole and aim it. Poles are a 4×6 treated post or a 2-inch galvanized steel pipe.
Book a site visitTalks and hands-on workshops for classrooms, garden clubs, scout troops and grower meetings. We cover what bats eat, which ones live in North Carolina and how to help them.
Book a talkOur houses
Overheating is one of the main reasons bat houses fail, so every house is tall and vented, giving bats room to move to the temperature they want. Pricing depends on size and finish. Tell us where it's going and we'll quote it.
Flat-backed houses for barns, sheds, garages and the sunny side of a house. Building walls hold steady temperatures, which makes them one of the best places to hang a house.
Ask about pricingTwo houses back to back on one pole, one facing southeast and one northwest, so bats can choose their temperature. Mounting hardware included.
Ask about pricingLarger roosts built to order for farms, parks and school grounds.
Ask about pricingSpot check
Answer six questions to see how your spot compares with published placement guidance from Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation, Bat Conservation International and Clemson Extension.
Learn
bat species live in North Carolina.
of those 17 are listed by the state as special concern, threatened or endangered.
population declines in some species in western NC, caused by white-nose syndrome.
Merlin Tuttle's surveys put it at 2 to 6 months for most houses, and 12 to 18 months where no one nearby has used a bat house before. Putting up two or more houses roughly doubled people's success. Skip the guano trick, because there's no evidence it helps.
Pups are born starting in early May, and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission asks homeowners to hold off on eviction or exclusion until the end of July. We don't remove bats from buildings. A licensed wildlife control agent can, and the NC Wildlife Helpline is 866-318-2401. A bat house nearby gives the colony somewhere else to go.
Sources: Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Bat Conservation International, Clemson Cooperative Extension, National Wildlife Federation, and the peer-reviewed studies cited under Why bats.
Contact
Share your town, what you want and what the spot looks like. We'll reply with next steps and a quote.
Serving the North Carolina Piedmont.
Carolina Bat House is inspired by Merlin Tuttle, the ecologist and photographer who founded Bat Conservation International in 1982 and now leads Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation. His decades of bat house surveys shape what we build and recommend. We're an independent business, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mr. Tuttle or either organization.