Bat Removal
In this Article
Bat Inspection
A bat inspection by a local wildlife removal company can help identify where the bats are nesting in your home. Certified and trained technicians determine how to get rid of bats based on the points of entry and exit they are using to come and go from your attic space. It is imperative that you do not come into contact with any bat feces or urine and allow a professional with the correct safety equipment remove any waste or nesting materials. Make sure the company you hire to do the inspection is licensed, insured, and knows how to inspect a building for bats. See our nationwide directory of Wildlife Management Pros for 2024 to find a reliable company or contractor near you.
Bat Droppings and Urine
Animal feces can carry a number of diseases, and bat excrement, especially, poses a great number of health risks. Histoplasmosis is a lung disease commonly associated with bat feces and affects the lungs. Our technicians wear heavy gear to perform sanitation and removal of this waste.
Liquid waste left behind by bats can cause damage to insulation and other building materials in your attic. An entire colony can produce enough bat urine to produce a strong odor as well, and permanently weaken drywall. It is very important that you hire a professional or follow their strict safety standards for how to clean bat guano.
Bat Damage to Your Home
Bats are not likely to chew through drywall, wood, or electrical wiring. Most of the damage they cause is from urine and feces. Any surfaces that can be sanitized can remain, but it is important to replace any part of your home that can't be completely sanitized. This includes ceilings, upholstery, insulation, and paneling. We provide instructions for other widlife operators to properly sanitize and restore damaged parts of their customers' homes.
Bat Bugs
Bat bugs are small parasitic bugs that live amongst common bats, like Little Brown Bats, in their fur and in their colony's nest. They are found in bat droppings as well. Because these bugs feed on blood, they will also bite humans if given the opportunity. Bat bugs cause red, raised skin irritation if they bite humans. You should seek attention from a medical professional if you are bitten by a bat bug for the proper care and treatment of the bite.
Bat Traps & Trapping
Our technicians never utilize bat traps to perform a bat removal in your home. Any professional that tells you they know how to trap bats is not operating a humane removal. Service technicians have to check traps daily to make sure that they don't starve the animals or that the trap did not injure them. If a technician has several trapping sites going at one time, it's not possible to check every single trap in a single day. That's why bat removal specialists will utilize industry-standard bat exclusion methods like bat funnels and one-way bat doors to rid your home of bats.
Bat Removal DIY
Don't be fooled by companies selling bat traps or bat poison that will kill bats. Killing bats is 100% illegal. Glue traps, cage traps, and other similar products will kill bats, and you'll be left with a horrible odor and have committed a crime against a protected species. We strongly urge that anyone with a bat infestation contact a licensed and insured wildlife removal services company to perform live exclusions. This ensures that the bats are removed from the property without harming them in any way.
Some local hardware stores stock pellets of bat repellent or other products that claim to generate noises or odors that will keep bats away. None of these are proven and you'll have wasted money and valuable time. Bat repellent is no match for these creatures, who will most likely simply migrate their nest to another part of the attic.
Bats Inside of Your House
Bats can be found in attics, crawlspaces, chimneys, and many other cool, dark places in your home. Lighting a fire is not how to remove bats from the chimney. Like most other pets that hang out in there, it will only cause them to try to escape from the bottom of the chimney instead of the top. The same can be said of opening attic vents or doors and flooding the space with light. Local specialists can assist you with the correct way how to get rid of bats so that you are following all local laws and treating the bats humanely.
Bat Exterminators
So you want to know how to kill a bat? There are plenty of ways, but none of them are legal. All species of bats in the United States have to be removed alive by setting up a live exclusion. Companies who claim to be bat exterminators are either not being truthful, or they are breaking the law.
Bat Catching and Prevention
There's more than one way to get the job done. Learning how to catch a bat will take a long time, and it's a lot harder than you think. Bats are smart animals–that's why they're not paying you rent to stay in your attic. It's a better idea to focus on how to keep more bats from colonizing on your property and how to exclude the ones that are currently there.
If you don't have bats in your attic, and want it to stay that way, start by making small repairs and additions to your home to keep bats out. Use silicon caulking to seal up cracks in soffit or siding where bats are entering your home. Use an electric drill to install 1/4-inch wire mesh behind attic vents so that they can't slip in-between the slats. If you are a new homeowner, remember this: you can never start bat prevention too early. Your chances of becoming a bat hotel are higher if your neighbors are already using these techniques.
Bat Bites and Safety
What do you do if you're bitten by a bat? Seek medical care immediately. Bats have the potential to carry rabies and other bloodborne diseases that, if untreated, can have lasting effects. Clean any wound and wrap it before heading to the Emergency Room or medical care center.
Bat bites are more common if you have one or more bat colonies living in the same area. We encourage anyone with a bat infestation to contact us or another local service professional as soon as possible to prevent aggressive bats from harming them or their families.