Attics, barns, pool houses, and general outbuilding structures are often the breeding grounds for bat infestations. Due to the hardy nature of the critters, any viable remedies to poison or kill them often fail. Here is a tragic plan to help get rid of this persistent problem in your homes.
Bat repellants can be rather ineffective
Some instances of tall claims but little to no effects in this category include:
- Home remedies such as moth repellants do not work as effectively for bats as you would hope. On the flip side, they are extremely poisonous for family members and pets in the house.
- Sonic transmitters or even playing loud music to scare away bats does not work because of common strategically problem. For this strategy to work effectively, you have to play the music or the sound emitters 24×7. So you would have to stop living anywhere near the transmitters and you would need to stay in a place where you neighbors do not have you thrown out due to extreme disturbance.
Inspecting outbuildings for infestation
You have to be able to understand the root of the problem, before devising any solution with a chance of working. Bats have been known to be able to enter gaps as small as 3/8th of an inch. Pour over your outbuilding structures with a fine toothed comb. It also helps if you have a basic understanding of the behavior patterns and habits of the critters to correctly target problem areas.
- Bats are more likely to enter or exit at the highest gaps in the structure, for safety from predatory animals.
- Look for clues such as urine stains, bat odor, bat droppings, or bat nests to locate problem areas.
- You might be able to locate bats entering or exiting their entry points, if you inspect the house in the evening. Inspections in the day might reveal entry points but you would rarely see the bats or deduce the extent of the infestation without a proper night watch.
Bat proofing strategies
- Sealing the bat entry holes all around the building structure is the most effective strategy. Use square screen meshes as the sealing agents. Make sure to tape three sides of the mesh only so that bats already inside the house can go out during the dark but cannot come back in during the day.
- For pool houses, you can put in screened-in bat proof enclosures.
- Bats infestation around porch areas can be eliminated if you can get rid of the infestation within the outbuilding structure.
- Install a bat house at the main exit point during the sealing process. Professionals can take away the bat house after a week until which time all bats would have taken refuge in the bat house.
Calling in professional help
Professional animal control representatives will not only have an experience in these kinds of problems, their trained eyes can spot problem areas and bat proofing techniques much more efficiently than any DIY project. Professionals like us will also help clean up the outbuilding structures of any bat droppings and odor residue.