Where Do Bats Roost? Why Do Bats Live In Attics?

Bats spend over half of their lives roosting so where and why bats roost is important to understand the many diverse bat species we have here in North America. Bats are regularly found in trees, caves, under bridges, vacant buildings, and found roosting in an around the attics of homes to name just a few places that bats roost! Bats require a safe roosting place away from predators, severe weather including extreme high and low temperatures. The bat roost always becomes a communication place between bats and where a bat colony would live together to raise their young bat pups, rest and digest their food and hibernate together.

Bats can roost in well-hidden areas. A Professional Bat Expert can find bats in the strangest hiding places.

Bats have both day and night roosting places. The day roosting place is for extended rest periods where the night roosting places are used for brief resting while eating. Over the course of a night, bats may rest more than once at different roosting locations. Some bat species use their night roosts to hunt for prey and in tropical regions, bats species may use them to call potential mates. Bats may change roosts daily when threatened by predators or have different summer (possibly homes or attics) and winter roosting locations (caves).

Bat roosts are chosen because of favorable protection against wind, the temperature, and moisture amounts in the roosting area. Most bats roost hanging upside down and unlike humans have evolved to not have all the blood run to their heads. Bats that accumulate in large groups like the Mexican free-tailed bat have evolved so that they are not affected by highly dangerous levels of ammonia from the bat guano in caves from millions of bats roosting in places like Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico.

Not every bat species will choose to roost in vacant buildings and in the attics of homes. Many bat species are content to live in foliage and some of them have fur color to protect them from predators like the Eastern Red Bat that looks like a dead leaf when roosting in trees or under the leaves and foliage of a large tree.

Common bats found in homes include the Big Brown bat, Little Brown Bat and the Brazilian aka Mexican Free-tailed bat . If you have thought you have bats roosting in your home please consider contacting a local bat removal professional from this web site.