Selecting the Best Bat Removal Professional
If you find one bat in your home, the chances are that you have a full colony living within the house. Bat removal isn’t easy. In fact, it’s quite a tedious job. Bats are classified as a pest species due to their tendency to reside in people’s homes. However, as familiar as these pests may be, much of the public remains confused or misinformed about bats, their habits, and how they can affect humans and the environment.
Bat basics
Contrary to popular belief, bats are not birds or even part of the bird family. They are, in fact, flying mammals that choose to live in large colonies. These pests are often depicted in horror films due to their nocturnal habits and vampire myths. However, they are generally much smaller than those seen in such movies and will typically avoid human contact
Bats can be harmful
As is the case with most creatures, bats will most likely bite out of fear if handled, so always be sure to wear appropriate gloves and attire. This will protect you from contracting possible infections, rabies or similarly harmful diseases that are commonly carried by these mammals.
The most common complaint from homeowners relates to bats living in an attic and the unpleasant odor created by bat droppings (guano). This excrement can quickly pile up, producing a strong, rancid, ammonia-like stench during its decomposition process. Along with the smell comes the presence of H-capsulatum spores (a parasitic fungus). Inhaling these spores can cause humans to contract Histoplasmosis, an infectious respiratory disease. Although the symptoms can vary and are often similar to the flu, prolonged exposure and incorrect treatment due to a misdiagnosis can lead to chronic lung disease.
What to do when you find bats
If you suspect that there are bats in your attic or walls, find a pest management professional that is licensed and well-versed in bat trapping, catching and netting techniques. When calling local pest control companies, ask for a bat removal professional who will perform a permanent bat exclusion and attic clean up which includes the replacement of soiled insulation. Do not attempt to get rid of the pests on your own. Bat removal professionals have the appropriate experience and expertise to tackle anything from bats swarming around an office building to capturing a loose bat in your house.
Bat Pest Control
Bats, the only mammal capable of flight, are a crucial part of our ecosystem. Living exterminators, these flying critters are responsible for controlling pests like mosquitoes from getting out of hand.
Regardless of how useful they are, these creatures have a bad reputation of being associated with the supernatural, and often have been referred to as “flying rats.”
There are several different bat species.
There are multiple bat species that could inhabit your home; each has different habits and habitats. In North America, the following species are most common
Big Brown Bats: These bats are mid-sized mammals that are dark in color. They feed on insects and roost in any high point they can find. You can find them in your eaves, attics, and other high places during the day and hunting at night. They are common nesters during the winter months and can travel alone or in groups.
Little Brown Bats: These little creatures are only about three inches. They can hide in small spaces in the warmer months and seek shelter when they hibernate. Their favorite delicacy includes small, soft-bodied insects, or bugs near slow-moving water.
Natural Insect Control With Bats
Bats get a bum deal. Thought of as blood suckers and destroyers of fruit, bats are seen as frightening pests when in fact almost all are beneficial. Those blood sucking bats? Out of some 1,000 species only three actually take blood from mammals. And those live only in the Central American tropics. Most of the fruit bats live in the tropics as well. The bats, like the tiny Indiana bat that populates most of the midwest and east? They’re not blood suckers. They’re bug suckers. Over 70% of all bats — and more in the U.S. — are insectivores.
A single brown bat can eat between 600 and 1,000 flying insects in an hour, some 5,000 in a single night. And not all insects that bats eat fly. They’ll also pluck tomato hornworms, cucumber beetles, codling moths, earworms (like the kind you find in corn) and stink bugs. If there are insects that plague your garden (like grasshoppers) or you (mosquitoes), well,
Some smaller bats also feed on pollen and flower nectar. Like bees, they’re pollinators. Most of these bats also live south of the border and pollinate such fruits as guava, avocados, bananas, and mangoes. The lesser long tongued bat and the Mexican long tongued bat, both pollinators, migrate into the American southwest and California. Both, sadly, are on the endangered species list.
In fact, bat numbers across America are in decline. The reasons are many but almost all have to do with human activity. Much of this is because of loss of habitat. Many bats live in caves which are subject to vandalism. Other roosting bats are losing their habitat to timber harvesting and land clearing. Pesticides are also a huge killer of bats. A disease — White Nose Syndrome (WNS) — first introduced to this country in 2006, is also a major factor, killing some 6 million bats a year.
As organic gardeners, it’s important that we encourage every natural predator of harmful insects that we can. One thing we can do is provide bat houses near our garden to encourage bats to live there. About the same size as a bird house, bat houses can host dozens of bats (remember, most bats are small). A bat house, by providing a preferable alternative, will also discourage bats from roosting in your attic or garage. If you install a bat house outside, be patient. It may take bats a season or two to find the house and move in.
CHOOSE PEST CONTROL SPECIALISTS WHO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BED BUGS AND BAT BUGS
If you’ve gone this long without hearing the endless news stories and constant complaints from tenants and homeowners about bedbugs, you must have been living under a rock.
A lot of fuss has been made about these tricky insects as bedbugs have a rightly-earned reputation as difficult-to-kill nuisances.
Many reasons are cited for the recent bed bug explosion: increased international travel, increased number of people renting furniture, the uptick in people relying on used clothing items, and of course, the intensifying effects of global climate change
The trick to identifying a bat bug is by recognizing first that you have a bat issue.
Once the little brown bat issue is dealt with, the bug issue can be tackled. It is very important to remember that bats are the catalyst and not the cause of the problem. Bats, possibly due to their nocturnal nature and secretive ways, have been widely mistrusted and feared. Bats are natural, effective pest control specialists — but their portrayal in popular media has led to their vilification.
The truth is that almost all North American bats are insect feeders, catching their prey while in flight or plucking them from vegetation. Many people would likely be surprised to learn that a bat can consume more than its body weight in insects in a single night. Thus, it is very important to find a pest control company who will remove bats from your property without harming them. Bat bugs do not live on bats; they reside where bats live.
Give Bats an Easy Way Out
Homeowners all around the region know that bats can be a common problem — but chances are you’d rather not get too close to determine exactly what kind of winged wildlife is haunting your home.
Most bats pose a threat to human health and, when threatened or fearful, will bite, with some carrying rabies. What’s worse, bats keep questionable company — namely, bat bugs. A relative of the dreaded bed bug, bat bugs feed on blood and, like the bats they flew in on, require professional pest removal in order to be fully eradicated from your home
Where Bats May Be Hiding in Your Home
Bats are brilliant at breaking into spaces that might suit their needs. Barns, attics, eaves, garages, loose siding, even tucking behind shingles and shutters — all are ideal areas for bats to roost.
Dangers of Having Bats in Your Home
The greatest dangers of having bats in your home concern health and hygiene. While bats can carry disease, like rabies, bat guano presents the fungus histoplasmosis. When exposure to histoplasmosis is contained within the lungs, the result is a severe respiratory infection. Bad enough; however, if left untreated, histoplasmosis can spread throughout the body and prove fatal.
Hygienically, an accumulation of guano requires professional removal and sanitation services, along with the complete replacement of insulation within the affected area.