Bats In The House How They Got in, And How To Remove Them

Bats In The House? How They Got in, And How to Get Them Out

Bats are amazing creatures which play a very important role in our natural ecosystem, but unfortunately, they often take up refuge in various parts of your home – whether it be in the attic, the chimney, or even within your wall cavities! The most common question that you’ll have when dealing with a bat (atticpestauthority.com/bats-in-attic) problem is: “How the HECK did they get in?” If you live in the countryside, or if you have a home in a rural setting, chances are that you are used to seeing bats in and around your home. However, even in rural settings, you may suspect that you have a bat “problem” if:

  • You hear scratching behind your walls

  • You suspect the squeaking and screeching noises that you hear are coming from inside your home, and not from outside

  • If you can feel them fluttering in your attic

  • If you get the distinct smell of bat “guano”

  • You notice yellowing/browning on walls or rooftops from bat urine

  • You see droves of bats exit from your house around dusk, and then entering the home just around dawn

These are telltale sights, sounds, and smells that will alert you that you may have a potential bat problem inside your home. The questions now are:

  • How do bats get inside your home?

  • Where are they coming in from? And

  • What can you do to prevent them from doing so?

Luckily, the answers to these questions are easily found, but it will take some knowledge about bats, and some information about clues they leave for you once they enter your home.

How Do Bats Get Into Your House?

Bats on the ceiling

Looking for bats in the home takes patience and tact:

  • They can enter the home from gaps and cracks that are as small as 3/8 of an inch

  • They will often enter the house through loose or missing shingles or tiles

  • If they find a gap in the bricks of walls, they can easily make that into a passageway into the home

  • Openings in the attic are an ideal invitation for bats to come inside to rest and nest

  • Structures with large doors, such as barns and warehouses, are often prime bat habitats

  • Places less frequently trafficked by humans, such as storage sheds and grain silos, are also where bats will flock to

  • Places inside the home that have thick wooden beams or massive pillars make for a great bat hangout

Bats are social mammals, preferring to live in large colonies. So, if you see even a single bat inside the home, chances are that it is part of a larger colony inhabiting your house (unless it went astray and found itself there by mistake – which is a possibility!).

Now that you’ve identified how they get in, and from where, it’s time to deal with the issue to prevent them from being unwelcome guests in your house.


Decision Time: How To Get A Bat Out Of Your House

Bats with three babies

Photo credit: Flickr

What do you do when you first notice that you have bats in your home? Most homeowners will typically respond by:

  • Observing where (in general terms) the mammals are present inside the home

  • Looking around that general area for holes and openings through which they could have entered the house

  • Using caulking, cement, timber and other building and construction materials to seal all the openings through which bats enter the home

All well and good, now that the home is bat-proof! But there is one big problem with this issue: With all the entry ways blocked, it means all the exits are blocked, too. That leaves bats still trapped inside the house, and they may even have young ones nesting or nursing and as well promote disease from bat droppings then read this : https://atticpestauthority.com/bat-guano-disease

As a result:

  • The bats will soon be observed flying all over the house in an attempt to exit the building

  • As they find their exits and entryways blocked, they will flap and flounder around throughout the home

  • The more trapped they feel, the more agitated they will get

  • This will cause even more damage and destruction in the home

So what do you do to prevent this from happening?

  • Look for signs, inside the home, of bat droppings to determine where they are nesting, hibernating or congregating

  • You can get the same telltale signs through bat urine, by looking for discoloration on walls and rooftops

  • Search the entire house carefully and look for openings into the home – broken windowpanes, loose floor boards, windows that won’t fully close

  • Before you plug the intrusion holes, make sure you perform a bat exclusion, which is a process whereby you expel all bats from inside the house – especially the young ones in nurseries and nests

  • You could start plugging the openings once the bat colony leaves on a feeding trip, but you will risk trapping the young and infirm ones still inside the home

Check out our DIY step-by-step pointers on bat removal here.


Should I Call Professional Help?

Exterminating bats is illegal in most jurisdictions, so be careful not to use any methods that may harm or kill the creatures. If you are unsure of your abilities to deal with the problem yourself, enlist the help of a professional and they will help you get rid of the bats from your home.

There are also a few DIY guides that can help you get those stubborn animals out of your home, and it's quite easy to follow.​

If you have other pest control problems, visit our homepage to learn more about how to resolve them the right way!