Bat Control
A common misconception, they are not blind. They will commonly nest in open gables and in attics of homes. Few bats actually carry rabies, however an accumulation of droppings in attics or soil creates an environment which is suitable for histoplasmosis capsulatum. This is a fugal organism which can produce the respiratory illness histoplasmosis.
Bats are mammals that are generally considered beneficial because they eat so many insects during their nocturnal (night) flights. As such, they are protected by federal and by state law. They become a problem when they enter dwellings and buildings because they can transmit rabies with a bite and histoplasmosis (a respiratory disease) from their feces and create a nuisance with their activity and waste.
The majority of bats in buildings in our area are the little brown bats and to a lesser extent big brown bats. There are also some other colonial and solitary bats.
Bats usually roost near any body of water or areas with large amount of insects to prey upon
Bats leave their overwintering sites during the first warm days of spring. The females usually congregate together to have their young in dark, hot attics and other associated areas in buildings. These maternity colonies can range from a few to hundreds.
The young bats are reared and protected by law from mid-May to mid-September; until they are able to fly on their own
Bats have only one or two babies per female per year.
In the fall, when temperatures begin to drop near freezing, the bats leave their summer roosts to hibernate in small to large colonies in caves, mines, hollow trees, rock crevices, drainage pipes and buildings. Sometimes a few bats may even remain at the summer roost.
In the spring, the bats will return again (like homing pigeons) to repeat this process.
Rabies are not prevalent in bats but it is impossible to tell by looking so they must be treated as if they could be diseased (rabies is 100% fatal in humans). If a person is bitten by a bat the animal must be caught (never directly handle, use gloves, towel, net, etc.) with their head (brain) intact for testing.
Histoplasmosis is a respiratory disease with flu like symptoms that occurs when fungal spores from dried bat feces are inhaled.
Management/Removal/Exclusion
- To properly handle a bat infestation a thorough inspection to evaluate the extent and location of the colonies is mandatory
- Because bats are not eliminated and will re-infest the same structure; the main thrust of control is to build-out (exclude) the bats after they have migrated to overwinter or have been evicted via one-way exits that are installed to prevent their re-entry (not during baby rearing); followed by the finalization of the exclusion.
- Since the bats are not eliminated, it is important to seal all structural areas they can inhabit in a building. If this practice is not followed they will just move from one area to another.
- Bats do not create building entries, they take advantage of existing ones.
- The bat exclusion must be to any area larger than ¼ inch around the entire roofline perimeter of the entire house including but not limited to all construction gaps at roof/fascia junctions, soffits, exterior wall/freeze board junctions, gable vents, other animal (woodpeckers, raccoons, squirrels) holes in upper areas, dormer/roof junctions, roof to roof junctions, chimney flues, chimney/soffit/roof junctions, ridge and other roof vents, etc.
- The materials we use, depending on the size and adjacent materials of construction are galvanized steel flashing (primed and painted to match the surrounding areas), galvanized steel hardware cloth, animal exclusion foam, silicone caulk and other construction materials as needed.
- After all the bats have been removed and the exclusion is final, PCA can remove contaminated insulation, etc. then clean and deodorize these areas
- Ask PCA’s state certified technician about our bat removal exclusion warranty
Bat removal available in Charlotte, Lake Norman, Mooresville, Weddington, Waxhaw, Pineville, Matthews. Huntersville, Davidson, Monroe, Concord, Lake Wylie, Rock Hill, Cornelius, Gastonia and surrounding areas in North and South Carolina.
