Have A Bat Infestation? This is how you take back your property!
Bat infestations are happening in urban areas far more often nowadays.
Bats will make themselves comfortable in the roof, attic or walls of your home and grow significantly in numbers before you even become aware that they are there.
And getting rid of them is not easy, that’s for sure!
On this website, we list hundreds of cities with a bat removal expert ready to help. Simply browse our bat removal directory here to find a company that can provide local bat removal services.
Why Do Bats Infest Our Homes?
Like all the other animals on our planet, bats need a decent place to rest or even hibernate. And while they generally dwell in caves or a hollow tree, an attic provides adequate shelter from predators as well as outside conditions.
Urbanization, deforestation and many other contributing factors means that a lot of the natural areas bats called home simply does not exist anymore. And so, they have adapted to live in human structures to make up for the lost environment.
Older or poorly constructed homes have a much higher risk of getting a bat infestation due to multiple open areas around the roofline. That said, we’ve also seen bats infest newer, well built homes as well. Home builders simply do not take into account the possibility of a bat infestation. Roof mice are also fairly common for the same reason.
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Signs Of A Bat Infestation In Your Home
You might not even realize that there are bats in your attic, roof or walls. Bats do not chew on things, and when in flight, they are deadly silent. The only noticeable thing might be squeaking or light scratching, but this is often mistaken for a mouse.
Then one day, you find a bat flying around your living room. After managing to catch the bat and release it outside, you may discover this scenario will repeat itself over the next few weeks, months, or years.
It’s not the same bat, that’s for sure. Repeated occurrences of bats in the house indicate that you have a large group of bats that have established their colony inside your home, attic, and walls.
So why do you need to act immediately? Well, there are a number of reasons:
- While bats are relatively clean animals, they can carry rabies. They can also carry other parasites such as bat mites, which are similar to bed bugs. Bat mites can and will feed on humans, and the bites are extremely itchy.
- Bats don’t attack people but might bite when defending themselves. If you have pets, they are likely to pursue the amazingly interesting creature flying around your house. Feel free to sit back and enjoy watching your cat travel at the speed of light, but we recommend separating your pets from the bat.
- Bat droppings, also called guano will accumulate in large piles in your attic. When the droppings mix with their urine, it will cause a terrible stench if the colony is not dealt with in a timely manner.
- Their urine and guano will also eventually cause damp and mold. Harmful bacteria develops in these instances, which can cause a disease known as Histoplasmosis if you breath in any of the airborne materials.
Problem species: The bats that infest our homes
In the United States, a number of different bats species can be found in our homes. Let’s take a look at the three most common in a little more detail.
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Little Brown Bats
Little brown bats are more prevalent in the northern parts of the United States but can sometimes be found in the south.
These bats are small, with a wingspan of between 8 to 11 inches and weighing just half-an-ounce. They are mostly brown in color but can also sometimes be reddish or even golden.
Their small size means that they can easily squeeze through openings and get into the roof or attic of your home.
These bats are carriers of rabies but only around 2% of tested bats have been found to have the disease.
Note that this is an endangered species. Over 1 million of these bats were wiped out by a disease known as white-nose syndrome between 2006 and 2011.
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Big Brown Bats
Found throughout the United States, big brown bats can weigh up to an ounce and has a wingspan of between 13 to 14 inches in most cases.
They are also carriers of rabies with around 3.8% of tested bats having the disease.
While some of this bat species can succumb to white-nose syndrome, the big brown bat is not as susceptible to the disease as the little brown bat and in some areas, their population numbers continue to grow.
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Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats
If you live in the southern states of the United States, the Brazilian free-tailed bat is a species that might decide to make your home their own.
Also called the Mexican free-tailed bat, these creatures have a wingspan of around 12 inches and weigh between a quarter to half-an-ounce.
They get their name from their tails, which extend 1/3 beyond the tail membrane, while other species have tails enclosed inside the membrane. Generally, their fur color varies from grey to dark brown and variations in-between.
Like the two other species mentioned, these can carry rabies. To date, they have not been affected greatly by white-nose syndrome.
So how do you get rid of them?
The most important thing to remember is that all bats are federally protected. So lethal bat removal is out of the question. And getting rid of them is not simply getting into your attic and removing them in some way.
This is a task for someone who knows what they are doing, that’s for sure. And to get rid of your bat colony, you are going to need to hire a professional wildlife removal expert. On this website, we list a wildlife professional in every area of the USA. Browse our directory here to find a certified bat removal expert.
Why Choose A Bat Removal Professional?
Well, they have the knowledge to remove the bat colony effectively, the first time. Homeowners who first attempt bat removal on their own tend to complicate the bat exclusion process for the professional.
A bat removal expert will first establish the entrance and exit points the bats use in your home.
Those entrance and exit points are then covered with a special device that lets bats fly out but not enter again. These are known as bat valves or bat cones.
Sounds simple enough but there is one other very important consideration. And that is if there are any baby bats present.
Baby bats cannot fly, therefore they have no way of leaving their nesting area. With their mothers not able to return, these bats will die and that’s just inhumane. As mentioned above, there are seasons in which a bat colony cannot be excluded.
A bat removal professional will deal with all of these situations for you, by finding each and every exit used by the bat colony and sealing any potential openings.
In conclusion, hiring a bat removal expert is the fast track to dealing with a bat infestation. It’s certainly the most effective way to remove a bat infestation and ensure that bats never return to your home again. Hire a bat removal pro expert today!