# Oh my, BATS  !!



## chrisasst (May 7, 2013)

So I go up in my attic to spray for Wasps that are in my vents, etc...  I see some nests around my chimney up there and I start spraying.. Next thing I know I have maybe 10 or so bats flying around me. Praying that none of them was going to attack me as I am there crouched with a light on my head.  
My roofers are supposed to be coming next week to do my roof.  What do I do?


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## bioman (May 7, 2013)

Build some bat boxes, they are good to have around. wish I had your problem !


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## fossil (May 7, 2013)

Well, first, avoid the bats, because they often carry rabies. Then, don't worry too much about the light, because they can't see it. I'm guessing that they are probably little brown bats. They want a dark, quiet place to spend the day sleeping, and they can get themselves through an amazingly small opening, so attics are primo real estate for them. Could well be that they migrate...go somewhere warmer for the winter and come back for the summer. In any case, they'll make a mess of your attic (may already have) and they do carry rabies. On the other hand, they're nice to have around because in the course an overnight foray, they will eat a rather astounding number of flying bugs. Your roofers may be able to help you a bunch by identifying/closing up openings while doing the job. If, after all that work is done, you go up there and still find them, I'd recommend engaging the services of a pest control professional. You want them out of your attic, but you don't want them out of your neighborhood.

Entry to my house...the tile roof is the focus here:





A bit closer, you can see the white stains on the brown trim beneath the tiles.  That's dried bat urine. They go out and fly around all night eating bugs (bless their little hearts), then they slide on up into the roof tiles to sleep through the day.


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## chrisasst (May 7, 2013)

Well I am sure they are coming in through the wide open peak in my roof.  Should I tell the roofers about them so the dont freak out?  I am just afraid they may pull out until they are gone.  
I am also afraid if the roofers close it up, and the bats are still up there, will they try getting into our living space. My kids bedrooms are right under my attic.


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## BrotherBart (May 7, 2013)

Ever heard a roofing job? There will be enough racket that nothing will stay in that attic while they are working. You won't even want to stay in the house.

Tell'em about them. They will probably just chuckle. Call and tell them before they come out.


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## chrisasst (May 7, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> Ever heard a roofing job? There will be enough racket that nothing will stay in that attic while they are working. You want even want to stay in the house.
> 
> Tell'em about them. They will probably just chuckle. Call and tell them before they come out.


 
Thats what I am hoping.


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## BrotherBart (May 7, 2013)

Glad you have a date for the roof. Mine was supposed to be this week but it is pouring rain. Don't know what that is gonna do to this time wise.


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## BrotherBart (May 7, 2013)

If you want to discourage the bats, unload a whole can of some strong bathroom air freshener spray into the attic.


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## fbelec (May 7, 2013)

beside making the attic smell like a nice spring rain or lilacs what does air freshner do to the bats?
never heard of this one


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## BrotherBart (May 8, 2013)

Bats have a highly developed sense of smell. The stuff irritates the heck out of them. Works to get them out of hiding when they get loose in your house too.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 8, 2013)

Don't kill them, whatever you do. They are in serious trouble from white-nose, and need any numbers they have. I have heard that hanging tinsel in an attic absorbs their echo location noises- they start bumping into things, and evacuate. Dunno if this is one of those old wives' tales, but it's cheap to try


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## Backwoods Savage (May 8, 2013)

Bats are nothing to fear. Also most roofers have run into them probably many times. I still laugh though when we were remodeling and found 4 bats. One of the guys really freaked out while the rest of us just laughed. One landed on my shirt pocket. I just walked over closer to the trees and let him go from there. We like having them around because they eat so many bugs and harm nothing.


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## begreen (May 8, 2013)

Consider putting up some bat houses to lure them away from the main house.

http://www.nwf.org/How-to-Help/Garden-for-Wildlife/Gardening-Tips/Build-a-Bat-House.aspx


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## mrjohneel (May 13, 2013)

I've had them in my house on Cape Cod for years. Could never figure out how they got in. Finally called a bat removal guy (after a guy on the Cape died from rabies -- the first rabies death in decades in Mass.) and I'm hoping they're finally gone. I like having them around but not in the house. And my bat boxes were eaten by squirrels.


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## BrotherBart (May 13, 2013)

Five years ago I put a bigger whole house water filter in the house. On the shelf in the garage I had a large quantity of new in the box appropriate sized hose. After I finished the installation, but before I turned the water back on, I picked up a piece of leftover hose and in the cut end was a long dead bat. My heart stopped. 

Got new hose and tore out the whole thing and started over.


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## chrisasst (May 15, 2013)

Oh boy, roof is enclosed, bat #1 just flew by my wifes head as she was laying on couch..I got it outside.
I guess I am going to have to call in the bat patrol to check my attic.


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## Don2222 (May 15, 2013)

chrisasst said:


> Oh boy, roof is enclosed, bat #1 just flew by my wifes head as she was laying on couch..I got it outside.
> I guess I am going to have to call in the bat patrol to check my attic.


 
I had that problem and I took care of it myself.

Bats are nocturnal and sleep in there during the day. So go up there at night and pepper the attic with Moth Balls.

Bats are small and can get in through a hole the size of a dime.

So after a few days, the bats will not come back with the moth balls slowly melting. Plug all the holes where they can possibly get in.

Problem resolved!


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## chrisasst (May 17, 2013)

Well, ORKIN man came today. I most definetly have a bat infestation. They gave a quote of $5300 to do the job. They will have to seal holes, suck up all the insulation, blow in new insulation and find all the bats.

This guy says home owner insurance should pay for something like this. He says allstate, statefarm...all the big guys have no problem. I of course have a small local company and they are telling me they won't.  So I filed a complaint with NYS insurance commissioner.  So I will see what happens I guess.


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## BrotherBart (May 17, 2013)

Looks like Allstate agrees with your local company.

http://consumerist.com/2011/08/24/a...estation-because-they-think-bats-are-rodents/


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## Don2222 (May 17, 2013)

chrisasst said:


> Well, ORKIN man came today. I most definetly have a bat infestation. They gave a quote of $5300 to do the job. They will have to seal holes, suck up all the insulation, blow in new insulation and find all the bats.
> 
> This guy says home owner insurance should pay for something like this. He says allstate, statefarm...all the big guys have no problem. I of course have a small local company and they are telling me they won't. So I filed a complaint with NYS insurance commissioner. So I will see what happens I guess.


 
Sounds like a box of moth balls ($10) to get rid of the bats and a carpenter to plug up the holes for $300 at the very most would be a little cheaper! ! !


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## chrisasst (May 17, 2013)

Don2222 said:


> Sounds like a box of moth balls ($10) to get rid of the bats and a carpenter to plug up the holes for $300 at the very most would be a little cheaper! ! !


 
I am quoting from a website I found. 

"the amount of mothballs needed to effectively repel bats would be somewhere between 3-5 pounds of mothballs and  would repeatedly have to re-applied every 2-4 weeks to maintain high enough levels to even have a chance of working" 


I think my main concern is the insulation that is saturated with quano.  
How is that disposed of. Orkin also said there are probably bats boroughed in the insulation.   

I dont know, I will throw some moth balls around and see.

I have a ridge vent now, so will the moth ball vapors escape before it has time to be effective?  And will more critters come in now, with a ridge vent?
.


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## Don2222 (May 17, 2013)

chrisasst said:


> I am quoting from a website I found.
> 
> "the amount of mothballs needed to effectively repel bats would be somewhere between 3-5 pounds of mothballs and would repeatedly have to re-applied every 2-4 weeks to maintain high enough levels to even have a chance of working"
> 
> ...


 
I have soffit and ridge vents but no problem, those moth balls are strong! After I blocked up the holes, I did find one fat bat hybernating for the winter. They sleep very soundly and never felt being blunged to death with my shovel. LOL.

Anyways, needless to say I got out of it real cheap, since I found the hole and blocked it up my self!. I was lucky, they used the soffit for their bathroom, so I just removed the vent screen and cleaned it out!


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## BrotherBart (May 17, 2013)

Yeah that insulation has to go. A shame that it wasn't done while the roofers were up there. A sheet of decking could have been ripped off and the stuff just shoveled out.

Oh well...


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## Pallet Pete (May 19, 2013)

Though I like bats and wish them no harm they can be a nucence in the wrong places. We had them in the garage last year and they where a pain to get out of the garage. There poo is corrosive so my table saw had little rust spots where they dropped as well as the roof of my project truck. We tried all kinds of things but in the end leaving a radio on a rock station with the speakers touching the walls and the lights on for about a week and they moved into a bat box in the tree near our garage. Bats are great at deterring / eating bugs and they are really cool to watch at night by the fire pit. 

Pete


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## Pallet Pete (May 19, 2013)

Don2222 said:


> I have soffit and ridge vents but no problem, those moth balls are strong! After I blocked up the holes, I did find one fat bat hybernating for the winter. They sleep very soundly and never felt being blunged to death with my shovel. LOL.
> 
> Anyways, needless to say I got out of it real cheap, since I found the hole and blocked it up my self!. I was lucky, they used the soffit for their bathroom, so I just removed the vent screen and cleaned it out!



Moth balls are also harmful to humans just a heads up to be careful with them. 
Pete


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## Lumber-Jack (May 19, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> Looks like Allstate agrees with your local company.
> 
> http://consumerist.com/2011/08/24/a...estation-because-they-think-bats-are-rodents/


That article says this "The homeowner’s policy explicitly states that it doesn’t cover rodent infestations. But in 2006, Allstate had no problem paying $3,841 to have the flying mammals evicted from her walls. And that would make sense, as bats and rodents, biologically speaking, are from two distinct orders (Chiroptera and Rodentia, respectively).
The homeowner took her problem to Sacramento’s CBS 13, where reporter Kurtis Ming attempted to get to the bottom of this dung heap. Allstate eventually told the TV station that it made a mistake when it paid the claim in 2006 and that the homeowner’s policy “excludes bats,” even though Ming could not find the word anywhere in the documentation.
The California Dept. of Insurance looked into the situation but decided not to do anything, calling it a difference of opinion."
A "difference of opinion"???
So in Allstate's "opinion" bats and rodents are the same species. Boy would I be taking that one to court. LOL If the policy stated it didn't cover infestations, they could refuse to cover a bat infestation, but specifically stating they don't cover Rodent infestations means just that. It would be easy to prove in court that bats are not rodents.


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## peakbagger (May 20, 2013)

Some states have rules in effect that bat colonies can not be distiburbed until the have raised their young. I expect if you look around there is going to be some sort of non profit or government agency who will work with you to ge tthem out of the attic and into suitable nesting spots. I wouldnt be surprised if certain species of bats get threatened status very soon.


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## billb3 (May 20, 2013)

I've gotten rid of bats in an attic and a shed by leaving a light  on as they are not blind  and prefer dark quiet places to sleep.


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## batz (Oct 7, 2014)

chrisasst said:


> So I go up in my attic to spray for Wasps that are in my vents, etc...  I see some nests around my chimney up there and I start spraying.. Next thing I know I have maybe 10 or so bats flying around me. Praying that none of them was going to attack me as I am there crouched with a light on my head.
> My roofers are supposed to be coming next week to do my roof.  What do I do?



Here is a link to a detailed article about how to get rid of bats. Hope it helps you - http://www.howtoremovebats.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bats-four-step-guide/


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## firefighterjake (Oct 7, 2014)

Umm ... that was a year ago ... hopefully they figured out a solution to the bat issue by now.

Zombie thread!! It lives and rises again!!


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## greythorn3 (Oct 7, 2014)

ha the old bats!

when i lived in minnesota as a kid our farm house had a ton of bats.. they would be in the attic all clawed onto the chimney in the winter, we would pop op the attic door and shoot them for fun with our bb guns.  you could hear them moving thru the walls at night scratch scratch scratch.. they didnt bother me to much, we had fruit trees all around the house  and my dad thought thats what may have attracted them, plum trees mostly.. 
he went and found the holes they were entering thru as you could tell they would pee around them, hung a 5 gallon bucket under the hole half full of water, and for months after that (this was summer now) he would empty buckets ffull of dead bats.. 

never did totally get rid of them. i thought it was fun chasiing them thru the kitchen with a tennis racket. we had 12 foot kitchen ceilings so we got quite a show. the step mother was the one that didnt like them much and would squeel and run around like a girl.  she also didnt like the shrews that would run across the floor when we watched tv at times.. i think they would come up from the fieldstone basement, where we had a 6 foot tall wood stove. 

that was great times. really miss that place.


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## BrotherBart (Oct 7, 2014)

firefighterjake said:


> Umm ... that was a year ago ... hopefully they figured out a solution to the bat issue by now.
> 
> Zombie thread!! It lives and rises again!!


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