Bat Removal

Removing bats humanely:

The first step is to find the hole that the bats are using to get in and out of the structure each night. Carefully examine the building for openings, or for foolproof identification of the location, simply watch the building at dusk and track where the animals are going in and out. Be aware that bats can use more than one opening, 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 to form a tube surrounding the opening. When the bats go out, they will get into the pant leg and climb down and out. (For best results, use denim or similarly coarse fabric in a large enough size so it’s easy for the bats to get out; otherwise they might get discouraged and climb back UP the pant leg into the building!) When the bats try to get back in later on, they won’t be able to 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!

If there are multiple holes in the attic and you only found one, the bats will just go to another hole and get back in. You will need to repeat this process until you have all the holes covered and they are no longer getting back into the building. Once you are sure the bats are completely out, you can remove all the pant legs and permanently patch the holes. Please take care; if you permanently patch all of the holes before the bats are out, they may die in the house — and that’s not a pleasant experience for anyone.

If there are baby bats in the attic when you finish keeping the adults out, please find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to take them and raise them. Due to health concerns for both you and the bats, we do not recommend trying to raise them yourself. When removing the baby bats, 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.

At PAWS, we (naturally) LIKE bats and have had a few ‘winter over’ in my house in the past when they got injured too close to severe winter weather to safely be released in the colder season. We LOVE the fact that they eat thousands of pesty bugs, and we love watching them fly!

If you need any further help with bats or other wildlife, please contact us!

If this information has been helpful to you, please consider saying ‘thank you’ by donating to our non-profit organization. Your local wildlife will benefit from your generosity!

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