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The Facts About Bats

Over the past 10 years, we have observed many new ways of trying to exclude bats from buildings. Here are some pointers we would like to share with you. These methods have all been tried.

Excluders:
"You may see pictures of other excluders or traps out there on the web that may look a little strange. Well, I have seen them too and talked to ones that have bought them. There are some excluders that look like your clothes dryer vent with a tube going to it. Others may be excluders or even traps. Some traps I have found are a metal box with holes in it and it too has a tube like hose going inside of it. I guess this box is for you to mount to your home to allow it to fill up with live bats. Most of the time, nine out of ten homeowners are terrified of these bats living in their attic. I just can not picture that homeowner climbing a ladder and removing this trap himself with possibly hundreds live bats in it and then trying to transport these bats to a safe place. If these traps or excluder vents are put up wrong by the home owner, the bats will not be able to get out. This would result in the bats dying inside the walls and attics causing a dead animal odor inside the home. Most of the time the bats will find a way out, or should I say "in". That's right. If the bats can not get out due to an opening being blocked, they will visit you inside your living quarters. They will be afraid and will try to get out of your home by coming down through the walls or chimney. So please, when looking for a self help bat exclusion method, read about these products and by all means, ask questions!

Night Exclusion:
Night exclusion is where it is "hoped" that all the bats have left the building to feed, and then seal up their entry points after dark. The only problem with this is that not all bats go out every night to feed. We have found through our research that many of them will stay inside their roost until others return from their feeding. We have also found that 70% of bats leave to feed before midnight, and the rest go out to forage thereafter. So, that leaves a question. Are all the bats out of the building when you start sealing up the openings at dark? The answer is NO. You can never know if all have left or not. By sealing up these areas, one only traps bats inside the walls or attic, causing a foul smell that is even harder to get rid of. We have found hundreds of dead bats in buildings by people trying this exclusion method. This method may work if the colony is very small in numbers and one knows the exact amount of bats they have.

Use of mothballs or flakes:
This method of exclusion has been around for many years. The idea of putting mothballs into your attic to chase bats out has been tried by homeowners and pest control companies. Not too long ago, we were called to exclude bats from a large Victorian house. The people that lived there had a pest control company put some mothballs into the attic. This company put 72 boxes of mothballs in the attic. They said it would drive out the bats. The only thing it did was drive out the residents to a nearby hotel. When we were called to exclude these bats, we found hundreds of bats alive and hanging from the rafters in the attic. Needless to say, these mothballs did nothing for the bats (but did burn our eyes when working in the attic). From our experience, mothballs and flakes have not met our approval in excluding bats. Exclusion was accomplished, the owners were excluded.

Winter time exclusion:
Many people don't see bats in the wintertime. This is because many bats hibernate in the winter. Some also migrate to warmer climates. If a building or home has bats in it during the warm part of the year, lots of times these bats will hibernate inside the walls when winter arrives. We have seen many hibernating bats in walls, attics and lodges all across America. You will not hear these bats inside the walls or attic because they are sleeping until spring. If the building is heated throughout the winter, the bats will likely be hibernating. This is why it is not a good idea to seal off entry points on the outside during the winter months. The colony of bats that you had during the warm time of the year may still be there. If you seal off these openings, you will have one of two things come spring--you may have trapped these bats inside your walls or attic causing them to die and smell, or you'll cause them to find a way out, crawling down the walls inside your rooms. I guarantee, both you and the bats will then panic. So take good caution when doing repairs to your building in winter months. If you have had bats in the past you will most likely have a colony hibernating somewhere in the attic.

Springtime exclusion & warning:
In the spring, starting in mid-May bats start giving birth to their babies called "pups". These pups are born inside all different kinds of structures such as caves, trees, buildings and homes. In Texas, I have found baby bats as early as the second week in May. The birth time may vary with bats in different states. Most of the time this will be from May through August. A bat proofing specialist should be able to tell you if the baby bats are large enough to be excluded or not. Waiting until these pups can fly is an important factor when it comes to exclusion. You never want to trap any bats inside the building. This only brings problems to the homeowner.

Bird and bat netting:
Bird and bat netting has been used by many to exclude bats. There are many kinds of netting available on the market. Some work and some do not. The netting is to allow the bats to exit to feed but does not let them back in. We too, use this netting two or three times a year. It all depends on two things, the building structure and the installer. If the building is made of steel, this method works well. On homes, it can be tricky. We found through our use of netting, that it is only 60% effective. Bats can get tangled in it and die. Wind can blow it around. And we have seen bats chewing through it, creating new openings. I have found that a piece of plastic works better than netting. Netting should never be left on for long periods of time. It is only used to exclude bats. Then it can be taken down after three nights and the areas must be sealed off that day before sunset. This method of exclusion can work if the operator knows how to install it properly.

Bat houses for exclusion:
People have asked us if they put up a bat house, will the bats move from their home or building to this bat house. Most likely bats will not relocate from a home or building to a bat house. A bat house is to be used to encourage bats to your neighborhood to help cut down on insects. These bat houses are great for everyone to own. If you would like to buy one, check out our links on our web page or check out "Bat Houses" on the Internet.

Chemical Exclusion:
First thing, chemicals kill. If someone wants to spray your attic or walls and says that it drives bats out, it's not true. Nine times out of ten, it's a poison that is used to kill insects or rodents but is being used on bats. Bats are not rodents with wings; they are mammals. Common sense tells you, if you spray poisons on bats, they will die in the walls or attic. Who wants dead smelly bats laying around up in the attic? If they do fly out, then you and I, our children and even pets are exposed to this harmful poison. Something to consider is that the holes where the bats entered are still there. They will return the next year and your problem continues for another year. Exclusion is a two-part process--first you exclude the bats, then you seal the openings. Remember, pest control companies thrive on repeated customers. This whole scenario of using chemicals for bat exclusion does not work or make any sense. Bats have been protected against chemical killing in most of the states for years. All pest control companies know this, or should know this, when excluding bats.

Finding the right Bat Proofing Specialist:
Finding a good honest bat proofing specialist is like finding a needle in a haystack. It takes time and effort to locate the right one. Not all companies have the necessary experience to solve bat infestation problems. These individuals should be able to identify the bats that are roosting in your building and be able to approximate the size of the colony.

Please ask questions! Ask the prospective company for references and call them. Ask them about the exclusion devices they will use. And last but not least, ask for a warranty against bat reinfestation. If bats reenter the building during the warranty, this person must return to fix the problem at NO cost to you. Many will try to fix the problem, but do not succeed. Some companies will attempt to exclude bats only to tell you that it is your responsibility to seal the openings. How are you supposed to seal the openings, if you are not aware of their possible entry points? Bats only need the thickness of a pencil and an inch wide opening to enter. Every inch must be checked. This step of checking the entire building for openings is very important, as bats will just scan down the building looking for other holes to enter. Commercial Bat Control only deals with bats. We do not work on any other side projects such as varmits, birds or other animals. We devote 100% of our knowledge in excluding bats. If you need a real bat control specialist, call or e-mail Tim Hanks. He devotes all of his time and skills on excluding, studying and protecting bats all across America. Give us your thoughts about our work and how our page has educated you in the last few minutes. Please sign our guest book when leaving. Have a great day from all of us here at Commercial Bat Control. ___________ Many companies that do part time bat exclusion like to seal off openings with a rubber sealant, filling all of the openings closed where the bats were roosting. This is not recommended due to the major odor problem being sealed in. When bats have been roosting inside expansion joints or flashings for a lengthy time, there is always a strong urine odor that is left behind after the bats have been excluded. By sealing these areas up tight with a rubber sealant, the contractor seals in the urine smell as well. We here at Commercial Bat Control use a much different method of sealing. We use lots of hardware cloth in our sealing, and anchor it with silicone. This hardware cloth will allow this strong lingering bat urine odor to breathe. Think about it, if there was a foul smell in your automobile, would you roll up all the windows and lock that smell in? No, of course not. You would roll down the window slightly to air out your car. The same is true on buildings. This air flow method of ours has been rewarding in it's efforts to alleviate the bat odor in there roosting areas. Any building owner will agree, odor must GO! A chemical deodorizing at times works good on the odor, but only after all bats have been excluded. This could be treated right through the wire if needed on a later date. Also if one would like to pressure wash odored areas clean, he could do this right through the wire rinsing it all areas nice and clean.

Unfortunately, the consumer is the one who ends up paying for it through high-dollar expense and no solution to the original problem-the bats are still there!

We hope the above answers some of your questions. Commercial Bat Control has received numerous calls and E-mail in regards to the above. We pride ourselves in being true bat exclusion experts. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact us by E-mail when your through reviewing our page. Don't forget to bookmark our page.

We would like to thank all the other bat exclusion experts out there that have contributed to the safety and well-being of all bats. Keep up the great work!

Last updated on 07/03/2013 03:58:15
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