It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about bats in your home, especially if you’ve never had to deal with an infestation. Some California residents have to deal with the unfortunate reality of bats nesting on their property, which may occasionally lead to a situation reminiscent of Halloween.
When bats decide to make their home in your attic, regardless of whether you find them endearing or frightening, you could be in for a world of hurt.
They pose a threat to public health both through the droppings they leave behind and the possibility that they could bite.
What draws bats to your home in the first place?
When bats choose to make their homes inside, they look for spaces that are dimly lit, relatively quiet, and that provide quick and easy access to the outdoors so that they can continue feeding at night. Attics, wall voids, chimneys, and barns are some examples of such locations.
During the period in which they are hibernating for the winter, bats can survive a temperature fluctuation of roughly 120 degrees Fahrenheit without sustaining any injury, as the National Wildlife Federation reported. As a result of how secretive bat nests can become, it is not unusual for homeowners to go several years without discovering the presence of a bat colony in their home.
The following are the primary indications that bats may be present in your home:
- Stacks of feces in a single area of the attic or close to the doorway.
- The insulation in the attic has been hit with drops.
- Urine stains may be seen on the walls of the attic.
- The presence of feces is likely to blame for the pungent odor of ammonia that permeates your attic.
- Hearing scratching or squeaking sounds in the background.
- Observing bats, either alive or dead
If you walk into your home and find a bat in the attic or the living room, it most likely got there by mistake. Bats can locate openings in the attic that they believe lead outside, but instead, they may find themselves trapped within your bedroom with no means to escape.
Are bats a welcome addition to the neighborhood where I live?
The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers University claims that the general public misunderstands bats. Contrary to what many believe, bats do not have poor vision. Their eyes, on the other hand, have been modified so that they can better identify prey and navigate around obstacles when operating in low-light environments. The ability of many bats that feed on nectar to perceive UV light gives them an advantage while searching for blooms at night.
Most bats, including those found in California, eat insects as their primary source of nutrition. Bats, who are primarily nocturnal creatures, play an essential role in lowering populations of mosquitoes, moths, caddisflies, midges, and other small insects in the vicinity.
Bats can accurately identify the size of their prey and its movements thanks to their ability to use echolocation. If there are bats in the area where you live, you may hear the faint clicks they make as they fly across the night sky.
What could be luring these bats into my home?
Bats are creatures with very set routines. If they can do so, they will continue to spend all their time in the same location year after year. That indicates that the same bats will most likely return if you do not block up entry points properly. Bats give birth to one or two young each year, which they raise secretly in the warmth and safety of your home’s chimney or attic.
You risk getting bitten if you don’t take action and call your local pest control or wildlife management firm. Rabies, which can be passed from bats to humans through their saliva, is sometimes carried by bats.
How much would it prevent you from having bats removed from your attic?
The price of bat control is usually determined by the size of your home and the extent of the work that must be done to provide good preventative services. For instance, bat control programs will typically cost less to implement in homes that only have a single entry point that bats are using. This is in contrast to residences that have many exposed entry points.
Does Animal Control remove bats?
Getting rid of bats that have taken up residence in homes or barns is not something that township animal control agencies do very often. Please get in touch with your local Animal Control office if you have any inquiries regarding the procedures in place for removing bats in your city or county.