Never hurts to ask.

Garden10 said:
Anyway, any help anyone can give me, please, I inherited this bat box when I bought the house, from what I've read about bat boxes, this is like an illustration on How Not To Put Up A Bat Box, I haven't any idea if it's ever been used, and I'm not in a position to sit outside at night with a flashlight and see what happens. I haven't seen any bats since I've been here, at sundown and such, but that doesn't mean they aren't here. I want to have my handyman take it down, but I don't want him to disturb any bats that could possibly be in there, or anything else that might have taken up residence, is that likely, any way I could tell?

Wait until daytime and get a ladder and flashlight and look inside the baffles thoroughly. If you don't see any, the house is not being used. That said, I would doubt it is being used anyway. Poor install and poor box design make it unlikely. Even good boxes, well-placed can often take years for bats to use them. Sometimes it is about color, sometimes there are better nearby options, etc.

For those wanting bat boxes, be very careful. Often those marketed widely are inappropriate at best...even those from trusted sources like other garden/yard/wildlife caterers.

Thanks UrbanWild, it is a National Geographic bat box, I strongly suspect the former owner put that up there for his child's benefit, maybe as part of a school or scout project or something. Nothing about this property at purchase suggested that they gave two bits about wildlife or plants or anything, so it seems rather strange that their lone foray would be a bat box!

Abbey: Your assumption is probably spot on.

Bat Conservation International is the finest organization supporting bats out there. (I've been a member for years!) They are my go-to for any bat info, and their site has great info on bat houses including free plans to build them.

I would like to link directly to the site but am not allowed because I am a new member. I guess I'll be unrestricted from linking in a few days. So you can enter this URL listed here sans http:

www.batcon.org/resources/getting-involved/bat-houses

Hello, Ilona. Just now catching your post and appreciate the link.
My daughter and SIL have bats roosting in their attic eave (which has
mesh screening to keep them out of the attic), but it's a sight to go
into their attic and see them clinging there.

Still unsure if I have bats in my box yet or not.

Hemophobic said:Hello, Ilona. Just now catching your post and appreciate the link.
My daughter and SIL have bats roosting in their attic eave (which has
mesh screening to keep them out of the attic), but it's a sight to go
into their attic and see them clinging there.

Still unsure if I have bats in my box yet or not.

Oh dear... bats are amazing, wonderful creatures, but like most animals, we are all better off if they stay out of our houses. I guess you're saying the bats are outside but not in the attic? That's okay though their guano can be a pain (although excellent, excellent fertilizer!).

It can take years to get bats in residence in your bat box, but sometimes folks get lucky. I wish you good luck! We've really enjoyed watching the bats on our land eat up the bugs at night.

Ilona: Yes; the bats are outside the house and I agree that bat guano
is excellent fertilizer. Thank you for your post.