eliminating ants, flies and other household pests

When you think of pests invading your home, you likely think of cockroaches, mice, or even ants. However, bats are a home invader you may not even recognize because they are only active at night. The following article offers some insight to help you recognize a bat problem in your attic and how to control them to protect your home.

Recognize Bat Infestation Signs

You may have bats living in your attic but you may not recognize the signs of an infestation. First, you may have been hearing noises in your ceiling or walls but thought it was from birds or mice. However, bats have similar movements as mice, such as scratching, chewing, and squeaking. And bats don't always hang from the rafters in your attic. If they find a way into the walls of your home interior, they will crawl into the space to nest.

Bats also like to burrow into small spaces, especially if it gets cooler outside and they are trying to get warm. And this is one area they can do some damage to your insulation and the wood beams of your home's structure. Bat droppings will drop onto the rafters of your attic and they damage the wood and weaken its structure. Guano also builds up and because it contains moisture it can cause mold growth and create a bad odor inside your home that smells like ammonia.

Safely Remove Them

Bats are a protected animal and so it is illegal for you to trap and kill them in any way. The best option to safely remove them is to contact a pest control company to get them out of your attic and prevent their returning. However, you can use some DIY methods that are safe and will prevent the bats from returning to your attic, which is the key to keep them out.

Keep in mind that during the first few months of spring and summer you may not be able to remove the bats because this is when the female bats have and keep their pups until they can fly on their own. Until then, neither the mother nor the baby bats will leave your attic on their own.

However, once the bats begin leaving your attic at night for hunting insects, you can install an exclusion door on the entry point into your attic. This door will allow them to fly out of the attic but prevent them from returning. It is at this point you will need to permanently seal up any entryway and clean out your attic of bat droppings, hair, and other remains. Be sure you seal up all openings, which includes any opening as tiny as the width of a pencil, as bats can squeeze through the tiniest openings.

For more information regarding attic bat control, contact a pest control company.