Outdoor Living & Lifestyles - bat house

I have a store bought bat house that is still empty since it has been mounted on the very tip of the highest point of my house ( 30' ) ,it's painted dark brown and there is water nearby and plenty of bugs and insects near a street light about 30 ' away and lots of evergreen trees between it and my house.
Is there any way to attract bats to move in.

Hi WWC,

What a wonderful thing to do! It can often take a year or two before you attract any tenants to your bat house. It may also be mounted too high. Which type of bats you have where you live can also effect if they will roost in your bat house. You can find out what type of bats live in your area by contacting your local park service or try a google search with your state. I live in Maryland so I'd search with:
Maryland bats
attract Maryland bats

Here's some interesting and helpful sites. The first one is for Michigan but has some good ideas if you don't live there.
http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/huntingwildlifehabitat/Landowners_Guide/Species_Mgmt/Bats.htm
http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/AttractingBats.pdf
http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/lc/lc_bat_faq.asp
http://www.birdsforever.com/batmore.html

Newt

Those are very good web sites for info. thanks.

I live in ohio so much is the same as michigan.
Maybe this year will be the year for me to have guests .

You are very welcome! I hope you have guests soon too.

Newt

We have tons of bats in our yard and over the pond every evening, but the bat house I put up almost a year ago is still empty. I'll give it two or three years and if they don't move in I'll try a different location.

South or southwest corner of house--bats like it hot. Temperature control. Bats need at least 10' of swoop, and large trees can deter bats. Bright lights deter bats.

I may have to hang up another one on the other side of my house where it's alot more dark.

serious question - I'm not judging, but why would you want bats to live on your property? Is there something I'm missing????

Bats eat many insects. They reportedly can eat about 1,000 mosquitos in an hour. Too, providing them a place to roost may keep them from wanting to roost in your attic. In many areas bats are facing destruction of natural habitat. Bat conservation helps both bats and people.