The development of new bat boxes made from Styrofoam for use in winter roosts

Published source details Horn J. (2006) Die Entwicklung neuer Kästen aus Styropor für den Einsatz in Fledermaus-Winterquartieren. Nyctalus: Internationale Fledermaus-Fachzeitschrift, 11, 11-18.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Provide bat boxes for roosting bats Action Link

Provide bat boxes for roosting bats

A replicated, before-and-after study in 2002–2005 in a railway underpass and two barn cellars in Brandenburg, Germany (Horn 2006) found that styrofoam bat boxes and strips were used by at least one bat species after being installed. A styrofoam bat box installed in a railway underpass was used by five brown long-eared bats Plecotus auritus within two weeks of installation. A week after the box was removed, the author reports that no bats were observed in the underpass. A second styrofoam bat box and strip installed in a cellar previously uninhabited by bats was used by two brown long-eared bats the following winter. Styrofoam strips and two hollow concrete blocks installed in a second cellar already inhabited by bats were used by brown long-eared, Daubenton’s Myotis daubentonii and Natterer’s Myotis nattereri bats (see original paper for details). In October 2002, a styrofoam bat box (40 x 40 cm with 2–5 cm wide interior columns) was installed in a railway drainage underpass (23 m long, 1.9 m wide and 1.8 m high). In autumn/winter 2003–2004, a styrofoam bat box and strip (1 m long, with gaps and cavities cut into it) were attached to the ceiling of a barn cellar. In September 2003, styrofoam strips (0.2 x 1 m) and two hollow concrete blocks were added to the walls of a second barn cellar. Bats were monitored after bat boxes and strips were installed (details were not provided).

(Summarised by: Katie Sainsbury)