Around a year ago the Miami Bat Lab installed two experimental artificial roosts that were custom made to hopefully attract and house Florida bonneted bats. These boxes are different than the traditional single chamber boxes we have been using for years. These are called rocketboxes and have two chambers that go all the way around a central pole. The theory is that these boxes will be healthier for the bats during extreme weather events by allowing them to move from one chamber to another or around to another side depending on sun exposure and what they want. We had these boxes closed off from the bats since they were installed to allow for us to gather temperature and humidity data from inside the boxes before they were occupied. We removed the mesh from the boxes around a month ago to allow the bats to explore the boxes if they wanted to. But, would they like the boxes and move in? Or just ignore them and prefer the old single chambered boxes? It didn't take us long to find out. In a month's time, both of the experimental boxes now have a single bachelor male Florida bonneted bat that has moved into each. You can see what we saw on our camera below.
