Problem Bats

You Have A Bat In Your House.

Now What?

The bats that are found in people’s houses are usually younger bats that have lost their way. They may also be adult bats that accidentally fly through an open window or door. The first step in removing a bat from your home is to stay calm. If the bat is flying around, it is not trying to attack anyone, it is only attempting to find a way out. Turn on the lights in the house so that you can easily see the bat and they can also see you (bats are not blind, nor afraid of the light). Next, close the doors to adjoining rooms to confine it to one room. Open any exterior doors and windows in the room the bat is flying around (more bats will not fly in). More than likely, the bat will just fly out the open door or window within a few minutes. Do not "chase" the bat out. It will think you are attempting to harm it ,and will take longer to find a way out.

If the bat does not fly out on its own, you can wait for it  to land. Then gently capture it with  heavy leather work gloves or a thick towel. You can also take a large can or plastic bowl and slowly walk up to the bat. (It may fly away, but it won't try to attack you.) Put the container over the bat, slip a piece of cardboard or magazine behind it. Take it outside and let it go. Never try to handle a bat with bare hands because, like other animals, it will likely bite to protect itself.

As long as the bat never touches anyone, there is no need to worry about it transmitting any diseases or viruses. The Center for Disease Control recommends that anyone that comes in direct, unprotected, contact with wild animals should receive rabies post-exposure treatment from a healthcare provider, if the animal is not able to be caught and tested. Rabies post-exposure treatment should also be administered in situations in which there is a reasonable probability that such contact occurred. For example, a sleeping person awakes to find a bat in the room or an adult witnesses a bat in the room with a previously unattended child, mentally disabled person or an intoxicated person. Go to our Links Page and then click on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) logo for more information about bats and rabies on their website.

You May Have Bats Living in Your House

A single bat in a room may only mean that a bat has lost its way and ended up accidentally in your house. If you have more than one or two bats entering your home within a season, you may have bats living in a crawl space or attic. If the bats become a nuisance, the only long term solution is to perform (or hire someone to perform) a bat exclusion and then seal the entrance points. A bat exclusion is a non-lethal way of evicting the bats without harming them. The time of year is an import factor in deciding whether to perform an exclusion. Exclusions are inadvisable from mid April to mid August. This is when mother bats are birthing and rearing their young. Performing exclusions during this time of year will create major problems for both the bats and the home owner. Young bats that are trapped inside will desperately try to get out and often find their way into the living areas of the home. Eventually, they will starve to death and may cause an odor or possible health problem. Furthermore, purposely causing animals to die of starvation or dehydration is a form of animal cruelty.

The first step in performing a humane bat exclusion is to find where the bats are are getting in and out. Watch the outside of the building beginning at sunset for exiting bats. Common areas are chimneys, attic vents and openings along the eaves and siding. Once the exit is located, it is a good idea to temporarily locate a bat house near the exit. Due to loss of habitat, bats are using more buildings as their roost sites. Bat houses provided the bats with alternative roosting habitat. It also keeps these beneficial animals around to eat insects. Leave the bat house up for about a week to give them time to investigate their new "home". Another important step before beginning an exclusion is to seal any unused openings in your building, because the excluded bats will be looking for a new way in.

To conduct the exclusion, drape bird netting with a quarter inch mesh size over the opening and tape or staple the top and sides such that the bats can easily crawl out, drop down and fly away out the bottom. Drape it far enough below the opening (usually 8 - 12 inches) so the bats will land on top of the netting when they return and will not be able to get back in. This can be a little tricky, so feel free to contact us if you have questions. Leave the netting up for several days to a week to insure all bats have exited. It is a good idea to observe each evening to make sure the exclusion is working properly. If successful, after a few days you will see no more bats leaving from the exit. Lastly, the holes must be sealed permanently since the netting is only a temporary fix.  Detailed information on how to remove bats from buildings is provided in Chapter 7 of "Bats of Florida"  which is available in the Florida section of many Florida bookstores, or can be ordered directly from the Florida Bat Conservancy.

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