How do Bats Get in Your home?
If you have ever woken in the middle of the night to a little bat flying around you probably got a bit excited. After securing the room and waging an all out war in the little fellow you may have found yourself utterly frazzled and exhausted. Probably a window was left open, or some other small issue. It probably wasn’t until the next day when one of your coworkers asks, “How do bats get in your home?” After telling of the heroic and crazy night you had facing down the winged intruder you begin to contemplate deeper on your homes construction. just how do bats get inside your home?
(Check out the podcast above for further detail!)
How do bats get in your home? Everywhere….
The truth is, bats are often inside your home for far longer than most people realize. Often times they are making their way inside via the attic. This could be junction where the chimney flashing has lifted, some dormer roof lines intersect, a fault gable vent, a raised ridge vent, or some other crack or opening that they can squeeze into.
Often times they are pretty content to stay upstairs in the attic and live quietly for awhile. It’s not uncommon for us to hear about folks that went up into the attic to take a look around and found piles of bats guano on the insulation.
Bat Guano around the Chimney
It’s when the little buggers begin to explore that we are alerted to their presence. Often the young bats will be out adventuring. They follow the change in pressure and air temps through the attic into the living areas of your home. All homes typically have gaps and cracks of some sort or another. All a bat has to do is follow these air currents and they can pop out in your bedroom before you know it. They are just following air currents and want to be outside filling their bellies with bugs. Often they think they have popped out of the attic into the outdoors, only to find themselves in your living room. That leads us to our next situation.
How to Deal with Bats in Your Home
This is good stuff to know. You may not be having a problem right now, but at 2am you don’t wan too be doing a Google Search for “how to deal with bats in your home”. It’s time for action! And by action we actually mean doing less than you might think to deal with bats. Obviously long term we want to remove and secure the bats in the attic, but right now we’re concerned with flying mammals wandering down the hallway towards the bathroom.
First off, bats are curious creatures. In all likelihood they wound up in your living area by accident. They were out exploring and found a way into your living area. All they really want to do is get a good meal and go take a midnight siesta. All you want to do is get back to bed as well.
This Little Bat is all tuckered out
Step 1: Find out what room the bat is in. If you know it’s “somewhere” in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, etc then good enough. We’re not on a witch hunt here, just trying to localize our little friend.
Step 2: Open up a window in the room the bat is in. Make sure the screen is removed also.
Step 3: Quarantine the bat in one room. This is really more for your own sanity than any other reason. Place a towel along the floor along the door so that there are no gaps where the bat could leave.
Step 4: Turn off the lights, go back to bed, and get some rest. You want to be well rested when you make up a story about how grueling and vicious your night was.
That’s it! 9 out of 10 time the bat is going to find those air currents and follow them outside. Exactly the same way it did when it entered from the attic into the bedroom in the first place. They honestly just want to be outside chasing mosquitoes and insects. Give them a way and they’ll get out of yours.
If for some reason the little bat is clinging to a curtain or hanging out in the corner in the morning it can then be safely moved outside. The bat will be tired from not having eaten during the night, and you’ll be well rested and level headed. Everyone wins. Now you can spend your time at work not just contemplating how bats get into your home, but how to keep bats from getting inside your home. Give us a call if you need help figuring out how to deal with bats in your home.
Maine Wildlife Management 207 852 2559
