Tips to Prevent Bats

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Bat prevention is majorly about sealing all the holes and gaps through which bats can enter a house. It is a detail-focused exercise that is better carried out at night when the bats are active, as this will help in identifying more entry and exit points.



Home repairs Firstly, you must conduct a very detailed inspection of the house, paying particular attention to roof edges, vents, chimneys, loose tiles and every little gap or hole, even as small as 3/8 inch and at least 8 feet above the ground because a bat can squeeze through such holes. You will need a headlight so as to see all the nooks and crannies well.

Sealing off entry points from bats is a highly intensive and complicated work as you need to get at the roofs, chimneys, vents etc.; you would need a ladder to get to some parts and the knowing to get the right holes sealed. It is also better to carry out the task at night because it is easier to see details in the structures at night with headlamps. For safety and expertise, you may enlist the services of a wildlife professional to use the right sealant and seal to shut every access, holes and gaps. Read about How to Get Bats Out of Your Attic.

Examples of structural repairs to prevent bats include:

• Loose trim boards on roofs should be sealed off. This can be achieved either with sealant or with steel screws bolting the metal fascia to concrete.
• With the more porous tiled roofing, only a complete sealup job on every single gap and crack will do; or a netting cover of the entire roof.

Natural remedies
Bats are friendly living beings that help clear your homes of insects and bugs, but they are carriers of diseases like Histoplasmosis, a flu-like disease. There are no effective repellant products or ultrasonic devices for bats. There are natural remedies (some people swear by it) that can be used after you must have carried out a proper sealing or home repairs of your house.

Phenol: The smell of phenol repels and irritates bats and makes the place unpleasant for them to reside in. Get phenol and use a spray bottle to spritz it all over the areas where bats occupy till the odour gets too strong for them.

Learn more: Do bats hibernate?

Mirrors: Hang small mirrors in the areas where you think the bats are residing. Once the lights are turned on, the mirrors reflect them and disturb bats to the extreme. This natural techinque is bound to send them away.

Cinnamon: Use the cinnamon in powder form and sprinkle it in the bat colony. This is an effective way to chase the bats away from your home.

Eucalyptus/Peppermint: The aromatic fragrance from either of these leaves irritates bats. You could also get the oil if it will be a bother to get the plants. When cleaning the droppings, you could also use the peppermint oil to help remove odor and ecto-parasites and other germs.

Water spraying: It is best to spray the bats water during the daytime roosting period. You would need a long hose. Steadily direct the water at their colonies, this would certainly disturb them.

Aluminum foil: Hanging this will produce both light and chime-like sound which will cause the bats some disturbance especially if used at their entry point or nest.

Moth/Naphthalene Balls: They release a pungent smell that irritates the bats, chasing them away and also causing them not to return. You would have to re-apply the moth balls every fortnightly as they vaporize.

Blasts of air: This can be used to effectively drive out the bats; you could bring up an industrial fan or use air conditioners that would constantly generate the draft.

Learn more: Do bats migrate?

Bright lights: If the building is commercial, you can use floodlights to point out the bats’ entry point but if it is in the attic, you could use up to four bulbs or more to create illumination.

Heavy sound such as loud metal music is sure to drive them out.

These home remedies are by no means exhaustive but nothing beats home repairs so as to prevent the bats from coming back to your home after flying out of their own accord to forage.

Learn more about: How to get rid of bats