Good morning.

Well over the years I've had several bats make their way into the house. Never really gave it much concern. I did a look around for anything obvious but have never been able to find anything. We are now to the point of having had 3 in the house in the last 6 months. It's time to track them down. Did a run around the house and again found nothing obvious. Going onto the roof shortly for a closer look. Based on little things that have happened over the years I think they get deep into the house somehow.

1.Noises in the kids bedroom closet which is at the center of the house.
2.Noises I've heard late at night in the computer room which is on the lower level of a tri-level home. I believe they are coming down through the wall somehow and drop into the house through the drop tile ceiling.
3.Drop tile ceiling is the only place to get into the house. Everything else is drywall.

I've examined the overhang on the tri-level portion of the house and can't find any sign. Since they have to drop to fly I find it unlikely there would be sign here because it's only 4 feet off the ground.

3 bats in the house would indicate a decent colony right? So there should be some obvious sign once I find it right?

I am baffled at how they get in and out of the house.

I'll go take some pics and post them here in a bit.

While I do that any suggestions would be appreciated.

Perhaps, the noise over the ceiling tile is mice...people often have both. Bat exclusions are best tackled from the exterior, so there is no need to worry about damaging your drywall. It takes alot of skill to locate all the entry points...and potential entry points...because the bats will find them. It is a job for a professional for a variety of reasons.

I have a bunch of info on my website. Unfortunately, we do not service your area.

How much would a bat exclusion run?

Bats entering houses does not always indicate an active colony in residence. Down here we get bats entering during the migration from winter hibernacula to summer roosts. I also see homes used for night roosts which are distinct from day roost colonies. Whatever the case may be for you with multiple entries you do have an issue that needs to be addressed by exclusion.
Costs for exclusion are entirely site dependent. Basically any opening larger than a quarter inch that bats can access must be sealed. Size of structure; number of openings plus accessibility, and condition of structure; does structural repairs need to be made, are the two main determining factors when determining the required work. Fortunately the majority of the work usually can be done with common caulk and sealants or other commonly, read usually inexpensive, available materials. Labor on the other hand is where you pay as bat work is very detail oriented and imo well worth the money to hire the best.

Probably one of the most misunderstood issues with bats is that just because there have been bats inside of the house does not mean that there is a decent number of bats using the house or that you have any there at all.

The best way to start is with a bat watch. Go out approximately 10 - 15 minutes before dusk and position yourself on a corner so you can watch two sides of the house at the same time. If you have someone (or more) to help, have them either take a side or the opposite corner and do the same. What you are looking for is movement that can be identified as a bat. This can be difficult to see if there is a small number of bats present; however, if you have a large number of bats you will notice them and be able to follow them back to the general area they are exiting from. Unless you get lucky and see a large number, expect to do the watch 3 - 4 times over a 5 - 7 day period as you're looking for an average. Bats may not leave the structure every night for a variety of reasons or they may leave much later in the evening when you can't see them.

If you don't see any bats leaving doesn't mean you don't have a problem, all it means is that you didn't see anything. Since most maternity colonies are predictable, you most likely wouldn't have one of these unless it is very small. However, you still could have a bachelor colony, migratory colony (now is a little too late for this), or a day roost.

To find potential access points, start simple and work from there. If you have window air conditioners, make sure they don't have any gaps between them and the window frame and that the blocking materials is fastened to the air conditioner. If you leave screened windows open or have a screened porch, check the screening to make sure the seam has not burst or that a corner is not securely seated in the frame (this is true with storm windows as well). If you have a fire place, make sure that the damper is closed. (This is a primary access point especially during storm fronts for male bats seeking shelter. Think of what the weather was like a day or two before you had the bats in the house.) If you have access to your attic, make sure to look around and see if you find any guano. Don't look for the bats, look for the guano. If you find any accumulations of it look up to see if anything is looking back. If you don't find accumulations, check the ridge beam and if you have a hip roof, all of the support connections.

Check the ventilation areas of the house. If you have a ridge vent, see if it is wavy, appears raised up from the roof shingles, or if it is aluminium that the end caps are in place. If you have attic or fan vents, see if they are screened off and if the flange is down tight. Same thing for gable vents. Make sure screening is installed and still good. The same thing for any soil pipes sticking out of the roof. If you have any dormers, ledges, or changes in building materials (brick on first level that changes to vertical wood siding on the second) as these are also prime locations.

If you still can't find anything and want some piece of mind or there are more conflicts inside, hire a professional. I highly recommend asking them what type of training they have gone through as common training in the pest control field is reading 1 1/2 pages in a vertebrate manual. Ask them how many bats you have in the state and see if they can name at least half of them. Verify that they are licensed with the State as well as the regulatory authority for wildlife control work and I highly recommend that you discuss liability insurance issues.

You can read more tips for hiring a professional here: http://batsbirdsandmore.com/bats_in_houses.htm

Most of the replies above are from people with far more experience than me. But I will add a couple thoughts.

First, dependent on you siding, walk around the house looking for stains on the walls. Usually whitish from the urine or dark right at the entrance from body oils.
Also walk around the house looking at the ground close to the walls for what looks like mouse droppings, bat droppings will have small shiny particles of insects in them.

One last thing. We are moving into the time of year when you have maternity colonies. If you do have bats, it is best to wait until later in the summer. If you accidently
seal in young you can cause a whole list of problems. And some legal issues in certain states.

Not to disagree with Eric or David, but does your average temperature have anything to do with the nesting bat colonies?

The reason I ask is because the vast majority of customers that have bats in their house here, also have them in their attic.

No, this is not a hard and fast rule. I mentioned before the a competitor bid several grand for removal of non-existant bats.

I guess my thought here is; since none of my relation has had bats in their attic, neither have they had bats in their house.

Do you see what I'm getting at?

Paul,

Bats are very micro climate specific.They want a space that allows for neutral thermal regulation whenever possible. This way, the ambient temperature keeps their body at a temperature where they don't have to burn energy to cool down when it is warm/hot outside or burn fat when it is too cold for insects to be moving. In terms of attics, what this does for maternity colony's is to allow the pups to dedicate their energy into growth and development instead of keeping warm. With that being said, bats can also die of heat exhaustion so they do have a thermal limit they can endure (approximately 114F).

This is why little brown bats can be flight capable in two-three weeks after birth and big browns are generally flight capable in three-four weeks after birth. One reason for the difference is that big browns prefer a cooler temperature than little browns. When it gets too hot for the females, they will leave the pups and move to another area of the structure or even another structure entirely. They will return to feed the pups in the evening when temperatures are lower. In terms of being self sufficient, both species make that achievement around the 6 - 8 week mark.

The micro climate is one of the reasons why someone can have a colony in their attic and no one around them does. You can even move the colony from the home without performing an exclusion if you can change the climate in their roost area enough.

Try Jason Grimm (batpro.com or similar); he knows bats backwards and forwards. Works out of central Michigan.

I am not sure Jason goes that far....

Dave S. thank you for the generous compliment.

Trapmerunnin,
Saginaw is outside of our service area. Typically we will not travel that far unless it is a large residential or commercial job upon request.

Since you are experiencing bat conflicts within your living space, I would most certainly invest in a thorough bat entry inspection. Sometimes the problem with the structure will be found while I am pulling in the driveway or it could take a hour depending upon the condition and/or complexity of the structure. A full assessment to conduct a complete bat proofing and exclusion from top to bottom (in that order) should be formed into a plan and executed at the right time of year dependent upon the circumstances that may exist. Do you have any plans to alter the outside of the structure in the near future? (New roofing) etc.
General construction practices create the majority of our work, it is best to have a bat professional to be the last person to work on the home as building contractors can not comprehend what it takes for a bat to enter. (There is a lot more to this: as a second layer of shingles applied "may" trap the bats on the inside.)
One of the many important aspects to qualifying a potential bat company is to ask what type of materials are being used for the final product to seal up the structure as some companies shortcut their work and install substandard materials.

I have seen main bat entry points lower then 4 ft.

I've found bat entries around basement windows UNDER large concrete front porches. Guano pellets leading into the metal grated vents 12 inches off the ground, then they fly to the basement window which is completely hidden under the porch.

Had a job in Springfield (IL) where the bats were entering through a mortar joint ONE BRICK above the blacktop driveway. Watched them exit at dusk.... they would crawl out the gap, up the wall about 2 feet, then drop into flight. DO NOT believe the myth that bats only enter high places. I'm at year 25 of bat work, and still learning how little "we" know about bat behavior.

Ive read time and time again...Bats need to drop and fly...well, maybe for the most part, but I have also witnessed enough taking flight from the ground....my eyes don't lie and I don't need glasses....just hearing aids...lol.. So I suppose if any particular bat has enough wing strength...it's airborn

One of the major problems we as ADC have not only in bats, but all of the other Job types that we do, is, we tend to fall into a routine of this is the way we do it or this is what the animals always does. We tend to take rules of thumb and make them absolute rather than just use them as guidelines. We all do it to some extent, it makes our jobs easier that is until we hit the problems, then the always stuff mindsets shuts us down.

The longer I am in the business and I have been in it for a few days now, the more I realize that these animals do not read our books and articles. I wish they would!!! I think Eric needs to figure out a marketing program to get the magazine to at least a few of the critters. It would make my life so much easier. Them doing what they are suppose to do according to us.

I am not a salesman, Matter fact I am a straight cut say it like it is guy, I must admit it gets me in trouble a lot LOL

When I do a bat inspection nothing is taken for granted. I look for the norms, but also always look for the I can't believe they are doing that stuff. But! I must confess at this point, my inspections for me are not to find every hole. That task comes when I do the job. My inspection is in the simplest and fastest form, to see if they have a colony of bats or bat accessible, and give a price to solve their problem.

Those of us that have been doing bats for some time know what we are looking at with the house in mind. we know if a house has a roof line gap or if it is drip edged. We know the carpenter did not close the return under the pork chop leading into the soffit, we know which ridge vents are problems and which ones are good just for examples. I believe Jason stated this, many bat colonies can be confirmed when pulling into the driveway. or a fast walk around the house. If I see there are bats living in the structure well that is what it is, they have bats. If a bat was flying around their head in the middle of the night and they have central ac then guess what, it means they are accessible or colonized. 500 bats living in a house or 1 bat that may get in once a year and the customer does not want it to happen again, is all the same work, find a holes, exclude and seal the house, when I do the job! I don't want to give out too much info to the customer on the holes and areas, Why? it is simple, I have learned from the few days LOL of doing bats, that my competition and homeowner himself, has use my in depth inspection, to aid in the price out and get a job or do the job himself based on me. I tell the customer just enough to let them know I know what I am doing and that I give a 5 year warranty.

We all do things the same but differently as Mike Page will always say.

Learn to see what is there and believe what you see! has helped me more than I can say. also I have found that most jobs if I see where someone has done a bat job before I get there. 2 years ago or 2 weeks ago, I will look for the I can't believe they are doing that type spots. The reason is the other exclusion job forced the bats to do things out of the norm. like ground level holes.

Now there is a quote to live by: LEARN TO SEE WHAT IS THERE AND BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE!

If I had a buck for every time I didn't heed Jonesie's timely quote, I'd be a wealthy customer instead of an employee!