How To Get Rid Of Bats On The Balcony, In The House, Apartment, In The Attic, Under The Roof And Elsewhere

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

How to get rid of bats living in the attic or flying into an apartment

A rich world of wild nature surrounds us even within the city limits, overflowing with the means of civilization. Sometimes bats become our casual neighbors, preferring to settle in garages, under window sills, on balconies and attics of multi-storey buildings. Such a neighborhood does not cause delight. Most people are horrified at the sight of little "winged monsters". How to get rid of uninvited guests once and for all?

Content

• 1 Bats - who are they?

  • 1.1 Interesting facts - video
  • 1.2 Why do mice fly into houses
  • 1.3 Report on the appearance of uninvited guests in a residential building
• 2 Why bats are dangerous to humans

• 3 How to catch and drive animals out of the room

  • 3.1 Safely Catching a Bat - English Video
  • 3.2 The bat flew into the apartment - video
  • 3.3 How to get rid of bats that have chosen a roof or attic

• 4 How to deal with bats: repellents

  • 4.1 How to get bats out - scarers (gallery)

  • 4.2 Industrial facilities

    • 4.2.1 Aerosols and sprays
    • 4.2.2 Ultrasonic repellents
    • 4.2.3 The principle of operation of the repeller - video
    • 4.2.4 Testing ultrasonic scarers - video
• 5 Folk ways of struggle

Bats - who are they?

Bats are unique animals. They belong to the order of bats, which includes 700 species and 16 families. The main feature of the bat is the ability to use echolocation and move safely in the dark, even with poor eyesight.

Bat in flight

Thanks to the emitted ultrasounds, the animal easily calculates the location of prey, distinguishes a beetle from a small stone at a great distance. Bats feed mainly on insects, they also do not disdain frogs, fish and small birds.

The bat eats insects

Some species like the fruit and blood of animals. For this reason, bats have long been surrounded by myths and legends in which they are equated with vampires attacking people. However, such tricks are unusual for bats.

Mice settle in large colonies in trees or occupy secluded corners in caves. Wintering is especially important for these animals, forcing many of them to reach for human dwellings. Although the body temperature of a bat varies from -7.5 ° C to +48.5 ° C, it prefers to winter in rooms with central heating, and sometimes even settles itself between window frames.

Bats sometimes live under rooftops

Losing the opportunity to get food, in the cold season, the bat falls into a special state in which metabolic processes slow down and the body temperature drops greatly. In severe frosts, these animals can literally turn into "icicles", but this does not harm health.

In winter, the bat falls into a special state

Recent archaeological research has suggested that bats lived on our planet about 55 million years ago. In the process of evolution, their bodies have not undergone any special changes. These animals do not have similar features with ordinary mice, their direct relatives are primates. They can be very different in size - from tiny animals the size of a bumblebee to giants with a two-meter wingspan.

The smallest bat

Interesting facts - video

Why do mice fly into houses

One of the reasons for the appearance of a bat in the house or in the country is hunting, during which the animal flies after elusive prey, completely forgetting about the fear of man. Often such an uninvited guest is a young animal that does not have a sufficient amount of experience, mastering the territory at the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn.

Sometimes the bat flies into the apartment

In some cases, a bat may end up in an apartment during migration, choosing the most suitable shelter for wintering. This primarily applies to animals that have lost their previous housing, or weak individuals.

Report on the appearance of uninvited guests in a residential building

Why bats are dangerous to humans

You should not panic when a bat appears in your apartment. However, you should be aware of the danger that this unusual winged guest is fraught with.

1. The first thing to remember is the possibility of a bat bite when trying to grab it. Therefore, do not touch it without pre-wearing gloves.
2. A high danger to humans is posed by mice droppings infected with histoplasmosis. Under the influence of the fungus histoplasma camsulatum capsulatum, it causes severe respiratory illness. The fungus enters the human body through the vapors exuded by mouse feces. You can lift fungal spores into the air by stepping on dried excrement. To protect yourself from this is simple - remove the droppings. Wear a mask or respirator when cleaning attic areas that are home to a colony of bats.
3. The most dire danger is the likelihood of contracting rabies. The mouse carries this disease, being in complete rest and paralysis, without expressing aggression. But there are also exceptions. A sick animal can attack everything that it sees, while living at the same time no more than five days. Sometimes infection occurs from human attempts to help an exhausted animal lying on the ground. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to touch bats with bare hands.

How to catch and drive animals out of the room

If you find a bat flying into the apartment, it is advisable to do without panic. To catch it, you need to take the following steps:

1. If there are children and pets in the room, take them to another room.
2. Open the window, turn on the light and leave the room. It is possible that the calmed animal will leave the apartment after a while.
3. If the animal continues to fly around the room, wait until it gets tired and sits on a flat surface. In no case should you shoot down a hovering animal, as you will cause irreparable harm to it.
4. Put on tight gloves on your hands and armed with an ordinary cardboard box or can, calmly and slowly walk up to the mouse and cover it.
5. Wait a few minutes for the mouse to calm down. Then take a flat piece of cardboard and stick it between the box and the surface on which the animal sits.

6. Holding the sheet of cardboard firmly, gently turn over the box with the little captive. Further actions depend on the season:

   • if the winged guest appeared in the apartment in the summer, nothing prevents him from being released immediately (it is best to do this in the dark);
   • if a bat flew in in the spring, late autumn or winter, you cannot let it go outside, but it is better to contact the veterinary service.

Safe catching a bat - video in English

The bat flew into the apartment - video

How to get rid of bats that have chosen a roof or attic

Most often, bats populate the attics of residential buildings with the approach of summer. This is due to the fact that they are preparing to reproduce offspring. The first signs of the arrival of new guests can be seen as early as April or May. Most often these are nocturnal rustles, a decrease in the number of harmful insects in the local area, as well as traces of droppings on the roof.

Bats are usually colonized in attics in the spring.

It is categorically impossible to expel bats during the period of feeding the cubs. The reason is that babies cannot follow adult females without being able to fly yet. You will doom young animals to painful death, whose corpses will become a breeding ground for infection in the attic. Therefore, it is not recommended to fight bats in the summer, putting it off until autumn. The advantages of such a neighborhood will be the disposal of the garden from insect pests.

Baby bats die without adult guardianship

With the arrival of autumn, you can safely start cleaning the attic from intruders.

1. It is necessary to calculate the places through which the animals make their way into your premises. Chimneys, holes and gaps in the walls, narrow slots along the walls act as such loopholes. Usually, animals prefer dry and well protected spaces from extraneous noise, where they can comfortably settle down to sleep. The location of the dwelling place of bats is indicated by the accumulation of droppings, sparkling with elements of insect shells.
2. If, according to the described signs, it was not possible to find the shelter of the mice, you should wait until darkness and trace where these unusual nocturnal animals fly from.
3. When the flock flies off to hunt at night, carefully seal up the holes that act as entrances and exits, after making sure that there is no one else in the attic. For this purpose, metal nets and sealants are suitable, which can be purchased at hardware stores. Returning back, the winged tenants will no longer be able to enter the attic.

After the bats have been expelled, it is recommended to thoroughly clean the attic from traces of their vital activity and to disinfect the premises.

How to deal with bats: repellents

A variety of tried-and-true repellents will also help to avoid the appearance of bats in your home or garage.

1. Naphthalene. Using this method, it should be remembered that the evaporation of naphthalene is dangerous to humans and for this reason its use in residential premises is contraindicated. But you can remove mice from the attic or non-residential premises this way. However, this remedy will only work until the specific smell wears off:

   • balls of this substance must be packaged in gauze bags;
   • hang pouches in places most attractive to bats;
   • change the contents of the bags as the smell wears off.
2. Fans. A more environmentally friendly but less effective method is to use fans aimed directly at the flock of mice. The downside of this method of getting rid of animals is a huge waste of electricity and noise from buzzing devices that have to work for a long period.
3. Bright light. Bats don't like bright lights. By illuminating in advance places suitable for potential overnight stays of bats, you can remove them. Animals will not sit on lighted areas. The disadvantage of this method is high electricity consumption and low percentage of efficiency.
4. Dymokur. With the help of a smoker, you can try to remove bats that have decided to settle in the wrong place. However, the procedure will have to be carried out for at least 2-3 days, given the strong attachment of bats to their habitats. The effectiveness of the method is not very high, moreover, constant smoke negatively affects the well-being of people who are nearby.
5. Water. Another simple, but not particularly effective method can be a cold shower from a hose directed to surfaces that attract uninvited winged guests. However, there is a possibility that after a certain time the mice will return and the procedure will have to be repeated. Not every attic or garage can be filled with water, because it can cause damage to property.

How to get bats out - scarers (gallery)

Naphthalene is a good way to keep bats out of the attic

Use the bat smoker within 2 - 3 days

A stream of air directed at the flock will scare away bats

Industrial facilities

Modern industrial bat control products have varying effectiveness.

Aerosols and sprays

A variety of sprays and aerosols designed to repel bats are sold on the shelves of outlets. According to scientific observations, the effectiveness of these funds is low.

One of the products for bats is 876 4-Pack Bat Repellent from Bonide. It contains peppermint oil. It is recommended to spray this substance in the habitats of bats, after which the animals leave them forever.

Peppermint Repellent Helps Get Rid of Bats

Ultrasonic scarers

The advent of devices of this type made it possible to get rid of uninvited guests in the attics of houses and at the same time it is safe for the animals themselves. These devices reproduce signals that are not audible to humans, but perceived by animals and forcing them to fly away from the source.

The principle of operation of the repeller - video

Ultrasonic repeller testing - video

Popular ways of fighting

1. Comparing bats to vampire legends, some people are seriously convinced that garlic can drive away winged creatures of the night. But the method is not effective: bats are not afraid of garlic.
2. You can equip the entrances to the attic with a variety of noisemakers, made of thin aluminum, roaring from the minimum gust of wind. This method will not help drive away the already settled colony, but it will scare away potential seekers of housing.
3. You can equip the intended entrances and exits of mice to the attic or garage with fiberglass. This material is a strong skin irritant.

In cases where none of the method of expelling bats has brought the expected results, it is necessary to contact services whose specialists know what to do so that these animals are not in the house.

The process of getting rid of bats is a very difficult task that requires persistence and theoretical knowledge from home owners. A well-chosen method will allow not only to rid the home of bats, but also to prevent their reappearance, which brings discomfort.