Do Bats Eat Mosquitoes? Everything You Need to Know

You’re sitting outside on the back porch. A relaxing summer evening. Maybe a lemonade sits in your hand. Maybe a beer. The sun starts to set as you gaze into the distance. You begin to think how peaceful the night is, then…

A pesky mosquito bites your leg. The itch sets in instantly. Before you know it, another one flies on over to take a nibble on your upper tricep. So much for that peaceful night of relaxing outdoors. You head back in the house and get online.

You Google how to get rid of mosquitoes instantly. One idea catches your attention. Bats. You like all-natural solutions, but weren’t convinced the flying mammals would make any difference whatsoever. So you keep searching around.

Do bats eat mosquitoes? You type the question in and start researching even more. As it turns out, bats can be a highly-effective form of backyard mosquito control. Why? Well, let’s dive in and find out.

Do Bats Eat Mosquitoes? Everything You Need to Know

So, do bats eat mosquitoes? Yes, and yes! But there’s more to the question. First, you need to know how to get bats to your property to eat the mosquitoes. Next, you need the bats to stay around. Finally, we need to talk about how many bats are required to fix your mosquito issues and what a bat’s diet consists of. So, let’s get started:

• What Attracts Bats?

First and foremost, we need to attract bats to your property. Bats eat mosquitoes, but only when they’re around. So you need to get them to your home. This means you need to attract bats.

Luckily, that’s our specialty at Big Bat Box. The absolute best way to attract bats is a bat house. Bat houses provide a place for a colony of bats or bachelor bats to live, sleep, and socialize.

By adding a bat house to your property, you can attract the bats needed to control mosquitoes. However, there are a few things to pay attention to. Bat houses are no guarantee. Attracting bats is an art and a science.

You’ll need to have a body of water within half a mile of your home. This could be a creek, lake, or pond. If there’s water around, that means there’s also a lot of bugs. But there’s another reason water is so important.

Mama bats will not form a colony in your bat house unless water is nearby. Bat mothers don’t like to leave their babies for a long time, so they won’t travel far to quench their thirst. Without water, you’ll be stuck to attracting bachelor bats.

While bachelor bats are find, they simply can’t compete with the numbers of a full grown colony of bats.  A Big Bat Box with a fully formed colony can attract up to 200 bats. A bachelor bat house will hold around 20 bats.

So, you’ll need a bat house and some water to attract bats that eat mosquitoes.

• Keeping Bats Around

How do you keep these flying mammals around? The next steps include setting up the bat house properly and making sure there are enough insects around for all to eat.

Setting up the bat house properly is essential to attract bats and keeping them around. To do so, you’ll want to start by considering a few factors. First, the house needs to be 15-20 feet off the ground.

Bats don’t want to be close to the ground. Also, make sure to keep the house away from any trees. Trees make it easy for predators to attack the bats.

You’ll also want to make sure the house gets 5-8 hours of sunshine each day. Mother bats are highly concerned with temperature. They require a warm area to nest their bat babies. As such, you’ll need your bat house to get some sun and stay hot.

Lastly, there needs to be insects and mosquitoes around. Having water around usually does the trick. You can also add a garden with fruits, as many bat species will eat fruits, too.

• What Do Bats Eat?

What do bats eat? Do bats eat mosquitoes? Of course. Let’s look at the diet of a bat and see what these flying mammals consume each and every day.

First, it’s important to note that there are over 1,000 bats species on earth (Source). As such, certain bats will eat different things. For example, some bats love to eat ripe fruits. Others enjoy love to eat moths and mosquitoes (Source).

Overall, 70% of bats eat insects and mosquitoes (Source).

Some bats will eat whatever they can get their teeth on. So, attracting different species is ok. Our goal is just to attract bats. The species isn’t important just yet. We need bats. Point. Blank. Period.

• How Many Bats Do You Need?

Well, this depends on your property, the scale of your mosquito problem, and a few other factors. It’s important to note that you won’t have much control over how many bats come to your home.

As an average bat can eat 1,000 to 1,200 mosquitoes in a single hour, you won’t need many of them to help your mosquito issues (Source).

A Big Bat Box that holds a colony of bats may have 200 flying mammals living inside. As such, you can see how easy it is to clear up your mosquito issues.

Bachelor bat houses can hold up to 20 bats. Even with only 20 bats, you can still clear up a mosquito problem in a backyard.

But don’t take our word for it, just look at what one of the Big Bat Box customers had to say:

The Big Bat House is the best-constructed bat house I’ve ever seen, and I know a little about bat houses since we sold them for years at a retail store we used to have. I was also impressed with the map showing what exterior color one should request based on where one lives. As the new owner, I think you have a great company. We tried for years, beginning nearly 30 years ago, to get bats in various locations in Colorado. This is the first time we’ve ever had success. It may be the location, but I also think it’s the Big Bat House.

Do Bats Eat Mosquitoes? Overall

Overall, bats do eat mosquitoes, and a lot of them! If you’re looking to clean up a mosquito problem without using sprays and unnatural methods, a bat house may be your best bet. Click here to learn about the Big Bat Box, and how to attract mosquito-eating bats to your home.