That's differnt kind of door than I've seen before . I bet that gets them out fast .

No flapper on the end ?

i was wondering about the one way door also?

What size is the mesh on the wire? Almost looks too big in the pics....anyway, nice work!

They are going to climb back in...

The mesh is 1/2 X 1/2 ,16 gauge. Ive never used a bat excluder with a flapper, always horizontal tubes, drop valves like this one, and I use 1/4 netting ocaisionally. Ive only used this system about 50 times in the last 2 years, havent had any bats figure it out yet. Ive watched them work on it before, they all concentrate on fighting to get through up at the funnel end, they dont travel that far AWAY FROM their "door" to figure it out.



Apparently your bats are smarter than ours..... but our football players are smarter than yours.LOL

Very nice design, but some bats ( Indiana Browns ) are able to get through 1 x 1 " wire.
I have had bats go through 1x 1, so I switched to a smaller mesh.

I always use 1/4" x 1/4 " wire now or netting that is 1/4 x 1/4 ".

the meash is 1/2 by 1/2, you can't manually force a bat through it so I'm confident they dont get through on their own efforts. 1/4 by 1/4 netting is good also, switched to this because its easily reusable.

That design is top notch on that type of brick structure, nice job !

I was thinking the same thing looks like they still have both total ingress and egress. Beautiful craftsmanship looks like 1/2 " wire fabric mesh and that you put a lot of time into it; there are easier and simpler methods that are less labor intensive ie: Fluorescent Tube Protector or caulk tubes and duct tape.

These excluders take about 15 minutes to make and maybe $2 in material. but they are DURABLE I only need to build them once. Bob obviously this unit would not work on an entry like in your pic, but theres no single device that works everywhere. As with all my posts I'm not saying MY WAY is the best, I'm just dispalyimg tools or methods that work for me in certain situations. but thank you for the compliment on craftsmanship. This tool works great for dormers and separated facia. and it wont get destroyed in the back of my truck like a plasti tube.




got some pm about horizontal tubes so here they are. before the PROS start critiqueing me this tube does get some gorilla tape as extra bonding/sealing at point of attatchment.

Bats are PRIMAL CREATURES, too threatening of a barrier will make them withdraw back into the structure ! !

I was thinking the same thing about them climbing back in, but I use a similar type of setup to exclude snakes and it does work. Wonder if the mesh disperses the smell and they just go for the source?

Good funnel design. Crawl backs may be possible with certain devices with alot of climb / attachment potential.Those bats will be all over that device when returning to the roost site. A good education on bat return behavior is learned when watching bat responses to exclusion devices in the early morning hours.They will show you the good and bad of any device.

If you cover the wire mesh you will greatly improve the exiting efficiency of the device by creating an easy draft point for them to follow and recognize. When you have open air exposed devices such at that the exiting bats get confused as to what to do,( particularly vented areas with alot of air flow and a large exiting area,) and which way to follow to exit as the air flow has not changed for them.Cover your wire framing with duct tape or some plastic bag material.Drafting is something many dont really understand when it comes to bat work.

Covering the entire vent with the appropriate cut size of cardboard/luan with an exit hole or holes cut then attach your devices to the cut out areas. Now a draft is created allowing the bats to find your exit point quickly and easily reducing back up and confustion.This is something you will learn over time if you watch enough bat exiting behavior responding to the old netting techniques and wire type funnel devices. Just a tip I have learned over the last 27 years.

This drafting or light limiting method works on squirrels in vents and animals ( ghogs, skunks or coon ) living under unaccessable decks that find the lighted area left open for an exclusion device by closing off other points of light entering by stapling cardboard around the perimeter or other such light limiting material.Animals are drawn to the light and air flow instinctively developing a natural funnel effect.

Agreed, different methods for differing situations. Below are a few links to a number of different bat exclusion devices. There are some excellent ideas and useful information in them.
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post2086323
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post2097599
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2109739/Ridge_Vents_and_bats.html#Post2109739
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/214028/Tip_of_the_Month.html#Post214028
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post1995872
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2606027/Small_Bat_job.html#Post2606027
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2685796/Out_they_go.html#Post2685796
http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post3061699

Here are a few of mine.






The one coming thru the side of the fascia on the dormer is kinda weird for sure. Cut hole with a holesaw. cut an exact fit plug to go back in the hole when done, glued in with gorilla glue, painted and replaced gutter that covered the area although it looked good as new anyway.

I never understood the reason for the plastic or mesh over a slick tube that was going straight down, seems like you could get a bat caught in it pretty easy.

Barehunter , whats up with the wooden ladder ??

I think they dont get back in because they are stupid. They follow air current and will work around the top of the funnel and not crawl down to the actual entry to the tube. If you wrap it creating the air current at the end of the funnel they will crawl back up the wire funnel.
I have never used a wire one like that but I believe it will work fine.
I usually make vents from pvc but don't put the horizontal crawl like Barehunter. I think the long crawl complicates the exit but I am sure it works. I am enterested in that wood ladder with wheels. Is that a home made chicken ladder device?
I like the professional look of the bat tubes but can't make myself pay for just the look when other things works as well.I use a lot of caulk tubes like Robb showed. I have professionaled them up by wrapping them with aluminum metal tape then making several cuts in the attachment end and bending them out for screwing, foaming or taping to the building.
I'm like the bat not smart enough to post pictures so you will have to visualize to wrapped tube. It looks good and is pliable for all kinds of mounting situations and cheap enough for one time use if you need to cut to fit and throw away.
To the original post good work and I see that as a very workable mountable crafted tool.

Yeah, what's the deal with the mesh?

Couldnt agree more Bob ALOT can be learned by watching your own work in action. I did watches the first 5 times I used this system. No bats came more than a couple of inches away from the facia. The bats 'KNOW" where the entry point is they've used it for years, so why would they crawl AWAY from their "DOOR"? They Dont. I do like your idea of focusing air flow with luan, I think on larger gable vents I will try that in the future, with my wire horizontal tube. I dont claim to be an expert in anything, bat work included, but I am not a rookie and I would never post a pictorial of an unproven technique.

I am going to stick with Chris's original design. I think covering the mesh will cause the bats to find the end of the tube and they will climb the wire. It has to be slick if you are going to put the air current at end of the tube. I think what makes it work is the air current is focused at the original exit point causing the bats to work that area. The same if you use netting they work the exit point not crawlng down the net then up the net to the entry.
I agree with Bob on most points and he makes great lure but I think
trapper4hire is right this time. If you are going to use the wire mesh.
Bob is right if you have a slick tube exit.

I Have one time in the past on a very large gable vent had a problem with bats not effectively finding the horizontal exit tube. I think in the future I will use Bobs luan idea, this will create a focused air flow for the bats to find the exit tube. With a horizontal mesh exit tube this air flow will disperse, so returning bats will still focus on the luan and not on the end of the mesh tube. I have a large maternal colony of bats scheduled for september and I'm going to try this technique. thanks for the idea Bob.

Wow sure is a lot of differnt ways out there . Seems like having a web first and then the pipe gets them out quickly . I used just pipe with no web and it took about three nights . When I went to the web of 1/4 hardware cloth and put a pipe on that they gone the first night . I still leave for atleast 2 weeks . I doesn't mader I guess what one uses . I like what I use now I works well no need to change it

Rick I like a big tube to . I see some around here just seems small . I know bats can get small but seems like there out faster with the 2"

Thanks for popping in Bobby J~~~~!

I think i know that building and the ones in the background. there are quite a few colonies using around that location. did you have to clean out the elevator shaft or just do the exclusion.

There are interesting techniques. I bet a lot has to do with the different colony sizes/species that you encounter in your area.

Nice work Barehunter.

.......ain't it the truth !

yeah, there seems to be a decent ammount of bat work down here. I actually bid on a job the other day right down the road from the building in your post. THat building used to be the old farmers hardware building, and we had a feed mill right across the railroad tracks from it. It got bough out during the real estate boom and a big condo building was built on the lot. If you ever need any help down this way or need me to check on anything for you just let me know.

Looks like a well constructed chicken ladder.

Just thought I'd let everybody know; this project is now complete and everything worked as normal.

I didn't know the bats needed a ladder; thought they could fly.LOL
(That's a chicken ladder, Adam. Used for laying against steep roofs and is NOT free-standing. Works like a hook ladder.
Great info., everybody.

Precision work Chris. Is that ladder tied off?