What to Do About Baby Bats on Your Floor

The calls for baby bats and adult bats showing up on floors and inside homes is just starting to pick up this time of year. It’s the beginning of July here in Maine. The young bats are starting to investigate and explore much more. This means they show up in place that they have not been previously. Here’s what to do about baby bats on your floor or in the house.

In the house/living space: Often this includes your kitchen, bedroom, living room and other living areas.

Over the Summer months are phones will ring steady with concerns about bats inside either home that were not there the rest of the year.

If you have a bat in the house, odds are you have bats living in the attic

Occasionally bats do fly in around an open door or window, but it tends to be a pretty rare occurrence when that happens. If bats are inside the living are, they are most likely inside the walls or attic of the home.

Most bats showing up in the living portions of the house are really just looking to get outside. If the bats are confined to a room that can be sectioned off then opening a window to allow them to leave can be the easiest solution. This is generally easiest with a bathroom or bedroom, but not so much with living rooms or kitchens. Be sure to place a towel along the bottom of the door to make sure the bats don’t travel under the door to access the rest of the home.

For large living areas such as the living room, leaving the front door open presents an incredibly easy way for the bats to leave. Leave the lights off so bugs aren’t attracted inside.

If the bats appear exhausted, or unable to take flight form the ground, then physically removing them outside may be the best option. This can be done either by calling a local wildlife control business, wildlife rehabbers, or doing it yourself. It’s important to remember that bats should not be handled with bare hands.

A simple tupperware dish can be placed over them, and a piece of cardboard slid under the bowl. Then the entire contents can be taken safely outside. A great example can be see here from Bat Conservation International.

Photo Credit: Minnesota     DNR

Bat exclusions involving getting bats out of the attic should never be conducted in the summer. If adults are evicted, the young are left behind to die in the home. This is both detrimental for the local bat populations, and unnecessarily cruel to the young bats. During the summer time, control measures are highly focused on protecting homeowners, while not causing undue harm to local bat populations.

Nearly all Summer time bat work for most states and operators consists of interior sealing top prevent bats in the attic from reaching inhabited areas(kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc). Because of the large possibilities, many internal dealign jobs are temporary in nature. Painters tape(so it can be removed later without staining or peeling paint), towels, foam, and other handy items can be used to create temporary seals to prevent bat access into the home. Then in the fall, as bats are naturally beginning to migrate, the home can be properly and professional sealed from the outside to limit any bat activity in the future.

Again, if you’ve been wondering what to do about baby bats on your floor or inside your home and are still unsure, give us a call. We’re here to help you out and answer your questions and help you resolve any issue you may be having. 207-852-2559

Photo Credit:

State of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: “Removing Unwanted Bats”