What is up with the Bats in WV? (apartment, house)

[Workin remodeler]

Does ANYBODY know of a way to get rid of bats in the walls of a house? I have been told there isn't a house in WV that doesn't have them. Not only are they irritating but I am very worried about the health risks associated with them. Any help would be appreciated.

[AliceT]

The bats are likely to be concerned about the health risks of living so close to humans. My house does not have them but I have to wonder where you get your information. Bats eat half their weight in bugs every night. That amounts to about 3000 mosquitoes. They will bite people if they are frightened, so please, do not scare them. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.

Bats

Of the pest infestations you could have, bats are the least of your worries. I would much rather have bats than just about any other kind of critter living in, under or near my house.

[David Kennedy]

Having some experience with this issue, I'll add my 2 cents..IYDM,

1. Bats are an indicator of clean air...having bats mean we have clean air.
2. They raise only one offspring each year, so it takes many years to gain a great population of bats.
3. In the early days of Wv, hundreds of thousands took to the evening skies, now we see rather few.
4. They are dying of a rare disease called 'White Nose Syndrome.
5. They are an indicator of 'eco-system balance and are being killed in profusion with the wind power generators..as are birds. They are supposedly a small, insignificant price for this ineffectual energy source.
6. They must be removed from a house entotal, like a hive of bees, and removed to another area.
7. The problem they create is the manure droppings that could contain parasites.
6. I respect them for the job they do.
In the evenings, we will sit on the deck, our family of three bats will crawl out of the attic soffit and mow through the early night skies. I like to watch them. As long as I live here, they will have a home too.

You asked how to get rid of them. Killing them could get you some jail time as they are protected..

Wait until they have flown out for the night hunt.
Set up a frame to hold a fish-net or install a fish-net over the entry hole where they return. In the morning, the net will be filled with all the bats mature enough to fly. They will be crying to get to their offspring inside the dwelling.
With a gloved hand you can pick them from the fish net and put them into a bag or box.
Professional's have special equiptment for this work, and I think it's a good idea to use their services.
They should be transported about 50 miles from the location, as they will smell their colony and return.
Professional's have ways to protect them and return them to the enviornment, like adding them to cave populations and begining new colonies where they are greatly needed.

good luck

[Newtgirl]

If you really want to get rid of the bats (and I can't see why, for all the reasons listed! Bats are great!), Call a professional, and PLEASE wait until they've weaned their young. Bats have a hard enough time as it is without you causing their young to starve to death because you 'don't like them'. Few bats carry rabies, and this isn't even a concern if you just leave them alone. If you aren't harassing them or picking them up, they won't bite you. They aren't going to attack out of nowhere, and they won't nest in your hair while you sleep.

Unfortunately, I disagree with David on a point: White Nose Syndrome is no longer rare. It's affected hundreds of thousands of bats, causing the Forest Service to close every publicly accessed cave non-commercial in the eastern US to the public. Their hopes are that they can stem the spread of White Nose, which seems to not affect tree-nesting bats as much.

[Call me Tres]

I would give anything to have a few bats! My mom had one that used to roost in her garage each year. We called him Vlad. He was very small, his body wasn't much bigger than a plump mouse. Vlad liked his ladies large; one time he brought home a guest that was as big as a kitten!

Vlad wasn't very smart though. He slept in her garage at night and was gone during the day. Maybe he was a shift worker.

He came back for three or four years in a row!

[Workin remodeler]

OK, First thing...Thanks for the replys. Second, I don't plan on killing anything, I know that it is illegal to kill them and I wouldn't do that anyway. Thats why I asked for a way to "get rid of them" not "kill them". A few bats I can understand and recongnize their benefit but if your walls are "crawling" at night so much so that it awakes you with shreiks from the bats I believe anyone on here would be looking for a solution. As far as health risks, histoplasmosis is a very real health risk from bats in numbers such as these. I can just imagine 2 feet of guano (sp?) inbetween the walls of this house. Ewww! Please don't crucify me for asking a question, because I do appreciate the replys but can do without the drum beating. Thanks to all!

[Sharedspirit]

oh boy, we had this problem. The bats lived in the wall above our deck. There was so much guano it was pushing the siding off the house. The bats left on their own because it wasn't a good environment for them anymore. We had a professional come in and remove the wall upstairs, clean out the guano, and seal the wall back up. The bats moved up to our barn. That was about 6 years ago. We still have a few bats around the house but most of them are up at the barn now.

[pnc66]

Every so often, the local media talks about bats in the walls of a house or apartment building around here. They recommend calling a professional to do the job. From the Bat Conservation International Excluder Listings website, I found this listing for a bat handler professional WV.

I don't have them in my house, but I do have some close by. I've always liked watching them. Good luck with your bat population. I hope you can safely move them to a more suitable area.

Blessings,
pnc