If you cannot capture the bat, call the bat control (humane, live, professional) facility and local medical authorities. Post-exposure treatment (Rabies shots) may be needed. If a bat was in a room with a sleeping person or infant, all precautions should be taken as bat bites are not always visible to the naked eye, and the person may have been bitten without your knowledge. Check with local medical authorities. The bat should be tested or held for confirmation of illness.



The bat control professional will make a careful inspection, ascertaining how the bats entered. Entry holes are often nearly as secluded as their nests. Gaps, as small as 5/8 inches, are large enough for bats to enter. These are often found near chimney flashing and under eaves. Also, rub marks are left behind by bats entering and exiting the building. The bat removal (exclusion, extermination) professional will carefully seal all entryways so that any remaining bats can still exit in order to feed, but when they try to return, they will not be able to get back in. A few weeks later, the temporary plugs will be replaced with permanent seals, guaranteeing the bats? exclusion from the building.

Apart from the danger of getting infested with Rabies, there are several more reasons why they should get bats out (house, building, school, warehouse, attic). Along with the risk of rabies, bat dung carries the spores for Histoplasmosis, a disease mainly affecting the lungs of people, especially those with immunity disorders, the elderly, and the very young.

Then, there are the bat mites. Often mistaken for bed bugs, they will make humans their new hosts. Insect exterminators, sometimes mistaking these for bed bugs, will treat a building, only to be called back time and again because the bugs were killed, but with the presence of bats, new ones took their place and the infestation began anew.

Third, even if bats do not chew on buildings, their dung and urine will accumulate over time, resulting in waste dripping through ceilings, ruining insulation, and soaking through sheet rock or particle board, eventually causing the interior of the structure to collapse.

The three hazards add up to one thing: property devaluation. Tenants will quickly move out of a building just knowing there are bugs, bats, or the odor of the bat urine and guano. Buyers will be unlikely to take a second look at a building stained with bat excreta, knowing that the bat guano clean up (histoplasmosis, danger, toxic, safe, disease) is expensive and time-consuming, as well as repairing the damage done.

Therefore, I'd say it's time calling the experts! An annual inspection can often pay for itself in the savings the property owner will realize simply from not having to have another exclusion process. The services of the pest control bats professional will be covered by a warranty. You may also, however, wish to have post-exclusion inspections made prior to the expiration of the warranty. At that time, the professional will let you know of any problem areas he sees, seal any additional holes encountered, and extend the warranty.

The damage caused by bats can be horrendous. But allowing the bats to continue to devalue the property is probably the worst decision an owner can make. He should take action as soon as bats are suspected, thus alleviating the problem and keeping the cost of remediation minimal.