One thing I havent seen written on this post is this.I fully understand the concern and or feel the need to evict a colony or a maternal colony during pup rearing time. However it may be apparent that some, all or many dont fully understand what the juveniles do once the female doesnt return to the roost site to nurse the young 12-24 hours after exclusion has taken place.
Meaning, depending on the maturity (age) of the juvenile bats, if they are very mobile at the point of exclusion, just new borns a week or less old,or mid way thru their developmental stages.If the pups are older and the adult fails to return the pups will begin a search for the female to nurse.
If they are within a week or less in maturity the pups will most likey perish without incident in the roost area as a result of limited mobility due to age and dehydration.However, if the maturity of the pups is two weeks or greater they are quite mobile now and crawl very efficiently.
Therefore the falsehood of thinking the exposure threat of the adults has been removed is now short lived.
I have seen the result of maternal bat colony evictions performed during different phases of pup development over my years in business. Consumers attempting to do their own work via internet information, a result of taking advice from another individual and even some evictions done by so called professionals in the field that obviously had little bat work knowledge.
The exodus of the pups at the age that allows their movements into various areas of the living space is a potential high risk situation. Whether in the attic space, soffit area, ceiling areas, wall voids or even those roosting in chimneys can potentially make entry into living spaces in many such circumstances.
If a positive case of rabies is establilshed from a specific bat and colony site the chances of others is very possible and likely.Understanding that bats are a very social creature and they are self grooming creatures as well as grooming other bats and their pups.
Passing the virus to other bats throught their saliva via grooming, mating or general social interaction and transmitting the virus to their bats pup(s) if it is in fact a female is very possible.
Meaning now the abandoned pups and the pup(s) of the infected bat are now moving around and instinctively following air flow areas. Some or many pups finding breaches in the ceiling, walls, baseboards and basement exterior and interior wall void areas.
Now you have created a potential risk by exposing the same family to yet another potential bat problem. My point is, there is not a definitive end to the potential problem once the maternal adults are excluded.
I have found bat pups in shoes, waders,laundry baskets,jacket pockets,random clothing found on the floor, in beds,sofas and chairs to name a few situations.These young mobile bats have teeth and can bite just out of shear reaction or defensive behavior. Kids pick them up out of curiosity, dogs find interest and cats as well not to mention the stressing of the human occupants. It is the ones that you dont expect that cause the exposure issues with everyone.
If forced through circumstances to do a mid season exclusion I explain the situation to the client. What may occur as a result of the exclusion during this time period. They must sign off on the understanding of my concerns and if they insist upon pursuing the project I try to protect myself as a result of such an incident occuring as this could be a potential high risk liability situation.
Even with such anticipated problems and attempting to protect my business, with the law and lawyers as we have today most likely the consumers could still seek some type of settlement if they felt they would like to pursue the matter.
This topic has been discussed in the past and I failed to share my experience and thoughts. Now that I have spoken my peace you can all take it with a grain of salt and hopefully you will proceed and your work will be without issue when doing maternal exclusions.
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