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Bats
eat millions of tons of insects each night across the United States,
they are extremely important for the overall well-being of the
ecosystem. Unfortunately, much prime bat habitat is destroyed each year,
resulting in bats losing their lives or bats moving into people's
houses. One thing we can do to prevent bats from moving into people’s
houses is to put up a bat house (remember that one bat eats 600 to 1,000
mosquito-sized insects each HOUR). Bat houses may prevent bats from
taking up occupancy in human dwellings. Health officials, when properly
informed, love the use of bat houses for this very reason.
If
you have bats living in an unwanted place please follow the directions
below to remove them. Also please note that if you had a bat flying
around in your house and you have children, unvaccinated pets, or were
sleeping the bat NEEDS to be tested for rabies by your local health
department. Very few bats have
rabies,
but you need to take precautions with any wild animal. For more
information bats in your house see
Bats Flying Around in Your House below.
A
humane approach to excluding bats from your attic
Bats
are one of the most beneficial mammals in the world. There are over 950
kinds of bats, and one common North American species, the big brown bat,
may eat up to 6,000 insects during one summer night. Only one half of
one percent of all bats get rabies, and only a few of species in Central
America drink blood.
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Orlando Squirrel Removal
Nevertheless, many people are uncomfortable with bats, and do not want
to share their attic with a colony of bats. Bats are probably just as
uncomfortable sharing a house with people, and only resort to living in
an attic when natural roosts like dead trees or caves are no longer
available. If you don't want bats living in your attic, no problem, just
follow the directions below.
There
are proven ways to safely remove a colony from your house. Timing is
crucial to enact a safe bat exclusion. Never do an exclusion during
June, July, or August, when the colony is likely to consist of many
young that can not fly. There are seasons to do an exclusion; in the
spring after insects have appeared or in the fall after the babies have
learned to fly.
The
first step to a successful exclusion is to enlist the help of several
friends to help you search the outside of your house for exiting bats.
Start watching at sunset, and keep your eye on any small openings until
one hour after sunset. Remember that bats can fit through a hole the
size of your thumb, and that they move fast. Repeat this process for
several nights, until you are confident that you know where they are
exiting the house from. The second step is to mount a bat house close to
the opening so that the bats can get accustomed to the house as they
come and go.
Bat houses are available from the Organization for Bat Conservation.
After a bat house is placed up you should wait three or four days to let
the bats get used to the house. Then in the afternoon cover all the
openings with square pieces of screen mesh. Using duct tape, secure
three sides of the mesh piece to the house, leaving the bottom open. The
piece should be loose enough for the bats to crawl out of. When dusk
comes the bats will crawl out, but will be unable to return to the
attic. They will seek out the nearest, best place to roost, which will
be the bat house. The screen should be left up for a week or so, at
which point the hole(s) can be sealed permanently.
With
a few dollars of material and a couple of bat houses anyone can humanely
exclude unwanted bats. The time and effort that you spend to help the
bats find a better home will be replayed many times over by the colony
and the thousands of mosquitoes, flies, and moths they will eat You will
also be setting a wonderful example for your children, friends, and
neighbors when you show them how to co-exist with the natural world.
Steps for a proper exclusion of bats.
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