I got insulation blown into my attic yesterday and they found BATS! Over 60 of them! As a protected species, they can't remove them until the pups are viable in August!

They aren't going to kill them. Just relocate them and seal off where they might be getting in. To the tune of about $2k!

They also said that if I supplied the bat boxes they would put them up and put the bats in them.

So does anyone have recommendations for bat houses?

Bats 1 by Dave Steier, on Flickr

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rolan_Kraps,

Yikes!

Bat feces in your attic. That's gonna suck (Please tell me they didn't blow the new insulation in, yet?)

You can buy bat houses on-line all day long, or, if you're at all handy with a saw, a bit of glue, and nails or screws, you can easily build as many as you want.

I would suggest acquiring a copy of America's Neighborhood Bats. Excellent book on the subject and has plans for building bat houses in it.

Btw: What you're experiencing is why America's Home Handiman, Glen Haege (RIP), used to regularly recommend homeowners regularly eyeball their homes on all sides as they were out and about in their yards--to detect this kind of thing before it got out of hand.

We had a WL Biologist on a district I worked on in western Colorado who built several bat houses around the district office. As I recall, they were divided inside by slats and seemed very narrow for bats to roost in. I don’t recall ever seeing bats inside one of them; not saying they didn’t ever use them, but I never saw any.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
We had a WL Biologist on a district I worked on in western Colorado who built several bat houses around the district office. As I recall, they were divided inside by slats and seemed very narrow for bats to roost in.

If you look at RK's photo, you'll notice over sixty bats occupying a space less than two inches deep. That's the way they like it.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
I don’t recall ever seeing bats inside one of them; not saying they didn’t ever use them, but I never saw any.

Yeah, I'm skeptical of RK's insulation guys' claim they're going to "relocate" the bats. From what I understand of bats you can't relocate them like that.

Everything I've read says the way to rid a space like that of a bat infestation is to create a one-way flap over their ingress/egress point, such that they can exit, but cannot re-enter. Then they'll eventually find a new place to nest.

If one wants to keep bats around (they are beneficial): Build the bat houses and implement the mechanism above. But odds are they won't inhabit newly-built bat houses. Usually bat houses have to sit outside for awhile before bats will use them--and maybe not even then. And they have to be properly sited.

What species of bat do you have? If they're insect-eaters, you'll enjoy the effect of having them around eating bugs at night.

Did the insulation guys have any ideas on how to mitigate the guano/etc that'll result from letting them stay till August?

We have rabies in the bat community here (central NC) to the point that medical professionals recommend you get the rabies shot series if you happen to pick up a dead bat that doesn't test conclusively negative. My daughter did just that, and the damn bat (killed by a cat she was sitting) didn't have enough left to test...so she was recommended to take the shots, which she did.

Hopefully that's not an issue where you are.

Holy smokes!

These folks are dedicated to bats and have answered questions from me in the past.
At the link, just click on "About Bats" on the left side. There's a section there about bats in buildings that will lead you to some contacts.


https://www.batcon.org/

Some clarifications folks.

1 - Bats are protected species here, so they can't kill them.

2 - Bat "pups" can't take care of themselves until August and can't be moved.

3 - It isn't the "insulation guys" who are removing the bats and bat poop. It is a company that SPECIALIZES in bats.

4 - The plan is to grab as many as they can in August and then install the "Exit only" device so any they miss can escape and not get back. When all are gone, they will seal that one way exit and it will be done.

While I do HAVE the skills and materials to build my own bat houses, I don't have the inclination at this time.

Thanks All!

quote:

Originally posted by Rolan_Kraps:
While I do HAVE the skills and materials to build my own bat houses, I don't have the inclination at this time.

In either event: I recommend you get them up now, so they begin to weather, thus improving the likelihood the bats will use them.

Maybe Rolan has my old bat family since we're about 25 miles away.
We had a similar problem about 5 years ago but luckily the they were on the outside of the vents and the screening on the inside kept them out. Also, a different time of the year so we didn't have to let them sit around too long.
Nonetheless, we still had a full size army on the outside of the louvers each day and some guano was inside on an area over the porch ceiling (un-insulated plywood fortunately).
Bats are apparently not all that smart. The solution is to put up something called bat flaps. Basically, dark plastic sheet to block the outside light that is stapled to the wood louvers and left loose at the bottom. When they go out to hunt, they go out the where it's light at the bottom, but won't come back in that way. The plastic is left on for a week or so until you don't get any bats returning, then the plastic is removed and replaced with a triangular section of hardware cloth, or heavy duty screen that is permanently fastened to the outside of the louvers.
Why they don't make the new louvers that way, I don't know, it's the cheapest and easiest part of the job.
Then the bat control/remediation folks clean up and spray the area with some sort of disinfectant.

Bet you don't have much of a flying insect problem.

While I would prefer they not be in my house, I like having bats around. I put up a bat house which I don't believe was ever used. I was interested enough to take a community college course on bats and found that the location of the bathouse is really critical. If possible, you'll want it as near as possible to their current roost.

White-nose syndrome has really, really impacted bat populations dramatically. There are noticeably fewer around where I live.

Useless trivia: infant bats are properly called "pups."

I just had a small collective of bats (6-7) removed from my home last fall. The process is called exclusion and involves tubular one-way doors (sturdy mesh material) installed in identified openings around the roofline of your home. Prior to this - the wildlife expert will identify and seal off all other potential entry points where they know the bats "are-not" - but could be if forced to come back in your attic via a different avenue.

Bats houses are a waste of time and any wildlife expert will tell you this. Bats prefer your home. Once the bats are excluded from your attic - they will simply go to your neighbors attic. And a year later your neighbors will be paying 2K for the same service - quite the racket !!

If you are spending 2K make sure the company you hire explains exactly what the are going to do and the warranty. (usually 1 year) If they don't say they are going to close off all other potential points of entry (for bats, squirrels, etc) then find another company.

Good luck - we enjoyed watching the bats at night consuming mosquitos but the guano on the deck became a PIA to manage. (it would spill out of their entry point and roll down the roof)

quote:

But odds are they won't inhabit newly-built bat houses. Usually bat houses have to sit outside for awhile before bats will use them--and maybe not even then. And they have to be properly sited.

we tried giving our feral bat colony an alternative. Researched & read up on bat houses. Bought one at the local 'bird & bat' shop. Sited properly. Left it up for FIVE years. Never saw one bat anywhere near it.

I remember about 50 years ago, a customer of my Dad's hired me and my cousin to clean out about 4" of bat crap from the attic of a lake house he had just bought. We used my dad's ancient soot sweeper for the job.

We ended up getting about 40 30gallon containers out of the attic. Sold it as fertilizer.

It was hot dusty work that required dust masks.

quote:

Originally posted by signewt:
we tried giving our feral bat colony an alternative. Researched & read up on bat houses. Bought one at the local 'bird & bat' shop. Sited properly. Left it up for FIVE years. Never saw one bat anywhere near it.

Yup, that happens. That's one reason I've not yet gone to the trouble of building any

Cool story...I like bats but not enough to co-habitate w/ them.

Thats some excellent shit though...when I lived in TX there was a garden center that sold it and it was magic for my garden...

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
I remember about 50 years ago, a customer of my Dad's hired me and my cousin to clean out about 4" of bat crap from the attic of a lake house he had just bought. We used my dad's ancient soot sweeper for the job.

We ended up getting about 40 30gallon containers out of the attic. Sold it as fertilizer.

It was hot dusty work that required dust masks.

Ask the Builder on bats:

https://www.askthebuilder.com/...awt_m=JRJzVx8MMrNiL5

Batworld.org has a lot of helpful information including plans. I have had a bat house in my yard for almost 10 years. It took 3 years of bats flying near it, checking it out before I had the first colony in it. Now, it is hit or miss if a colony moves in each summer. When they are living in it, my backyard is a joy to be in. Very few mosquitoes! It is amazing to watch 25-30 tiny bats stream out at dusk.