Is Your Home Turning Into a Bat Cave? Here’s What To Do

Unless you’re Bruce Wayne, you probably don’t want your home doubling as a bat cave. 

While bats are actually helpful exterminators, eating hundreds of insects an hour, they’re less than ideal houseguests. But when summer rolls around, bats start looking for a warm, quiet place to rest, and they might decide your home is the perfect place.

Unfortunately, once they’re in, getting rid of them isn’t as easy as turning on the lights. Here’s how to tell if these nocturnal creatures are in your home and what you can do to prevent them.

What Attracts Bats to Homes?

Like many pests, bats wind up in your home because they’re looking for food and shelter. They love dark, quiet, and undisturbed places, and attics, chimneys, and vents check all the boxes. 

If you have holes in your roof, loose siding, or open vents, you might as well be rolling out a welcome mat. And if your attic is insulated and rarely visited, you probably won’t even notice their presence until the sounds, smells, or guano start piling up.

Signs of a Bat Problem 

Bat activity can be tricky to catch at first, especially since they’re most active when you’re asleep. Thankfully, you don’t need Batman-level detective skills to figure out if there’s something flapping around in your attic. 

One of the first signs of a bat problem is soft fluttering or scratching noises in the walls or ceiling, usually around dusk or dawn. Staining around entry points is also common, as bats tend to leave behind greasy smudges where they squeeze in and out.

But the telltale sign of a bat infestation is the guano — bat droppings. Guano looks a lot like mouse droppings, but it's often a bit larger and has a shiny appearance. It also tends to build up into big piles. And if you start picking up a strong, ammonia-like smell near your attic or chimney, that’s another hint that bats have settled in. 

What Problems Do Bats Cause? 

While bats aren’t aggressive, they can pose serious health risks.

Over time, bat guano can lead to the growth of a fungus that causes histoplasmosis, a respiratory infection that can affect both people and pets. There’s also the risk of rabies. While most bats don’t carry it, some do, and a surprise encounter with a confused or sick bat inside your home can create a life-threatening situation. 

Structural damage is another issue. Guano can corrode wood and insulation, leaving behind a costly mess. And if a colony settles in, the smell alone can become overwhelming and hard to get out. 

What Repels Bats?

If you’ve searched for DIY bat repellents, you’ve probably stumbled across everything from essential oils to ultrasonic devices. While some of these tactics might work temporarily, they rarely offer a long-term solution. Bats are creatures of habit, and if your attic offers them shelter and safety, a little noise or smell won’t keep them out. 

What truly repels bats is sealing off access to their favorite hiding spots. That means identifying all the small gaps and cracks they’re using to enter your home, installing one-way exclusion devices to let them out without letting them back in, and securing your home so they can’t return. Once their favorite roosting spot is closed off, they’ll move on.

How To Get Rid of Bats

Once a bat finds its way inside your home, things can get complicated. Because bats are protected in many states, you can’t legally remove them without following specific wildlife regulations. That means once they’re in, you're often stuck with them until they can be safely and humanely dealt with, which can take time.

That’s why prevention and acting fast are so important. Waiting too long to address a potential entry point or early signs of activity could mean you end up playing host to a full-blown bat colony. 

Between the legal limitations, health risks, and bats’ knack for hiding in hard-to-reach areas, bat removal is a job best left to professionals. Our bat removal services are designed to humanely evict these attic intruders while complying with state and local laws. We use methods approved by the Department of Natural Resources to guide bats out without harming them, then seal off entry points to keep them from coming back. 

Feeling Spooked? Give Us a Call 

If your attic is starting to look like it belongs in a haunted house, don’t wait until things get out of control. Contact us for a quick and efficient bat removal so you can enjoy your summer without worrying about what’s flying overhead.