What to Do When You Find a Bat in Your House

Bats are a highly beneficial animal in the wild. You wouldn’t eat avocados, bananas, or mangoes without bats. Bats help pollinate more than 300 different fruit species. They also serve as organic pest management. Despite how great they are, you wouldn’t want one in your residence because they can cause harm to your property and act as disease vectors. 

Nevertheless, relax if you see this fuzzy, small, winged creature flying around your home. Most bats are safe and not demons. All you have to do is take them outside carefully. 

If a bat comes into your home, there are various things you may do, but it’s crucial to maintain composure while guiding it outside. One option is contacting a bat removal service in Indianapolis or the area closest to you. Read on to discover additional methods for assisting this small nocturnal creature to return to the outside, where it belongs. 

Find Out How They Can Get In

If you’ve discovered bats inside your house, you must figure out how they got there. Bats use the openings you leave unlocked to get into your home instead of digging holes to enter structures. 

Bats can enter through tiny holes or crevices high in houses. Bats can also enter through cracks surrounding windows, under flimsy doors, and around pipelines and utility vents. Thoroughly inspect and block any potential internal entrances.

You can reduce the likelihood of bats entering your property in the future by locating and sealing potential entry points.

Do so only if no available little children are reliant on parents. In several states, it is against the law to keep bats out when they are rearing young. The ideal time to remove bats is in the early autumn. If you come across bats hibernating in the cold months, wait until springtime, when they will be independent. 

Catch the Bat

You may need to catch the bat if pets or people are exposed to it, or it won’t leave without help. If you choose to evict the bat without the service of an expert, ensure you know any applicable rules by contacting your state conservation agency first. When no kids or animals are in the room, catch the bat. 

Wear heavy-duty work gloves; avoid cotton, as most bats can readily gnaw through it. If gloves aren’t accessible, you can catch a bat in a T-shirt or other clothes you can roll up. Ensure that the fabric is sufficiently thick to prevent a bite from the bat.

Bats will almost certainly land anywhere they can hang, such as inside house plants, behind draperies or upholstery, or even on clothes hung up. Put a plastic bucket or other container carefully over it. Slide a piece of thick paper or cardboard carefully under the container to trap the bat.

If you lack the confidence to catch the bat yourself, contact an Indianapolis bat removal service or conduct an online search to find the best company to do it for you.

Test the Bat for Rabies

Now that you’ve captured the bat, you must have it rabies-tested. Depending on where you live, different services will handle this. First, get in touch with animal control in your area. You might also phone your neighborhood veterinarian directly or conduct an internet search to get the best local service. 

You can decide whether you or your family members need to get treated for exposure by testing the bat for rabies. You can release the bat outside without worrying about rabies if the bat tests negative. If it tests positive, on the other hand, you must speak with a doctor about the proper exposure treatments.

Get Post-Exposure Treatment

If a bat has scratched or bit you, wash the area with water and soap and seek medical attention promptly to arrange post-exposure care. Don’t wait to seek urgent medical care because rabies is fatal if untreated once contracted.

Remove Droppings and Clean Contact Areas

The most dangerous threats from harboring bats in your residence come from their feces, which can host several deadly illnesses and parasites. 

Histoplasmosis, which can result in serious respiratory diseases in people, can be found in bat feces, and blood-sucking insects carried by bats have been known to harm and infect surrounding humans. 

Furthermore, prolonged fecal buildup frequently necessitates cleaning, removing, and repairing roof insulation before a space is safe to re-enter.

Maintain basic hygiene measures when removing and discarding bat droppings and any bodies you may find in nesting locations because proximity to their feces is deadly. Hiring a pest control expert to clean your place safely and securely is the best action for many homeowners.

Offer Bats an Alternative Home

Bats discovered nesting in your home aren’t hostile, and they’re not trying to hurt you; they’re even functional to the neighborhood ecology because they eat mosquitoes and insects. That is why it could be an excellent idea to provide bats with a different nesting location close by; that way, they won’t be drawn to the safety of your attic.

Although they are just as simple to assemble as a birdhouse, bat boxes and homes provide optimal camping space for bats and their young. Consider mounting a bat home about 10 feet up in a tree or on an even surface. 

You may make your residence less alluring to bats and help them survive by providing them with a better choice nearby.

Having a Bat-Free Home

The objective of bats is not to hurt people intentionally. They only want to go outside at night, eat some bugs, and return to their own families. They have no desire to terrorize, assault, or otherwise bother you.

Although they have a negative reputation, bats are advantageous to the environment. Most bats consume insects, while others consume fruit and nectar, and some even aid in plant pollination. Bats are only mistaken nocturnal creatures; they are not horrifying, violent monsters. 

Bat encounters are nearly often unintentional. Keep your cool above all else, safely remove them, or reach a local expert who is best familiar with your particular scenario.

Author

Related Posts

Leave a Reply