University of Florida Bat Houses

ABOUT THIS PLACE

These are working buildings, not an exhibit. When Johnson Hall burned down in 1987 the bats living in it moved into the stadium bleachers, where the smell and the staining made them a problem, so the university built them somewhere else to live at a safe distance from people. The original bat house went up in March 1991 and bats settled into it for good in January 1995. A first barn followed in March 2010 and was occupied by August 2011, and a second barn was finished in February 2017. Together the three were designed to hold about 750,000 bats, and the colony is currently estimated at 450,000 to 500,000. What people come for is the evening. The bats leave together at dusk to feed, take millions of insects overnight and return at dawn. There is nothing to book and nothing to pay. You stand outside and wait. The houses are on the north side of Museum Road across from Lake Alice, at the university farm and gardens, with a free parking lot beside the field and a wooden fence to stand behind. There is no fee and nobody on site. Come before sunset; the bats usually come out fifteen to twenty minutes after it. They stay in during high wind, heavy rain, or when the temperature falls below sixty-five degrees