If You Want a Mosquito-Free Summer, Start Attracting Bats Now – This Bat House Will Help Bring Them to Your Garden

If you want to banish bugs from your backyard without using harsh chemicals, inviting bats into your garden is the best choice you can make.

Bat house
(Image credit: Future / WildYard)

I'm always looking for unique, practical garden gifts for my family. For my dad's recent birthday, I decided to skip the standard hand tools and gloves and get him something a little different: a cedar bat house from Amazon. Honestly, it was a massive hit. He absolutely loves watching them swoop around at dusk, but the real benefit of this gift is the more that the bats are a natural form of pest control.

If you hate dealing with summer bugs, you need to know this one simple fact: bats are absolute mosquito-eating machines. By providing a safe place for them to roost, you can completely transform your summer evenings.

Bats are Nature's Pest Control

When we talk about preparing our yards for spring and summer, pest control is always at the top of the list. But if you hate using harsh chemical bug sprays, sticky traps, or smelly citronella candles, you need a natural alternative.

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Bats are nature's ultimate pest control team. A single small bat can eat over a thousand bugs in just one hour! They effortlessly clear the air of mosquitoes, moths, and gnats while you sleep. But how do you get these elusive nighttime heroes to actually visit your patio? The answer is simple: installing a high-quality bat box will attract them right to your yard.

Where To Hang Your Bat House

Unlike spraying harsh chemicals or setting up a mosquito trap, attracting bats takes a little bit of patience and strategic placement. When we set up my dad's gift, we learned that bats are actually quite picky about their real estate!

To make your yard as welcoming as possible, you want to mount your bat house at least 12 to 20 feet off the ground to protect them from predators. They also love warmth, so aim for a spot on a pole or the side of a building (rather than a shady tree) that faces east or south to catch that crucial morning sun. Finally, make sure to keep it away from bright patio lights that might disturb them at night.

It can sometimes take a full season for a colony to discover your new house, but once they move in, they will return year after year. It's an incredibly rewarding, zero-effort solution to your mosquito problems — and it's so much fun to watch them take flight right at dusk!

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Allie Kerkhoff
Senior Manager, ECommerce

Allie Kerkhoff has been with Gardening Know How since 2020, working across direct sales, project management, and e-commerce. With a Master’s in Economics from the University of British Columbia and a background in strategic planning, digital publishing, and revenue strategy. She specializes in tracking gardening trends and identifying the tools, products, and innovations that gardeners love. Allie works closely with the editorial team to research and write product-focused articles that help readers find the best solutions for their gardens. A newer gardener herself, she enjoys testing tools in her Pacific Northwest backyard as she transforms it into her own personal oasis.