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Get rid of bats

How to get rid of Bats? (Humanely)

Are you scared of bats? Well, you are not alone. Bats are a serious concern to tons of homeowners. Besides their scary nature, the mess created by bat’s droppings and pungent-smell in their roosting places makes the home unlivable. However, you aren’t allowed to kill them since they are federally protected. 

But you can get rid of bats humanely through the following steps.

1. Inspect for signs of bat infestation or damage
Bats can live secretly in your home. Since they are nocturnal, it may take you time to notice their presence until their damage and mess reaches an unreasonable level. Therefore, you should carry out regular inspections for timely action. During your inspection, look for the following.

  • Brownish stains or rub marks near the bat’s exit and entry points.
    You can also notice brownish stains streaking down the sides of your structure if the infestation is under a barrel tile roof.
  • Bat guano and pungent ammonia smell.Bats’ feces usually have a pungent odor that might interfere with the air quality in your house when the bat’s colony is enormous. The bats generally leave a pile of droppings in their roosting sites.
  • Look for bats exiting at dusk and returning at dawn.Since bats are nocturnal, you can try to observe them leaving your roof or attic at sunset. At times, you can also hear scratching sounds caused by their sharp claws as they crawl and scramble to go through the exit points.
    You can also observe a massive swarm of bats around the house to locate their entrance at dawn. When they find their entrance point, they quickly disappear into their roosting area.

After establishing that these ugly mammals roost in your house, either under the roof or in the attic, the next step is to start the removal process. Ready to get rid of the bats? Well, let’s get rolling.

2. Check your local laws and regulation for bat removal
In the US, bats are federally protected since they are among the endangered species of animals. Therefore, it’s illegal to trap or use poisons to kill them. Besides that, the law doesn’t permit interruption of their hibernation and mating periods, even if they could be dangerous to your health. To be on the safe side, check with your wildlife offices.

3. Inspect your attics
Get to your attic and look for the areas with highly concentrated piles of bat’s droppings. Once you find the piles, the bats will be right above the area.

4. Identify the bat species that have invaded your house.
Knowing the type of bats in your house will help you understand their behavior. For instance, some bat species are migratory and just migrate on their own. For such, you only need to wait and then seal their entrances after they leave.

5. Inspect the entry holes and spaces

Get onto a ladder and inspect the entrances. After that, seal all other entry and exit points and then install one-way exclusion devices on main entrances.

There are two types of one-way exclusion devices:

  • i. Tube exclusion devices:
    The tube should be 2 inches in diameter and 10 inches long. Place the tube less than ¼ inch into the hole to allow the bats to climb out. Also, place a collapsible plastic sleeve at the end of the plastic pipe to prevent the bats from ever getting back in. Alternatively, you can buy Batcone from Amazon for the same purpose.
  • Netting excluding devices:
    It allows bats to slide down to the outside and prevent them from coming back. This device works great on flat surfaces such as shingles, louver, and under window frames. It should be less than 1/6 inches and made up of Polypropylene.

6. Check your devices for 5-7 days.
When all the bats are gone, remove the excluding devices and seal the hole(s)  permanently. This prevents a re-infestation.

7. Kick launch the cleaning task.

  • Ensure you’re in full protective clothing.
  • After that, spray the surface to be cleaned with virucide disinfectant. This destroys any bacteria, viruses, or mold spores that can cause infections.
  • With that done, wait for about 10-15 minutes before picking the messes.
  • Do not vacuum to prevent spreading odor and making the particles airborne, thereby increasing the chances of infections.
  • After removing the mess, spray the infected area with DSV sanitizer

Voila! You’ve successfully saved yourself thousands of bucks through this DIY humane bat
removal. Enjoy a peaceful environment!