How To Get Rid of Bats

We are experts in bat control methods, having performed thousands of bat removal jobs nationwide.

SUMMARY: Step-by-step guide for getting rid of bats in a house or attic:

• Step 1 - Watch the house at dusk, and observe where the bats fly out of, and how many there are.
• Step 2 - Inspect the entire house or building, and find any and all entry gaps, as small as 3/8 inch.
• Step 3 - Seal all secondary areas with caulk or other sealant, but leave the main entry/exit gaps open.
• Step 4 - Set one-way exclusion netting or funnels on the primary areas. This is very tricky to get right.
• Step 5 - Observe at dusk to make sure all the bats are able to get out of the one-way devices, and that they are not able to fly back in. If it's not working, remove the exclusion material immediately.
• Step 6 - If it's working, leave in place for at least three days, until no more bats come out at dusk.
• Step 7 - Remove the netting and seal shut those last entry gaps and holes.
• Step 8 - Clean bat guano out of attic, decontaminate and deodorize the space.
• WARNING - Never attempt a bat exclusion during the summer maternity season, when flightless baby bats are inside the attic. It'll result in disaster, and it's illegal as well.

Read below for much more detail. You may be able to solve your bat problem yourself. If you need to hire professional help, you may want to find out what we typically charge for bat removal. Pro help is most relevant if you are unable to effectively or legally exclude a colony of bats, or if you have a difficult case. If you need bat removal in your hometown, we service over 500 USA locations! Click here to hire us in your town and check our prices - updated for year 2024.

Bat Info: There are a wide variety of bat species in the US, though it's usually the colonizing bat types that cause problems in buildings. Bats are not flying mice, or even rodents. They are more closely related to shrews or primates. Though bats often get a bad reputation, they are not aggressive, and are often very beneficial in eliminating pesky insects. Bats aren't blind. They can see just fine, but they also use echolocation as their means of navigating complex flight and finding insects on the wing. A bat's wings are essentially the same as our arms and hands, thus the scientific name Chiroptera or handwing. The bones of the hand and finger are elongated and serve to support and move the wing. The hind limbs of bats are modified for landing and hanging upside-down.

Bats become a nuisance when they roost in large numbers in human dwellings. The rapid and smelly accumulation of guano (droppings) is unsanitary, and serves as a fertile breeding ground for a fungal disease called Histoplasmosis, which is transferable to humans who breathe in the fungal spores. Bats are also known to carry rabies, a viral disease that causes progressive paralysis and death in mammals, including humans. Learn about How to clean up bat guano inside a building

Click for my bat removal photo gallery.
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People are most likely to encounter nuisance bats when a roosting colony takes up residence in a building. Attics often make excellent habitat, as do barns. Read about How to Get Bats Out of Your Attic. Bats need only a half inch or less of space to crawl through in order to enter a building. Once inside, if the habitat is good, the colony grows until the homeowner notices the bats flying out of the building, notices the droppings in the attic, chimney, outside, or even basement (when the droppings fall down the walls). Sometimes a bat will get lost and find its way out of the attic and into the living area. Occasionally a transient bat may also fly into a house.

A professional bat removal system such as mine ensures that the colony will no longer use your home or business as a roosting area, and that no bats can get back in. We care for the welfare of these beneficial creatures, as do many environmental agencies, so we do not aim to kill any bats. A pro merely exclude them from the premises and make sure they can't get back in, while thoroughly cleaning the biohazardous droppings that they leave behind. Experience counts when working on bat jobs, and it takes a skilled eye to get the job done right the first time.


Wondering how to get rid of bats quickly and easily? There is no magic spray or device that you can use to make them go away. Some companies sell ultrasonic sound emitters, but they are completely ineffective, and the FTC has even issued a fraudulent product warning regarding these devices, which are worthless at eliminating bats. Some old wives' tales recommend the use of mothballs or ammonia-soaked rags to make them leave, but I've been to countless homes where these techniques failed - biologists know that these attempts won't work. The ONE AND ONLY WAY to take care of your problem is with physical exclusion of the animals. If you need to find a professional bat expert in your hometown, just click our comprehensive list of hundreds of wildlife removal professionals, and you can have your problem quickly taken care of!

After you've read the above information, in the event that you wish to hire a bat removal company, you may want to see how much does bat removal cost?

LINKS TO SOME OF MY OTHER BAT REMOVAL ARTICLES I'VE WRITTEN
Some of the topics covered by my bat journal blog include bat exclusion techniques, a discussion on why bat extermination is a bad idea, a good photo of bats in the house, some advice on how to get bats out of an attic, some advice on bat guano cleanup, including information about histoplasmosis from bats, information about the ineffectiveness of bat repellent, which is often misspelled as bat repellant, a great photo and info on a bat colony in an attic, and bat trapping, advice, which really means bat exclusion advice, rather than info on how to trap a bat and other info on how to solve a bat problem. I've also got a nice baby bat photograph and story, and info about a big problem in Florida, bats in barrel tile roof that my bat removal company can take care of. Here are my general Bat Prevention Tips. Bats are mammals, and they are valuable animals. Of course it is often necessary to get rid of bats in order to preserve the sanitation and health code of a building, but please do not harm these flying critters. The professional bat control companies listed in this directory should do a good job of safely removing the bat colony from your home or building.

THE BOTTOM LINE OF BAT CONTROL Bat removal is often one of the most complex tasks in the field of nuisance wildlife removal. Getting rid of bats requires experience. I myself trained for two years on over 50 bat control projects with a professional in the field before I started my own bat removal company, and I continued to learn from there. Many bat exclusion cases are complex and unique. But bats are also unique mammals, and most state laws protect them, making the method of removal very important. You may want free bat removal but it doesn't exist. Luckily, the country is filled with hundreds of true bat removal experts, and I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with several bat control companies nationwide, and many of them do excellent work, and properly remove all the bats permanently, without harming a single bat. I recommend the companies listed here on my directories, but before you hire any bat company, be sure to research the matter, and ask the right questions - be sure the company does not harm the bats during the summer maternity season, be sure that they seal the ENTIRE building so that none can get back in again, be sure that they inspect the whole house and attic, that they exclude the bats without confinement or trapping, and that they clean the bat poop in the attic afterward.

How To Get Rid Of Bats In Your Attic
For many people, bats are creepy, scary animals. Folklore and myths have done their share to give bats a bad name. However, if you have one in your attic, myth or no myth, you want that critter out of there. One reason you want to make sure you get the bats out is that they do carry rabies and a number of other diseases. Their droppings are also very high in acid and will start smelling after a short time. They are useful animals for keeping the mosquito and other insect population under control, but they need not do that by living in your attic. Since they are mammals that are extremely valuable to the balance of nature, bats are not to be killed but to be evicted from your home by exclusion proofing. This means that before the bats give birth to their young, or after the pups are ready to fly, you must permanently seal your home to bats. Sealing, or bat proofing, just means that you close off all exits where the bats may leave, except one. On that one exit which may be a vent for the attic, you place a one-way exit valve or netting that lets the bats out but they cannot get back in. In time, they all will have to leave to eat. Once they are gone, remove the valve or netting, and seal that last spot.  Remember, the job will fail if you miss any tiny entry hole, even a half inch. Then you have to clean up the attic of all the droppings.

How To Get Rid Of Bats In Your Basement
A basement may feel like a cave to a bat, especially if it is a little damp. For the bat, that makes it a great home.  Or perhaps you've got a colony of bats in the attic or walls, and one has accidentally crawled down.  That happens frequently. Once it has found its way inside, it may be followed by other bats and soon you will have an entire colony living in your basement. What a scary thing that may be, to go into your basement and have a bat flying at you. The bat means you no harm, but the surprise of it alone would make anyone run. To remove a bat from the basement, you can wait for it to land then gently cradle it with a towel, use a butterfly net, or wait for it to land and then put a clear tupperware container over it, and then slide paper or cardboard underneath until you have it trapped in the container.  Then you can bring it outside.

How To Get Rid Of Bats In Your House
Nothing will give you the heebie-jeebies quicker then walking up to the next floor and having a bat swoop down in front of your eyes. The natural instinct would be to run and scream. If you have something in your hand, the second thing you may be inclined to do is to swat at the bat. That would be a mistake because the bat's sonar indicator would tell it to swoop at you again, taking you perhaps for a predator. By swatting at it, you may actually touch it with a part of your hand or arm. This is dangerous because of the disease risk. So, the best thing to do when you have a bat in the house is to get rid of it carefully.  You can use the same methods as discussed above: Wait for it to land then gently cradle it with a towel, or put a clear plastic container over it, and then slide paper or cardboard underneath until you have it trapped in the container.  Then you can bring it outside.

But then you have to deal with the possibility that it was inside because there's a colony living somewhere in the structure. That's the most common reason a bat is in the living space of a house. Some, if not all, states prohibit the poisoning of bats because of their usefulness in keeping a balance in nature. Only one approved way to rid yourself of the bat that has mistakenly moved into your house, is the bat cone. The bat cone permits a bat to fly through it and out of the house. It has a valve attached that when the bat exits the cone, the valve closes and the bat cannot return to the house. Attention must be paid to the time of year so that bats are not excluded but their pups are still inside, unable to fend for themselves. Between June and August is when they young are born and getting ready to fly.

How to get bats out of a log cabin

How To Get Rid Of The Bats In Your Roof
You may hear the noises of bats communicating or fighting for their places to roost. This is quite disturbing to say the least. However, other than the possibility of becoming infected with a disease, healthy bats generally do not harm people. In fact, they are very useful to the environment. This doesn't mean you want them in your roof. Bats should be removed promptly when you learn of them in your residence, because the colony will only increase with size over time, can corrode the wooden roof, and can leave behind millions of smelly droppings.  Your choices of bat removal are limited if you want to obey the law and also be environmentally conscious, but really, there's only one way to get bats out of the roof: exclusion and sealing. Trapping and relocating them is very hard on the bat. Many of them die because they are not released from their traps quickly enough, and they can't be relocated - they just return. Poisoning is totally out because it is dangerous and could harm children and pets as well. It is also against the law in many states to poison bats. The safest way to have them leave the sanctuary of your roof is by bat proofing all entries and exits. At their main entry/exit portal, attach a bat cone. When they leave at dusk to feed on insects, they will leave through this one-way-valve cone that lets them exit the roof but blocks re-entry. If it's a barrel tile roof, then it's a very arduous process of sealing shut thousands of tiny entry holes, and excluding them with a wide area net, like a quarter inch polynet.

Most bats are insectivores and take care of a large number of insects that would otherwise be buzzing around your face. About thirty percent of them eat only fruit. Only a very tiny percentage will drink blood, yet that is the bat on which everyone focuses. For sanitation and health reasons, you do not want to cohabitate with bats. They carry rabies and other diseases that are communicable to humans. Bats are not to be poisoned because of their usefulness. Trapping is also a very risky way of capturing them. They often die being trapped. The only way that is not harmful to them is by bat proofing the basement and letting them escape through a bat cone, which is an exit with a one way valve. Once they are out, they will not come back into your home.


When bats get into a house, it can be a frightening experience and it is usually not easy to get them out again. The best option is to employ a professional to handle the situation for you, but you may also take it head on if you have time on your hands as well as the devices needed.

Follow this guide to become totally free of bats

Prevention
It is better to avert a bat infestation by not allowing them to enter in the first case. This entails carrying out a detailed inspection of the whole structure and carrying out all necessary home repairs. A bat can enter by a hole as small as 3/8 of an inch, so you would need to scour the building very carefully.

The best time to inspect is at night or dawn. Bats leave to forage for food at night and sometimes return severally during the night but most will come back at dawn. Observing them will help you to correctly identify their entry and exit points without having to guess.

You would need a ladder to get to the roof, and a headlamp to see at night, as this is the best time for inspection. The roof has fascia boards, eaves gaps and other openings that the bats can use to enter a building. If you are not one for heights, then you should allow a professional check it out for you.

After successfully identifying your bats' entry and exit points, the next step is to seal up all the gaps save one or two that will be used for exclusion.

Exclusion
The two major things to know about exclusion is the right time for an exclusion exercise and the right devices to use. Exclusion cannot be done during the maternity period between April and August, as the baby bats cannot fly for about a month after birth and they depend wholly on their mothers. A live exclusion at this point will result in the babies dying as only adult bats will be excluded. It is against the law to carry out a live exclusion during this period, so you would have to wait.

In carrying out a live exclusion, the proper devices must be used for the right vents or holes. The devices have to be set in such a way that the bats can leave but cannot come back in. Exclusion devices include:

• 1/4 inch poly netting: Most people use netting because netting allows for multiple bats to exit at once and a flap fitted across the bottom will ensure that bats don't get back in. this can be used on long gaps with clear exit routes.
• Funnels: A funnel can be made of clear plastic to a 1/4 inch steel screening or even a water bottle cut at both ends. Funnels are best placed in an eave gap over the exit types and when the bats have to leave small holes.
• Bat cones: These are special funnels that have a tapered body with attached wings.
• Pipes: One way valve smooth pipes can be used so that the bats don't get stuck while going down the pipe. Once they exit, the valve closes ensuring that they can no longer get back in.
• Window screen: Screening can be used on adjacent to flat surfaces. A duct tape or staple gun can ensure that there are no gaps along the edges that can let the bats back in.

The holes in exclusion devices must be at least 3/8 inch since bats can enter tiny areas and the devices can be left for several days to ensure that all the bats have left the attic.

Trapping
Bat trapping must be done cautiously as they could be carriers of rabies. If you get bitten, you should keep the bat so that it can be tested for rabies as you seek medical attention. Here are three major bat trapping methods:

• Netting the bats - a box or cage mounted at the exit point of the bats so as to catch the bats as they come out. After trapping, most people might release them but the bats will only come back unless if the entry point has been sealed.
• Home-made traps - these have a trigger and a trap door that shuts on the bat once they enter the cage. The problem with this trap is that you will need a lot since there is usually a minimum of forty bats in a colony.
• Glue board bat trapping - glue boards are placed in the attic where the bats are roosting and a few get stuck to the board and starve to death. This is an inhumane method.

Remember, repellents do not work and killing bats through poison or glue boards are inhumane and illegal as they are an endangered species. Live exclusion remains the safest and best removal method.

Learn more about bats through my educational articles. Learn about what kind of noises and sounds bats make when they live in your house, and whether or not bats migrate or hibernate. Find out about White Nose Syndrome, if you have to worry about a Bat bug infestation, and whether or not bats avoid light. I have advice about how to remove bats, or rodents, from barrel tile roofs, and can let you know what to do if you are ever bitten by a bat. Find out how bats drink water, and whether or not they walk on the ground. One of the most frequently asked questions is: How many bugs per night do bats eat?

Other bat information articles:
Do All Bats Carry Rabies?
Are Bats Blind?
How Do Bats Communicate?
How Do Bats Use Echolocation?
The Fastest Way To Get Rid Of Bats
What Is Histoplasmosis?
Home Remedies To Keep Away Bats And Get Rid Of Them
Will a Bat House Prevent Bats In Your Home?
What Is a Bat Maternity Colony?
What Is the Summer Bat Maternity Season?
What Is a Bat's Natural Habitat?
How To Get Rid Of Bats Without Killing Them