How to Ethically Remove Bats from a Building

Bats are important animals that provide amazing value to our ecosystem. Bats eat pest insects like mosquitoes and save the U.S. Agricultural industry $23 Billion a year by eating crop pests. Bats are also important pollinators and seed dispersers! But they can be a nuisance if they’re living inside your home. 

Here is the best way to ethically remove bats from a building:

STEP 1: HIRE AN EXCLUSION PROFESSIONAL TO INSTALL A ONE-WAY SYSTEM

Get in touch with a local ethical animal control specialist to discuss installing a one way exclusion in your attic. One way exclusions allow bats to exit, but prevents them from returning the way they came in.

DO NOT INSTALL A ONE-WAY EXCLUSION DURING PUP SEASON, AS THIS COULD BE HARMFUL TO THE BABY BATS.

When the baby bats (pups) get too heavy for the mothers to fly with them, the mother bats leave to bring food back for them. If a one-way exclusion is in place, it would prevent the mother bats from being able to return to their pups, and cause the pups to die of starvation. Not only is this unethical and inhumane, but it would also leave a bad smell in the building. Pup season usually occurs during the summer, but it varies depending on the species of bats. The exclusion professional installing your one-way system will be able to check to ensure there are no pups before proceeding. After a one way system is installed, the bats will begin looking for a new home. 

STEP 2: PUT UP A BAT HOUSE NEARBY

BAT HOUSES PROVIDE A SAFE DESIGNATED AREA FOR THE BATS TO LIVE, AND REDUCES THE PROBABILITY THAT THE BATS WILL LOOK FOR A NEW CRACK IN THE BUILDING TO MOVE INTO.

Bat houses can be installed on the side of a building, on a pole in the yard, or on a tree if there are few branches.

If you don’t have a bat house nearby after an exclusion event takes place, you run the risk of your bats finding another way back into your house or into a neighbor’s. 

But be careful, don’t just get any old bat house. Bat experts say that 80% of the bat houses on the market aren’t well designed for the animal’s needs. (MerlinTuttle.org). Cheap pine boxes can fall apart and stapled mesh grips can injure the bats. Poorly designed bat houses usually do not provide an effective long-term solution, So make sure your bat house is expert-approved.