How do I remove bats from the walls of my house?
Question:For years we have struggled with bats in our house. We have spent money for a professional pest control company to come in and the bats where back the next year. The final straw now is the smell that is coming from our back bathroom, we think it is from the bats. Please help us!
Answers:
It will take you about 10 day to get rid of all the bats in your house. you will need lots of silicone caulk some expandable foam, a roll of duct tape and some bird netting.
First step.... Find out where the bats are coming and going from. Go outside at dusk and you will see where they are coming from.
Next.. During daylight hours seal all the holes in the boxing and facial of your home except where they are entering and exiting.
Next.. Where the bats are entering and exiting you need to drape the bird netting over these holes. Attach it with staples or tape or both, it needs to be secure at the top and on the sides. Attach it so that it has a little play in the center almost so that you can just reach up into it from the bottom. Do not tape off the bottom of the bird netting.
Here is what will happen...... The bats will come out at dusk and encounter the bird netting. They have to go out so they will flutter down the net then fly away. When they return to go back inside they will try to enter at the same spot they previously did. But the net is in the way, They cannot find the hole in the bottom of the netting to go back in. They will try all night to get back in until dawn. It will take several days to get them all out because they don't all come out every night. Leave the net up for 10 days, but inspect it daily to insure that it is secure. After the 10th day IN THE DAYTIME take the net down and seal the hole.
Unfortunately you will have to live with the smell untill it dries out. It will go away through the heat of the summer but almost impossible to remove. All i can tell you to do about the smell is to use lots of air fresheners.
It cost me 1200 bucks to see this happen on one of my rental houses. I have since succesfully evicted at least 30 bat infested homes. SO SIMPLE A CAVEMAN COULD DO IT!!!
are they inside the walls? if so, you will have to wait until they leave, then seal up the cracks they enter through. Nothing else will work. you will need to wait until fall, when they migrate south, otherwise some might inadvertently be sealed inside, and the smell would be even worse.
bat guano smells like ammonia.
Whatever you do DON'T use a shotgun!! LOL
Seriously my grandfather which is way too old to even have a gun went up to his attic to shoot whatever it was up there making all the noise. I can't remember if it was bats, raccoons, or a squirrel.
Anyway he everythime he shot he blew holes thru his ceiling! Ha
OK, heres what you need to do, you need to get some garlic and a cross...LOL, I'm just joking, Seriously though, try calling a garden center or like Lowes and ask them what to do, they can probably help, they deal with pests of all kinds. Sorry for the joke, I couldn't help myself. Also I don't think bats like light, they like cool, damp, dark places. Maybe find some type of light that you can put in there. Good luck!!
The ats are living in your house because they can't find an appropriate natural roosting area. But bats are beneficial and endangered - they eat up to 500 mosquitoes per hour and are vital to the health of your local ecosystem. If the bats arent making your life difficult, consider not evicting them. But if you must evict, wait until after August. June July and August is when the bats have their babies and the babies cannot fly properly and you should not disturb them until they are older. Also, please make sure the smell in your bathroom is not due to a leaky wax toilet seal or an improperly functioning p-trap in the sink or bathtub (p-traps keep the stinky sewer gases from coming up from the sewer line and entering your bathroom through the drain - make sure to sniff above the drains to make sure the smell isnt from those).
If the bats are disturbing your peace, then there is a way to humanely remove them, provide them a new roost, and keep them in the local ecosystem to control pest insects. The link below explains step by step how to ascertain the bats' exit hole from the house, how to build or order a bat house and mount it near the exit weeks before eviction so they become accustomed to it, how to block off the exit after they leave to hunt, and how to ensure they will find and enter the bat house when they return later that night. Remember to inspect the attic for babies before you block off their entry hole. And also, please know that there are no bloodsucking bats in the US and bats have less incidence of rabies per individual than raccoons.
Hummph's response regarding the bat's habits and the website are accurate except for the fact that not all bats are endangered. I agree that you should wait for the babies to leave. Do you have any idea how many bats their are?
My disagreement with hummph's is in her suggesting you leave them be. Bats and humans do not mix due to the bat guano causing health problems AND ROT. A guy in our area was telling me how he had the ceiling cave in from rot due to the massive amount of quano.
If you are smelling guano you have a serious infestation and problem and for the sake of your families health you may have to choose to evict them asap regardless of the stage the babies are at...but here is the problem with that...the babies will die and then their will be another awful stink.
Definitely contact the bat conservation website and ask for their advice and help.
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