Removing bats humanely:

First you need to find the hole that the bats are using to get into and out each night. This can be done a couple of different ways. The first way is for someone to stand outside and watch for them to come out around dusk. The other is to go around the building and find the hole. There can be more than one and they can be quite small.

Once the hole or holes are identified, cut off the leg of a pair of pants (presumably pants that you don't care to use anymore.) Nail a pant leg around each hole. When the bats go out, they will get into the pant leg and climb down and out. (I wouldn't make this part hard for them.....so use jean type material in a large enough size so it's easy to get out rather than having them get discouraged and climbing back UP the pant leg.)

Then when they try to get BACK in......they can't. ...Because the pant leg is blocking the door. As long as the pant leg is long enough, they won't think to go find the end and climb back up! Now if there are multiple holes in the attic and you only found one, they will just go to another hole and get back in and you will need to repeat this process until you have all the holes covered and they are no longer getting back into the house. Once you are sure they are completely out, then you can remove all the pant legs and permanently patch the holes. If you permanently patch holes before they are out, then they may die in the house and that's not a pleasant experience for anyone.

If there are babies in the attic when you get all done, you will want to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to take them and raise them. Due to health concerns for both you and the bats, I would not recommend trying to raise them yourself. When getting the baby bats out of the attic use leather gloves since bats can have rabies and other diseases/parasites that are not good for humans. They are VERY fragile so extreme care should be taken not to break the delicate bones in their wings.

I actually LIKE bats and have had a few 'winter over' in my house in the past when they got injured too close to severe weather. I LOVE all the bugs they eat and I love watching them fly!

If you need any further help with bats or other wildlife, please use the CONTACT US button to send me an email.

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