How to prevent bats from coming into or near your house?

All I can say is do something quick. I work in the medical field and bats are the #1 carrier of rabies..which is fatal..and guess what? There is a huge shortage of the vaccine right now. Good Luck!

I had this problem in my first house. I called a animal control place (I can't remember his name but I got it out of the phone book). He came over and installed something that made the bats leave and not be able to get back in. It worked we never had another bat. The cost was around $300. It was worth every penny.

I am not sure exactly how well these devices work ~ other than contacting professionals. But as this is the time of year for all rodents to be seeking a warm "home" to sleep and stay cozy, you should take ALL precautions and check all places, including your basement or crawlspace if you have one.

My mother lives in an old home in the country and also experiences this.

You also need to be EXTREMELY careful as it is nearly impossible to tell if you have been bitten by a bat. Another lady posted on here a few months back and she and her children did a few rounds of rabies shots (not fun for them I am sure - but you just can not tell and when it is too late, then it is more serious.)

I highly suggest calling in the professionals on this one!! Be SAFE!

Fill panty hose legs with boxes of mothballs and put them near the places where the bats come in. The won't like the smell and stay away. Check out the boxes of moth balls at the $$ stores. Don't forget to compare the price per unit, sometimes the bigger box for more $$/ box at Aco is actually cheaper.

Good Luck,

Contact CRANBROOK (out on Woodward past 15 Mile there)- they have a great BAT program there - they may even come & get bats from your home & area! Ask for DAWN - she is a friend of mine and was just featured in a Free Press in an article about educating people about bats.

T. - I don't know you but feel that I have a moral obligation to give you this info even though you may already know or it may flip you out.
Two different families that i am close to here in MI and in NY have had bat issues.
Bats can bite without making marks and if they are rabid there is a huge problem.
You really need to contact your pediatrician and the County Health department.
It seems so nonsensical because there are bats every where but one never knows if a bat is rabid unless they can catch the bat and have it tested (Friends have done that before).
Good luck and I know this doesn't answer your question as to how to get rid of them but most important is your child's health/life.

Hi, T.~
Bats are very difficult to get rid of on your own, especially if you have a lot of them. They can get into your house in areas that you would never imagine! I had a bat problem while my husband was deployed and used an EXCELLENT company called Michigan Pest and Wildlife Management. They were very reasonably priced and use completely humane ways of getting the bats out of your house. They also offer a "guarantee" for 3 years that the bats won't return. Their number is ###-###-####. If they don't service your area, I'm sure they could refer you to someone who does. Good luck!

I used to live in an old farmhouse, over 100 years old, and had trouble with bats getting in the house. I had great luck with spray cans of expandable foam ( Great Stuff is one brand, but there are others). You can get them at home centers like Lowes and Home Depot, etc, and at hardware stores. Use the foam to seal holes in the foundation and at the roof line under the eaves as a temporary fix till you can do proper repairs. Think of a bat as a mouse with wings.... if a hole is small enough for a mouse, a bat can get through. They only need a nickle sized hole. No more bats after I sealed the leaks. One caution though, once you use it, the sealant seals the nozzle easily, so buy more of smaller cans rather than big cans. It is annoying to go to use it again, and have the nozzle plugged up. It will also save you energy costs, since heat and air conditioning leak out the same holes as the bats enter. It is hard to make your house unappealing, they are just looking to find a home from the weather. I also put up wooden bat houses at the back end of my yard to give them a home (they look like birdhouses, but with the whole in the underside instead of the front), because bats eat flies and mosquitos. It is fun to watch them in the evening, swooping across the sky like little hawks.... eating the annoying mosquitos. Just not in the house!
good luck, L.

Most of the electronic devices will not penetrate walls etc. So if you do use those (they have worked decently for us so far) than that is something you should be aware of. However, for sure sealing things up really well is the best way to go. We've had a few that came in for a late night game of "tag" but I'd just as soon those few games were our last!

Good luck!

T.,

I hate those bats too! We also live in an old farmhouse and have occasional bats that get in. We just had one in here about a week ago. I was yelling for my husband and that scared my toddler and he was crying, and it was 11:30pm so I was sure I was going to wake the entire household!

In the fall when it starts getting cold they begin looking to get to warmer nesting spots. The best thing you can do is to seal up the house as tightly as you can. We are in the process of remodeling and just recently replaced all the windows and resided the entire house, I was sure we were done with the bats. Turns out there was a hole about the size of a nickel in one of the upstairs window screens, bats can squirm in through tiny holes.

We tried the electronic things that you plug into the wall that claim to keep rodents away, they didn't work for us so I would recommend that you not waste your money on them. We also have bat houses and numerous outbuildings that I'm sure they are living in as well. But if they can sense some heat and its chilly out they will go for it.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but im my experience getting the house sealed up would be the best way to go. Good luck, I know its not fun.

Hi T.,

I can recommend a great company that can do an exclusion of the bats if you're interested. They did our house 3 years ago and did a very thourough job of finding and sealing all the nooks and crannys. If you're going to seal up, now is the time because it's getting cooler at night and the bats will be going into hibernation (torpor) before we know it and will need to find a relocation spot ASAP.

If you wait until spring to seal, do it before late May, early June as this is when they have babies. We had a very uneducated company come do a so called "exclusion" and didn't realize at the time it was baby season. We had baby bats coming out of cracks in our house looking for their mothers. It was the saddest thing. We immediately removed screens they put up and we were able to rescue some of the babies and have them reared by a bat rehabber. I've since thouroughly educated myself on bats.

Seal up at night after you're sure they've gone out to eat or they will try to come into your house since they have no other way out. If they do get into your house, best thing to do is open doors and windows and let it find its own way out. Their echo location abilities are amazing.

They do not want to be flying around inside your house any more than you want them in there! LOL

I hope some of my info helps and if you need the number (not sure if you're in Michigan), just let me know!
Good luck!

I just read an article in the paper this morning about a shortage of the human rabies vaccine. The risk of rabies from bats is very high. I would call a professional ASAP to avoid an even bigger problem should anyone in your family get bit. Better safe than sorry!

There are people that specialize in the removal of Bats and the home repairs necessary. "A pesky critter removal" is reputable and the owner is the father of 5 great kids. He worked in the construction trade before starting this business.
Tell him L. sent you and ask him for an estimate on repairs. He can be gruff but he's good.

A Pesky Critter Removal - Ryan - ###-###-####

Sorry I am unable to help you but do suggest your family get your rabies vac if you have that many bats near/in your home. I took care of an injured bat one summer (until I could get it to a lady who was connected to the Cin. Zoo) and it accidently caught my skin with it's nail. My doctor was so concerned that I got a series of rabies vacs as a precaution. As the doctor prescribed the need my insurance covered it. My doctor said he had a bat that flew over his head and touched his hair and he got the vac. I know a little extreme but if a bat is carrying rabies this is an extremely serious matter. Better play it safe than sorry. Good luck!

We had one bat in a rental house where there was an infant living, after doing lots of homework (one good website is www.batcon.org) I decided to let a professional handle it...

I know that another person gave you this phone number but here is the company info.
Michigan Pest & Wildlife Management
968 Mallock Street
White Lake, Michigan 48386
###-###-#### http://www.michiganpest.com

We dealt with Chris who came to the house and gave us a 5yr. guarantee and was a very helpful. He seals all entries and installs a bat door so the bat can get out, but not back in. He charged us $500 in Dec.07. If it weren't for him, I am sure we would still have a bat in the house.

Good Luck!

T., The sad news is the bats are in your walls or attic, BEEN THERE, tried everything! CALL a professional!, Call the
DNR, Find out if there have been any rabid bats in your area, I don't want to scare you, just be real, bat "poop" can be toxic, with a young child in your home, he could find it and be curious. Take care of this now, put filters on all of your furnace vents, find ANY crack and hole and fill it, closets, fireplace, trim... Research the net. good luck hon. K.

Please do not buy into the bats and rabies hysteria. While rabies is certainly a horrible disease, 97% of all human rabies cases are caused by dog bites; very rarely bats. By now I'm sure you've solved your bat problem, but it wasn't clear from your original post if the bats were actually roosting inside the house, or just occasionally getting lost and flying in from outside by accident. There's solid information on the Bat Conservation International (BCI) website, and links from there are trustworthy. Be cautious of advice from private animal control sites, they are sometimes just marketing their services through misinformation.

Hi T., Listen if you have a crawl space or attic, get a heavy duty pot or an aluninum pan they're cheaper, put half bleach/ half water. put the pan in the attic and crawl space. We had over 15 hundred bats living in our crawl space so we did that and it seemed to help. Also in an attic I would leave a light on. Good Luck Sweetie...