If you have bats living in your attic or wall voids, you’ve probably been waiting for this time of year. Now is the time for bat control in most areas of the Northeast. Bats are beneficial animals that are protected by federal law. For most of the spring and summer, you cannot evict bats from a building because there are young in the roost that cannot fly and would be left behind to die. But, by late summer, the young are able to leave the roost and control efforts can be put in place.

In late summer/early fall, you can evict bats that are nesting in your home by using one-way excluding devices that let bats out of the attic or other space but do not allow them to get back in. You also need to have your home bat-proofed to prevent a recurrence next year. Openings where bats were entering should be permanently sealed. Other crevices, weak areas, and damaged ridge vents around the roofline should be repaired and vents screened.

The state of Massachusetts allows bat eviction only during May, and then again from the first of August to mid-October. The state of New Hampshire says you should avoid bat control from mid-May through mid-August. So, for our service area, now is the time. After mid-October, the bats that stay in our area will begin hibernating. Excluding them with one-way doors is no longer an option then since they rarely leave the winter roost. If you do bat-proofing in late fall or winter, you risk sealing the bats into the space where they will die.

Why You Should Choose Colonial Pest Control

Do-it-yourself bat control is not recommended. You need to be familiar with the regulations in your state (we are), you need to understand bat biology (we do), and most importantly, you need to know about safety precautions. Bats can transmit rabies and you should never handle a bat. You don’t have to be bitten by a bat to get rabies; bat saliva in a wound or a scratch by a bat can transmit rabies as well. And, bat roosts are not a pretty sight.

We have been doing bat removal and bat exclusion since 1984. We have six highly trained Wildlife Removal Experts on our staff. They specialize in humane removal of nuisance wildlife. We don’t just use “foam in a can” to bat-proof your home. Our bat exclusion work utilizes high quality materials that are warrantied, and our bat control work is guaranteed for a full seven years.

photo credit: InspectorBob via photopin cc