How do I remove bats from my property?
NECESSARY STEPS TO GETTING RID OF BATS BY ISOLATION
STEP 1–
Inspect the attic. Be sure to observe the entire house, both between dusk and dawn. This will help you identify the kind of bat species you are dealing with and the entryways they use to enter and exit your home.
STEP 2 –
After locating all entry holes in your house, seal shut all holes and gaps, as small as 3/8 inch with steel metal sheets, caulk, or other durable sealants. Leave all primary exit holes open so the bats can leave.
STEP 3 –
Exit holes should be affixed with one-way escape doors to allow the bats to fly out but not back in. Escape doors can be made of funnels, screens, or nets depending on the supporting structure around the hole. Be sure to watch the movement of the bats during all hours after sunset. Ensure they are able to exit the escape door with no resistance but not able to get back in at all. If there’s a problem, remove and reinstall the escape door from a different angle. This will take some trial and error.
STEP 4 –
After more than 3 days, or once you are certain all of the bats have left the area, remove the escape door and be sure to seal shut all exist holes securely as you did in step 2.
STEP 5 –
After all holes have been sealed shut, and all bats have vacated the premises, you must thoroughly clean and sanitize the infected area. Use decontaminants to clean all droppings along with excrements, and most importantly fog spray the contaminated area with an enzyme cleaner in a full hazmat suit.
How to get rid of bats in an attic
Most of the bats you’ll encounter in your attic is usually female bats simply looking for shelter to raise their young. Because of this and other reasons, there are plenty of legal issues associated to bat removal.
Needless to say, bat removal should be left to professionals. Their colonies are protected by federal law against any kind of harm including being killed or relocated elsewhere. Often times, the best way to eliminate bats from an attic is by installing an escape door. These escape doors are designed as one-way doors that allow bats to exit the building but do not allow them to re-enter.
This process of migration location may seem simple at first, however, it can get complicated. It should never be done when baby bats are present. In the event the mother leaves the attic alone, you will essentially have an attic full of starving baby bats that will eventually die in your attic. It’s also important to note that bats will remain in their nest all year round if it is warm enough, however, the minute it gets cold they will migrate but return when it starts to get warm again. For this reason, it is important to seal all cracks ad holes as soon as they migrate out.
How to get rid of bats in a basement
Bat colonies are drawn to basements because of their dark and shadowy nature. The environment resembles much of a bat cave which often attracts them. Once they build a nest in your home, bats are reluctant to leave.
They will always return to the roost every year in the same location if it is accessible. Preventing bats access is unfortunately the only real method of bat control that works considering that they are protected by numerous laws and regulations. You are not allowed to legally kill bats and they cannot be trapped or physically relocated. It is a crime.
With that being said the only effective means of removing bats is by installing one-way doors at all exit locations of the basement. In this scenario, adult bats will be able to leave but not return. As always with wildlife control, it is more effective to employ professional help for expertise in bat removal.
Getting rid of bats in a house
Trapped bats in a home are not uncommon. This usually happens with one or two bats primarily during warm summer nights when homeowners are more likely to leave their windows open. In the event you encounter a bat in your home, do not attempt to swat at it, or hit it with an object like a broom or even get your pets to attack it. Instead, find a room in your house with large windows. Turn off the lights and guide the bat into the room. Be sure to open all the windows in the room as an exit way. Leave the bat in the room unattended, and even possibly overnight. The bat will most likely be gone the next morning. If the trapped bat is injured, however, place a vented box or a piece of cardboard with holes over the animal and immediately call a wildlife service professional. Never attempt to handle bats on your own. They are often a primary carrier of rabies and handling them unnecessarily can cause a lot of health issues. In fact, most counties actually require homeowners to report bat exposures immediately and may require the bat to be euthanized and tested for a virus.
Getting rid of bats in barns
Barns are another common place for bats to seek shelter. Barns have high roofs that are out of reach with plenty of support beams and hidden crevices. Hay is often only disturbed a few times annually, making the dark and dry area the perfect place for bats to roost.
Bats in a barn can be very difficult to find and remove because all that was mentioned above. Barn doors are not usually exit points for bats which can make setting up an escape door extremely difficult. The key is to look out for where the animals descend from into the building, this will point you to where your escape door should be installed.
As another part of a home, excluding bats by isolation is the only way to keep them away from your barn. Poisoning, harming, trapping, physically relocating, or killing bats are all illegal. Federal law makes bat control difficult but for a good reason. Prevent yourself from getting in trouble with the law and always seek help from a professional when dealing with bats. Without professional help, even if you are able to properly install an escape door to keep the adults from re-entry, baby bats left behind can be an issue. If left behind, baby bats can cause problems when they crawl into hidden spaces and eventually die. This is an ordeal that can involve about a hundred dead baby bats rotting in your barn. A professional on the other hand will be able to identify whether baby bats are present in your area or not before moving toward the appropriate approach.
How to get rid of bats in buildings
Commercial buildings are often not a target area for most bats because of the urban environment surrounding them. However, having bats in a building can be a very complicated situation especially when compared to other nuisance wildlife problems. To handle the situation properly, one must determine what bat species are occupying the building. This will ensure whether or not there are any baby bats present before moving forward. Baby bats are a liability when attempting to isolate bats because they cannot leave and instead die from starvation in the case that their mothers leave without them. Because of this, handle the entire colony in one fell swoop to eradicate the problem completely. Once removed, seal all openings and thoroughly clean and sanitize the area of the building that was infected. This will completely eliminate all remnants of hazardous toxic dangers in the area.
It is important to note that the above process has not been explained with great detail so it may seem overly simplistic. The fact of the matter is bat removal from a building is usually a very detailed and complex process that should be carried out with the proper expertise and done by professionals.
Bat removal is certainly not a simple process and we will always recommend using professional help first, however, if you must go at it alone, the truth is with the right tools and proper education you should be able to handle the situation in an easier manner than someone who has no idea where to even begin. Perhaps the most challenging step you will encounter in the process is finding all the entry and exit holes the bats are using to go in and out of your building.
Upon finding these spots you should seal all of the holes, leaving only one as an exit spot. This will normally be the biggest hole in the building should be where you place your one-way escape door. The escape door will allow bats to fly out but not allow them re-entry into the building.
The only note of caution to consider is that you should never carry out this process in the event where there are baby bats in the infected area. This can lead to a slew of problems down the line and in many instances, it’s against the law.
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