How To Get Rid Of Bats (Safely and Quickly)

Having a bat problem can make any homeowner feel like they’re living in a horror movie. If you’re afraid of animals, rodents or birds, it’s time to stop that spine-tingling sensation and prepare yourself for handling a bat infestation in your home.

Not only are bats scary to most people, but they can also cause both short- and long-term damage to your house and the health of its residents. You don’t need to be an exterminator or animal control professional to remove these wanted guests from your home.

Let’s talk about how to get rid of bats in your home!

Uncovering A Bat Problem

If you’ve ever had a bat issue in your house, you’ll likely never forget the moment you discovered those unwelcome critters making themselves comfortable in your home. This unforgettable feeling is hard to describe, so if you’ve never had bats in your home, we’ll set the scene for you.

Typically, bats prefer to nest in dark areas of the home, like the attic. To investigate a potential bat infestation, look around your attic and its entryway for any small droppings, or piles of guano. As you look for droppings, make sure to also check the insulation in and around your attic. You may see urine stains on the attic walls too.

As you look for bat excrement, keep your senses on alert for other signs and indicators that may be present. For example, if your attic smells like ammonia or something out of the ordinary, that could be the smell of its excretion.

If you hear sounds of scratching or squeaking noises, that is additional evidence to prove that you have uncovered a bat infestation. Finally, if you have a visual sighting of an alive or dead bat or its roosting, it's time to take action. But before we give you tips for critter control, let’s talk about other ideal nesting spots for bats in your home.

Where Bats Reside In The Home

As previously mentioned, one of the most common places for bats to live inside your home is the attic. In addition, they may also reside in other dark areas where they can seek safety, shelter and food. For example, inside the pantry or a cupboard.

Bats can also make themselves comfortable outdoors and on the exterior of your home, so beware of bats nesting in or near your roof or garage.

Are Bats Dangerous?

Bats are not known to be dangerous, however they can be (just maybe not in the ways you might expect). Bats will not suck your blood or turn you into a vampire; however, they can cause serious issues if not removed from the home.

Bats are essential to natural ecosystems, as they do a great job controlling the insect population. But as bats fly around looking for food, it’s very easy for them to discover small holes and cracks in buildings. Once inside, bats make their roosts, which can lead to small and large infestations. These infestations can cause severe damage to homes.

Once roosted inside a house, bats can be dangerous to humans in two ways. First, bats may become aggressive if they are provoked. Second, bats are associated with many diseases, including rabies, which can be a health risk for humans. 

Health Concerns 

There are a number of health hazards that can be caused by bats. Bats carry many diseases, including rabies, which is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals. In addition, bat droppings, or guano, can cause fungal infections and contaminate surfaces with a fungus that causes histoplasmosis, a sickness that includes fever, cough and fatigue.

Because of these critical health concerns, it’s very important to get rid of bats living in your home immediately after discovering them. 

Identifying The Bats In Your Area

Although bats live in every U.S. state, their species and actions may vary depending on where you live. In that case, it is very important to research what bats are unique to your area so you can determine what specific threats they may pose.

To learn more about what bat species are native to your hometown, search the internet or contact a wildlife professional near you.

How To Get Rid Of Bats In A House

Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for: our tips for critter control. Here are the steps to getting rid of bats from your home.

1. Research Your State Laws

Before you plan vengeance against a bat for entering your home, let us first remind you to research your state laws about wildlife protection and removal. From an animal rights perspective, it’s inhumane to kill a bat. In addition, many local and state laws classify bats as protected species, which makes it illegal for them to be killed. If that’s the case with your state, you will likely have to go through a live exclusion or other nonlethal bat removal method.

If the bat infestation in your house is more serious or severe, we recommend that you contact your state’s wildlife or conservation department to help you find a licensed wildlife removal specialist.

2. Know What You’re Dealing With

As you move forward in the bat exclusion process, it’s very important to determine how severe it is. For example, it’s critical to know if there is just one single bat or multiple bats roosted in your house.

It’s also important to know where the bats are located, as exclusion techniques can differ depending on their location and the size of their environment. For example, the process of getting rid of bats in your attic will differ from the process of removing bats from your home’s exterior or outdoor structures.

Another way to prepare for the exclusion process is identifying what type of bats you’re dealing with. While this may be difficult for the average person to classify, we recommend that you conduct additional research to help. But remember, never touch or get too close to a bat! It’s important to protect yourself from diseases and potential injuries.

3. Check For Entry Points

After you gather more information about your bat problem, it’s time to identify the areas where bats are coming in and out of your house. This is critical because once you find these entry points, you can close them off.

When checking for entrances, start by looking for holes in your attic and roof. Bats like entering from a high angle, so you might need to use a ladder and a flashlight to help with your search. In addition, bats can squeeze through very small holes, so look everywhere for even the smallest cracks and holes.

As you continue your search, try to also investigate the bats’ behaviors at night. Right before sunset, bats tend to hunt for food outside, so you’ll be able to see their point of entrance. This opening will likely be stained with grease and oils, in addition to guano and urine.

Once you narrow down and identify this entry point, you can zero in on that location and prepare for the next step of the removal process. But be sure to check for multiple entryways!

4. Create An Unfavorable Environment

Now that you’ve located the bat entrance, it’s time to kick the bats out and deter them from coming back. One way you can do this is by creating a nonhazardous environment.

Bats are very particular creatures that love to roost in dark, quiet, untouched areas. As you move forward with your removal process, keep these things in mind.

Consider creating an unfavorable environment for the bats that goes against their interests and preferences. Dissuade them from your house by using bright lights, tin foil strips, white noise machines, mothballs, strong smells and anything else that might be unpleasant for them.

5. Add Exclusion Devices

Exclusion devices are the best way to remove bats from your home because they are simple to use, effective and they are easy on bats.

Also referred to as one-way doors, exclusion devices help steer bats away from your home by covering the entryways with netting or tubes for the bats to fly out of, and then preventing the bats from reentering.

There are a variety of exclusion devices to use for removing bats. For example, you can use netting, cones, tubes and even nylon window screens.

These devices are easy to use and install, and they also simplify the removal process by removing the trapping and relocation steps often involved with critter removal. In addition, this exit-only option for bats is humane and harmless, as it keeps the bats in their native environment, only preventing it from reentering your house.

As you prepare for the exclusion process, take one final look over your roof and attic areas to identify every entrance point. When these spots are found, install your exclusion devices secured tightly over each opening. To be safe, leave the exclusion device in place for at least a week to give the bats enough time to all exit and move to a new location.

6. Call In A Pest Control Professional

Don’t feel like you’re alone in this endeavor! A wildlife pest control expert would be happy to help you in your bat removal process.

Wildlife control specialists can assist with as many or as few of the previously mentioned steps. For example, the professionals could come in and perform an inspection and determine the species of the bats to create a plan for removal, or they can just install their exclusion devices and help with the extraction.

This is beneficial to you as a homeowner because it allows you to choose how involved you want the experts to be, and you can have a say in determining their roles.

Not all bat situations require a professional to get involved, but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you feel comfortable handling the issue on your own or if you’d rather have a professional step in.

We do recommend that if you have a serious infestation, you reach out to a professional. If bat infestations are not handled properly, they can destroy your home’s insulation, vents, crawl spaces, walls and foundation. This would create serious issues for your home’s structure and stability in the long run.

To find a pest control expert in your area, conduct necessary research by using the internet and asking friends and neighbors for references.

After The Bats Have Been Removed

Once you’ve successfully removed the bats from your home, it’s time to start the cleanup process! Here are our tips for cleaning up after the bats and preventing future bats from roosting: 

Deep Clean

A thorough deep clean to remove grime, guano and germs is crucial to the bat exclusion process, as is a serious deodorizing and disinfecting.

First, it’s important to clean up the bats’ droppings. As you’re thoroughly cleaning your home to remove droppings, gear up. Protect yourself with eyewear, gloves, long sleeves and a mask.

Once the droppings are cleaned, you can deodorize and disinfect. These two steps are important because they prevent health hazards and they eliminate smells that the bats could otherwise re-track. Make sure to be as thorough as possible as you deep clean and sanitize. 

Prevent Future Infestations

As you near the end of your bat removal process, you’ll want to take all measures necessary to prevent another infestation.

First, seal off all openings to prevent bats from reentering. Make sure these entryways are fastened tightly and leave no room for a bat to squeeze through. Next, consider installing bat boxes to give your local bats a place to go.

To make your life easier as a homeowner and be more thorough during the deep clean and prevention, consider hiring a professional to assist with this stage!

The Bottom Line

Hopefully, by now you feel much more confident with the bat removal process. As you remove a bat infestation from your home, be sure to follow these steps carefully. If you’re still apprehensive about bat exclusion, don’t hesitate to contact a wildlife pest control expert near you.

For more homeowner tips, check out the Rocket Homes^® blog!