Bat Removal From Attic

So, you want to know all about bat removal from your attic?

Bats in your attic can be a complete pain, leaving their feces and making noise and sounds during the night. In addition to being unsanitary, they are also very unpredictable. In fact, if you’re like most homeowners, once you discover you have a bat infestation in your attic, you’re less likely to even want to go up there anymore.

We’re planning to make a full page that covers all the details of how to get rid of bats from your attic. This page is our content brief, where we’ll be sharing the research that we’ve found.

First, we did some quick research to find some helpful videos with ideas around how to remove bats from your attic.

Take a look at this how-to video:

Need to know how to get  rid of bats? In this video, we’ll explore methods for removing bats  and preventing infestations in your attic. While bats play a vital role in controlling  insect populations and pollinating plants, they can become a nuisance when they take up  residence in your attic or other areas of your home. Not only can bat infestations cause  structural damage and unpleasant odors, but they also pose health risks due to the potential  transmission of diseases like rabies. If you’re dealing with bats in your attic, it’s important  to address the problem promptly and effectively. Bats are nocturnal mammals that roost in dark,  secluded areas during the day, such as caves, tree hollows, and, unfortunately, attics. Attics  provide bats with a warm and sheltered environment where they can roost and raise their young. Common  species of bats that may inhabit attics include little brown bats, big brown bats, and Mexican  free-tailed bats. Signs of a bat infestation in your attic may include scratching noises,  droppings (guano), and an ammonia-like odor. The first step in removing bats from your attic  is to identify and seal all potential entry points where bats may be gaining access to your home.  Inspect the exterior of your house for gaps, cracks, and openings around rooflines, vents,  chimneys, and eaves. Seal any openings with caulk, mesh screens, or other appropriate  materials to prevent bats from entering. Once you’ve sealed off potential entry points,  install bat exclusion devices to safely and humanely remove bats from your attic. Bat  exclusion devices allow bats to leave the attic but prevent them from re-entering. Common  exclusion devices include one-way bat doors, bat cones, and netting. Place exclusion  devices over all remaining entry points, ensuring that bats have a  clear path to exit the attic. After installing exclusion devices, it may take  several nights for bats to leave the attic. Bats typically exit their roosting  sites at dusk to forage for food. Monitor the attic entrance points at dusk  to ensure that bats are exiting the attic through the exclusion devices. Once you’re  confident that all bats have left the attic, proceed with sealing off the  entry points to prevent re-entry. After removing bats from your attic, it’s  important to clean and sanitize the space to remove bat guano and eliminate any  lingering odors. Wear protective gear, including gloves and a mask, when  cleaning up bat droppings to avoid exposure to pathogens. Use a vacuum with  a HEPA filter to remove guano and debris, then disinfect the area with a solution of  water and bleach or a commercial disinfectant. To prevent future bat infestations in  your attic, take proactive measures to make your home less attractive to bats.  Trim back tree branches and foliage near your home to eliminate potential roosting  sites. Install bat boxes or bat houses in your yard to provide alternative roosting  options for bats. Regularly inspect your home for signs of bat activity and address  any potential entry points promptly. Dealing with bats in the attic requires  a combination of removal techniques, including identifying entry points, installing  exclusion devices, and cleaning and sanitizing the attic space. By taking proactive measures  to seal off entry points and make your home less attractive to bats, you can effectively prevent  future infestations and maintain a bat-free attic environment. If you appreciated this video, please  give it a thumbs-up and see you in the next video!

I found the following video very helpful, because it came directly from a pest control specialist who removes bats from people’s homes on a regular basis. Take a look at this instructional video:

hi I’m Mike with South Eastern Pest Management in Auburn Alabama I’m a project manager and it’s my job to come up with Solutions anytime people and animals start to share the same space today we’re going to talk about bats a little bit about bats in general but specifically what to do when we have bats in a structure wherever people in bats are are cohabitating we need to come up with a way to get the bats out before we get started trying to get the bats out of the building we need to set up a few parameters so that uh that we make sure that we get everything done properly we have safety conf concerns when it comes to bats mostly we’re worried about rabies and histoplasmosis these are not going to be a big deal but it is the kind of thing we want to think about also we want to make sure that the building is protected it costs a lot of money to have a building painted and have repairs made so we want to make sure that that’s covered also we want to make sure that we get the bats out alive uh they’re beneficial animals in every measurable way they’re like the night shift we have birds out during the day eating insects and at night the bats come out leave around dusk and for heavily on insects so they’re beneficial animals there’s no point in having them harmed in this procedure so we have a few parameters that we have to stick to to make sure that this is done right the first step is to do a bat watch and that our our goal here is to collect information so that we know what we’re going to be doing when we move on through the process you’ll want to kind of check and see what the sunset time is for your area and be out at the house about that time and be prepared to be there until it’s so dark that you can’t see do not bring a flashlight or anything like that you need to know the areas that you’re going to be looking for ahead of time what we’re looking for here is normal bat behavior and we’re going to use these patterns of behavior to get the bats out if you do anything to disrupt those patterns of behavior it’s going to set us back so leave the flashlight inside and go stake out the house best thing to do is stand on the corner of the house where you can see two sides at the same time it might take more than one person or it might take more than one night but again our goal here is to collect information that we can move on um once you’re set up just stand still don’t make a bunch of noise don’t make a bunch of lights and and watch you’re looking for places where bats are exiting the building once you’ve seen an area that bats are coming out of just just designate that a primary area and move on and watch another area by the time you’re done whether it’s more people at one time or it takes a couple of nights you’ll have you’ll know all the information you need to proceed so at this point we’ve designated the primary areas that’s any place that a bat is actually coming and going into the structure step two you’ve already done your bat watch and you know where the bats are coming and going in in and out of the structure we want to designate those as primary areas and leave them alone the the the part of step two that we’re looking for is designating secondary areas and these are places where bats are not using to get in and out but they could if they wanted to bats are capable of getting through cracks and gaps as small as 1 cimeter about a half an inch and your average home has plenty of places on it that bats can get in and out so what we want to do is is focus on the secondary areas we don’t want to mess with the bats initially we’ve already figured out where they’re coming and going and we’re going to hold that information for a little bit longer for the secondary areas we’re going to go around the house and seal up anything that could serve as an entrance for the bats to get back in when you run them out of the building I can pretty much guarantee they’re going to search that building and try to come up with another way to get back in So if you only want to go through this procedure one time believe me step two is the part that you really need to be focused on this is going to prevent you from having to chase this colony of bats all around the building and a good way to look at it is think of the bats as a symptom of of a disease the house itself is what what needs to be fixed if you just treat the symptoms and deal with the bats you’re going to deal with this again sometime down the road so we’re going to look at what it takes to fix the building and by fixing the disease that we won’t have to deal with the bat problem again so now you go out there during the daylight and crawl all over the house you’ll probably want to get on the roof cuz you’re going to need to check the ridge vents and make sure that they’re tight and there’s not a place for a bat to get in you want to check around the chimney and the chimney casing to make sure there’s no no gaps greater than a centimeter there uh you want to check the gable vents if there’s Dormers and multiple roof lines that meet together you want to check all the flashing associated with those now again this is this is the most critical step in the whole procedure if you take your time and do this this right you’re only going to have to go through this one time so you’re going to need a step ladder and an extension ladder to get up on the roof and to go cruise around the outside of the house looking for areas that bats can get back in an important Point here is this is the the big step if you do this right you’re good so take your time and look don’t just wander around the house and say well this looks pretty good the facial boards and EES are tight we won’t have a problem use your step ladder and go take your time go around the house slowly and don’t just passively look for areas that bats could get in Hunt for them search for them what you’ll find is the more you look the more you’re going to find and you have to get them on so go around the building and make sure that everything is absolutely tight some of the things that you’re going to need for this step is some sort of silicone sealant in a cocking gun uh this works pretty well the advantages here are these products are very very cheap and easy to find one of the things that we use is is um a non expanding injectable foam now the advantage here is this stuff is great these guns have adjustable triggers which allow you to very uh very accurately put the right amount of foam in the right place and some of these products come in a in a black or really really dark charcoal gray foam which is very subtle and in shadowed areas it looks great the disadvantage is these are costly and you’ll probably spend $50 by the time you order a gun and get one can which should be enough to cover any any residential situation there are alternatives to this product um I’m sure you’ve seen it at Walmart at Lowe’s or your you know home supply stores um cans of injectable foam they will do the job but be forewarned that the trigger mechanism and the straw that you use to apply them are not very um not very ergonomic and the foam is generally a hideous school bus yellow color so you’ll wind up with this foam all over your hands all over your house and you’ll be able to spot where there were cracks and crevices because where there once was a crack there’ll be a big glob of ugly foam so if you have just one or two areas to get to to seal up you might want to go with one of these other products if you do have you know if there’s going to be any significant work to be done it’s worth going ahead and investing and get you one of these um it’ll be well worth it it’ll be easier on you and it’s much tidier after the foam dries of course it can be it can be cut and sanded and painted so that it looks really good um take a flashlight when you’re doing this second part of of the exclusion you you’re going to need that to really get in there and look anything that goes um anywhere take take a probe or the tip of your Snips or whatever and try to stick it in there you can use your pinky if you want remember the threshold is 1 cm about a half an inch if you can get your finger started up in there you probably need to seal it so take a flashlight take your time and and actively hunt for all these secondary areas if you don’t find one and get it sealed up the bats will and you’re going to be doing the next step again and again we’re ready to go to step three the house is sealed up we’ve already noted the primary areas where the bats are coming and going and we left them alone until we got the rest of the house tightened up the idea again is we only want to go through this one time so we always address the secondary areas first now we have to figure out what to do with the primary areas these are the ones that we noted before that bats are coming and going we’re our goal is to get 100% of the bats out and if we leave some inside or trap them in they’re either going to perish in the structure which is bad or they’re going to try to find their way out and a lot of them are going to wind up in the living space of the house so our objective here is to make sure that whatever excluder device or valve that we put up is not going to disrupt the patterns of behavior that we noted when we did a bat watch the bats if they behave normally we can use that to our advantage so we’re going to build a one-way valve that allows the bats to leave but not get back in again and over a period of time whether it’s a few days or a week depending on the weather we’ll have the entire Colony out of the structure what we’re going to do is uh build a simple valve what we use most of the time is this bird netting uh it’s a great product it has a lot of advantages in this situation it’s relatively stiff so once we have it secured to the structure it stays in the position that we want it to um it allows the air to blow through it so it doesn’t flip back up over the house and it works really well at at allowing the bats to not be traumatized by the procedure and uh and do what they’re supposed to do so if we know the area that the B are coming out of say a gable vent on the side of the house we’re going to take this material your average staple gun or staple hammer and secure it above and on either side of where the bats are coming out essentially we’re just going to make a flap that hangs over the area over the gable vent so the bats can leave normally around dusk they’ll come flying out when they encounter this material hanging over the gable vent they’re just going to drop out the bottom and they may try to get back in a couple of times but then they’re going to give up and go about their normal business they’re going to spend the night eating mosquitoes and beetles and when they come back in instead of flying right up into the gable vent they’re going to encounter this netting they’re not necessarily going to immediately figure out that they have to go down lower and climb up up the side of the building to get back in they’re going to continue to try to fly right into the gable vent they’re going to encounter this valve and after they’ve scoured your house looking for other ways to get back in and that’s not a problem for us because we’ve already taken care of the secondary areas they’re going to give up and go find another place to stay so again the objective with the valve is to create a situation that bats can’t get back in again but that the it’s unobtrusive enough to allow the bats to behave normally um again this bird netting works really well but you might be able to find something around the house that’ll work just as well an old bed sheet or something like that will probably take care of it make sure that when you secure it that it’s that it’s stapled well across the top and on the side so that the bats can’t just get right back in and if you have to you can do another another bat watch after you have your valves installed go out there again around Sunset and watch and make sure the bats are falling out the bottom of it and not crawling back up in the side since all the secondary areas have already been sealed and the primary areas now have a one-way valve on them the bats have no choice but to go ahead and head out that’s their normal behavior to leave at night in forage and we can make that work for us as long as the one-way valve functions properly step four is another bat watch at this point we’re we’re over the over the worst of it we’ve treated the primary areas with valves and the secondary areas is sealed now we need to know for sure how well we’ve done so do your bat watch just like you did before it’s not a bad idea to keep an eye on the entire house our primary focus here is going to be the areas that are valved because we know the bats are going to be coming and going it’s been a few days maybe a week depending on weather um we need to make sure that the temperature is above 10° C or maybe 50° fahren A good rule of thumb is if it’s warm enough for insects to be out it’s probably warm enough for bats to be out foraging with them so we do a bat watch and our goal here is just to confirm that we’ve relocated 100% of the colony we can’t just assume that an arbitrary period of time like 3 days or something like that is going to be enough we need to to do a bat watch to confirm that we’ve got the The Colony out so what you’re listening for little audible clicks or echol locations or chirps from the bats or any visible signs of them coming and going if they’re still coming out then you need to let it go for a few more days and do another bat watch over the first day you’ll probably get 70 or 80% of the colony out by the time two or three days has gone by chances are all of the bats will have had to to leave the roost and go out to forage if they haven’t been able to get back in then you have 100% control and all the bats are out now you’re ready to move on to the last step and that is to take down the valves and the excluder devices and seal them up just like we did in step too you’ve confirmed that no bats are in the building anymore take the valves The netting all that stuff down and seal it up just like you did at this point if it’s a gable vent you’re going to take quarter inch hardware cloth and some heavy Snips and your tape measure and cut a a a rectangular or triangular piece of this hardware cloth and staple it up over the last areas if uh if the last place they were coming out is just a a gap in the eaves or the sopit then go back to your phone gun and seal it up we’ve talked about the right way to do a bat job and in this case it’s physical exclusion encapsulating the building to make absolutely sure that there are no cracks or gaps greater than a centimeter or half an inch for the bats to get back in if you’ve done that right you’re not going to have any bat problems in the future now having sat through this whole thing I’m sure a certain percentage of you are looking for an easier solution and I want to cover those for just a minute we’ve talked about what to do when it comes to bats this is what you don’t want to do when it comes to bats moth balls are always a big favorite uh if you get the concentration of napoline high enough in the in the air in the attic to disrupt the bat’s normal behavior and cause them to leave you’re probably not going to want to be in the house yourself so don’t use mothballs uh another two big favorites are lights and fans and we know enough about bat biology to know they don’t really like a whole lot of air moving and they don’t like to be in in a well-lit environment but when it comes to addicts we’re talking about microhabitat you know are you going to be able to get enough lights and fans in there to cover all of the areas that a bat might be able to get into and the answer is generally no so skip the lights skip the fans and skip the mothballs one other thing people like to do is is assume that 100% of the colony is going to leave at dusk every night that’s the kind of assumption that if you make it you’re likely to trap a bunch of bats in the building so what what folks like to do is wait till it’s dark they wait 30 more minutes they see a bunch of bats coming out of the structure then they get up there when they think the bats are out and seal it up that’s not going to work because we don’t know if all the bats are out of the structure when it’s sealed up and we haven’t addressed all of the secondary areas too so one way or another that’s just not going to work um bat houses are very popular and we encourage people to use bat houses they create habitat for bats and that’s a fine thing but there are some rules that go with it the big rule is bats won’t leave the comfort of your home to move into the bat B house that you nail up in the backyard it’s just not going to happen if you want to put up bat houses to create that extra habitat that’s great just make sure that that they’re at least 20 or 30 meters maybe 50 fet away from your house that way if there are accumulations of bat guano then you’re not going to smell it it’s not going to cause any property damage when we’re doing a bat exclusion we need to take into account behavior and biology because these are the patterns and the information that we’re going to use to manipulate these bats and get them out um bats are mammals they’re all they’re social animals and usually occur in groups uh doesn’t matter if the colony is 10 or 100 or 500 bats it’s all going to be the same when it comes time to exclude them uh if you have a bat in the actual living space of your house the best thing to do is close off all of the doors and access for that particular area maybe take a towel and jam it up under the door so that you have him contained if you have an opportunity to open a window in that room then just give it time and chances are that bat’s going to leave if that doesn’t work out call your local pest control company that has Wildlife Management capabilities and let him come out and get the animal out of your house do not handle the bats you can do a bat relocation and do an exclusion and get a colony moved but you don’t need to handle the individual bats uh a brief note about timing when it comes to doing a bad exclusion you don’t want to do them during June July and August at that point there’s juveniles in the colony the babies will have been born but as we know it’s a mammal so it requires the the the nutrition of the parents so if you put up a valve that allows the bats to leave and not get back in it’s only going to work on the adult bats that are capable of flying all the juvenile bats are going to remain in the house and perish there so again think about our original parameters one of the things we want to do is protect the structure which means not having a bunch of dead bats in the attic and protect the people which means allowing them to leave normally and not getting confused and winding up in the living space and also protecting the bats themselves they are beneficials and we want to get 100% of them back into the environment now you’re done the bats are out and the house is tight so they’re not getting back in again try to bear in mind that this is sort of the generalized version of a bat abatement and since it is more about the building than the bats themselves everyone is going to be a little bit different your house is going to have specifics that need to be dealt with that are different than your neighbor’s house and the neighbor on the other side remember to use products in a manner consistent with their label if you’re going to use injectable uh foam or silicone sealant make sure you read the label and use them accordingly above all else be safe don’t take any chances on ladders or on the rooftop and if you get in a situation where you’re not sure what to do call your local pest control company or wildlife and animal control and they’ll uh they’ll help you out they’ll point you in the right direction

Between these two videos, you should get some good ideas for what is involved in removing bats from your attic and keeping them out of your attic once you have removed them.

Bat Removal Common Questions

While doing some initial research on bat removal from an attic, I came across the most common questions that people are asking about these pests.

Here is a list of these questions. Each question is linked directly to the search result, so if you click any of them, you’ll be taken directly to the list of answers.

Bat Removal Methods

• What’s the best way to get rid of bats in your attic?
• Do it yourself bat removal?
• How do I permanently get rid of bats?
• How to get rid of bats in your ceiling?
• How to get a bat out of the attic?
• How to drive bats out of the attic?
• How to remove bats from a roof?
• How do I get rid of bats ASAP?
• How do you get rid of bats at night?
• How to clean up bat poop in attic?
• What can I spray on bats to make them leave?

Bat Deterrents

• Will a light in the attic get rid of bats?
• What smell will keep bats away?
• Will leaving lights on keep bats away?
• Does ultrasonic bat removal work?
• Do fans scare bats?
• Do bats really hate light?
• What noise scares bats away?
• What are bats afraid of?
• How to frighten bats away?
• What do bats hate the most?
• How do you make bats fly away?

Bat Behavior and Risks

• Can bats get trapped in attic?
• Do bats ever go away?
• Do bats come back to the same place every night?
• Will a bat leave on its own?
• How to lure a bat out of hiding?
• How do you scare a bat out of hiding?
• What to do if you wake up to a bat in your room?
• Is it safe to be in a house with bats?
• Will a bat bite me in my sleep?
• Should I get a rabies shot if I was in a room with a bat?

Health Concerns and Cleaning Up After Bats

• Can bats in your attic make you sick?
• How serious is a bat infestation?
• How long does it take to get rid of bat bugs?

Bat Weaknesses and Predators

• What is bats worst enemy?
• What kills bats the most?
• What are the weakness of bats?

Living with Bats

• Can I sleep with a bat in my house?
• Can you sleep with a bat in the house?
• Should I be worried if I find a bat in my house?
• Is it OK to have bats in your attic?
• Is it okay to leave bats in the attic?

Other Bat Concerns

• What annoys bats?
• What sound repels bats?
• Will a bat fly out an open window?
• Will bats go into a room with lights on?
• How do you get a bat to leave?

Most common words associated with bat removal from attic

While doing my initial research, these are the most common words that I found related to the keyword phrase: Bat Removal From Attic.

I have placed some words in bold, that are very closely related to the question you asked about removing bats. This list of questions can be helpful to do additional research on this pest control topic, and make sure you understand everything there is to know about getting rid of bats and preventing them from infesting your attic space.

Have You Successfully Gotten Rid Of Bats From Your Attic? Please Share Your Crazy Bat Stories…

If you’re someone who has already been able to get rid of all the bats in your attic, we’d love for you to share your story and any tips or techniques that you think would be helpful to others suffering from an infestation.

We will be publishing the full page on how to remove bats from your attic soon. In the meantime, please use the above resources to do more research and investigation into your next pest removal steps.