Getting Rid of Bats

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So we have bats.....
They are roosting right in the vents in our attic above the garage. I know I could just do the easy thing and call someone to get them out for me, but I like to save money if I can. Anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of them?
I have heard that you can use ammonia and a girl at work told me her mom put up a bag full of black pepper and cayenne pepper hung up in the attic got them gone in 2 days.
 
I got the same problem. Right now they probably have babies and it's illegal to kill bats. Wait till the weather cools then make sure you seal off every place that they can get in. They will want to get back in no matter what. Then install a one way gate for them to exit from where you see them coming out. It'll take a few days to get them all out because they all don't come out at the same time. After a while you can seal up that exit too. I'd check my attic after that because they make a mess that can cause mold problems. I built a bat house and have already hung it hoping they'll go there.

Google bat valves that should give you some ideas...
 
It doesn't look like there are any babies right now. I have screen on the inside and they are just roosting right there on the vents to the attic. They seemed to have all left last night during feeding time...so I think the babies are old enough to go out and hunt for food.
 
Funny, I had bat houses at my last house. Seemed to drop the mosquito population quite a bit. And there is no better fertilizer than guano. I bought 2 more houses to put up at my new house but never got around to it.

I've caught them individually with a stocking filled with an orange before just to see if I could. But they will bite the piss out of you and they carry rabies.

I'd go with the smell idea myself if I wanted rid.
 
Check because NC has statutes around when you can evict bats and when you cant.

Otherwise, like said, seal all exits but 1 and install a 1 way door over that exit. They typically don't all leave every day, so it may take a week or so to get them all out. Once they are all out, block off the exit permanently.
 
A sure way to run them all out at once, get several of the bed bug/cockroach foggers from Lowes and set them off in the attic. The pesticide in the fogger is a strong repellant and will flush them out. Then wear a respirator and seal up all the entrances/exits while they are gone.
 
In high school I worked for a temp company one summer and we were hired to clean all the bats & guano out of New London Elementary School. I worked the crew that punched out all the ceiling tiles (~3" deep guano on every one), but the crew that got rid of the bats said they just used a section of PVC in the holes/walls with nails put in them at an angle so they could get out but not back in. After a month they went back and filled all the PVC ports with great stuff.
 
criket said:
A sure way to run them all out at once, get several of the bed bug/cockroach foggers from Lowes and set them off in the attic. The pesticide in the fogger is a strong repellant and will flush them out. Then wear a respirator and seal up all the entrances/exits while they are gone.
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not a bad idea..... Set them off while they are still roosting during the day? or wait till they would normally leave anyway?

Last night, wife and I went outside and waited for them to start leaving... We counted about 24 bats that left and about 11 bats that were still hanging on the outside of the screen (still inside the attic, but not inside the attic, if that makes any sense.) I had a big jug of ammonia and once the bats left....I sprayed as much ammonia as I could on the vents, inside the vents and all around the vents...I went out there this morning and tried to look and I didn't see any roosting on the vents...but that doesn't mean that they aren't hanging on the screen...but I'm going to check it out again after work.

I know that I am probably going to have to call a pro...but I'd like to at least try to get rid of them myself if I can.
 
I would think the foggers would kill them? Humans aren't even supposed to inhale from a fogger. I know a single fogger will kill an entire hornets nest.

Looks like the consensus is the pipe exit. And would be a cheap, easy fix. Just drill a hole in a cut out-to-fit piece of plywood, screw it up over all the vents, then slide in the pvc and wait. Of course I keep scrap of all that stuff on hand anyways...
 
the 1 way door that was installed on my house was a mesh screen it was installed over the gable vent. They stapled it to the vent frame across the top and 2/3 down each side. The screen was unattached at the bottom and hung down longer than the bottom of the vent. This way they could fly out the bottom when they leave, but cant find a way back in. Once they were all gone, they just trimmed the screen and stapled it shut the remainder.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
the 1 way door that was installed on my house was a mesh screen it was installed over the gable vent. They stapled it to the vent frame across the top and 2/3 down each side. The screen was unattached at the bottom and hung down longer than the bottom of the vent. This way they could fly out the bottom when they leave, but cant find a way back in. Once they were all gone, they just trimmed the screen and stapled it shut the remainder.
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My issue is, when are you guys doing this? I can't find a night where they all leave... and I'm not about to climb a ladder up to the vents and have a chance of a bat fly out at me and me get scared and fall and break my neck.
 
I would do it at dusk when most are out. The fogger cant kill vertebra pests unless it's locked in a box and then fogged. Foggers just kill insects (bed bugs, cockroaches, Mosquitos). The fogger is just to run them out so you can patch the entry point. Of course wait until the fogger is empty and then go up there still wear a respirator

Inhaling the fogger mist is harmful but not immediately. Doing it multiple times is what gets you, sorta like smoking a cigarette. One doesn't usually kill but multiple cigs over a period of years can.
 
Maybe put up some batt houses around your property, then at night try to close off the hole. They are good to keep around the house, they eat a TON of insects. Put the houses near a yard light where all the bugs are.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
My issue is, when are you guys doing this? I can't find a night where they all leave... and I'm not about to climb a ladder up to the vents and have a chance of a bat fly out at me and me get scared and fall and break my neck.
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get tough puss.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
My issue is, when are you guys doing this? I can't find a night where they all leave... and I'm not about to climb a ladder up to the vents and have a chance of a bat fly out at me and me get scared and fall and break my neck.
Click to expand...

Mine are about 40' up on the high side of my garage....













I may be stretching that a lil... But it's a lot higher than my 23' extension ladder....
 
I think the bats have left. I sprayed some water up there where they were and they all came out during the day and have yet to return...so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
 
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