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4 Signs Bats Are Hibernating in Your Home This Winter
Admin • November 26, 2020
Winter is knocking on the door in Michigan, and that means animals of all shapes and sizes are looking for somewhere warm to hibernate. Bat species like the big and the little brown bat like to hibernate in the attics and walls of homes during freezing winters. If you notice one or all of the following signs, you could have a colony of hibernating bats in your home.
1. Fluttering Noises in Your Walls or Attic
In general, bats stay still as they hibernate, living off their own body fat reserves and expending as little energy as possible. But if temperatures fluctuate, as they sometimes do in Michigan during winter, bats will wake up and move around.
Sometimes, this happens if there is a sudden spike in temperature that wakes the bats up. You'll then usually hear bats fluttering around in your attic, looking for food. On the other hand, if temperatures drop sharply, then bats hibernating in an attic will often move into the walls, closer to the warmth of the house. You'll hear the bats fluttering and scuffling as they seek a warm place inside your walls.
2. Squeaking
Bats use echolocation to fly around in darkness, and their high-pitched calls range from 9 kHz to 200 kHz. This means that most of the time, humans can't hear bats squeak. But if bats awaken from their hibernation during winter due to temperature fluctuations, you may still be able to hear them communicate with each other as they squeak within their roost.
3. Piles of Droppings (Guano)
Bat droppings look like grains of rice, much like those of rats but smaller. If you enter an area where bats are hibernating in your home, you may see piles of bat droppings. This is usually how you can tell rat droppings from bat droppings. Bat droppings will pile up underneath the spot where bats are roosting whereas rats leave scattered droppings.
4. Brown Stains Around Exterior Entry Points
Unlike other animals, such as rats or possums, bats won't make their own entry point to gain access to your home. Instead, they'll search for an existing point of access, such as a crack in a wall or a hole in your roofing material.
If you see a crack or hole in your home's exterior and there are brown, oily stains around it, then this is likely to be the access point bats used to enter your home. These stains are a combination of body oils and other excretions such as urine and feces.
Can You Remove Bats From Your Home During Winter?
If you discover bats hibernating somewhere in your home during winter, you might be uncomfortable with their presence. But winter isn't a good time to remove bats from their hibernaculum. They won't survive the cold temperatures and the lack of food.
Don't worry. Hibernating bats are rarely active during winter so you are unlikely to encounter them.
The best thing to do is to contact a pest control service. They can then perform an inspection of your property to locate the bats and their entry points. Once the pest control service has finished the inspection, they can then set out their plan to remove the bats humanely when spring arrives. Once the bats have left your home, you can set about sealing up all possible entry points.
Have you discovered bats
in your home in Waterford, Michigan? Then you need the professional guidance and assistance of Anteater Pest Control Inc. We'll perform a free inspection to locate your bat problem and come up with an effective plan to remove them in a humane manner.
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Bats can be cute when you see them in nature, but inside your home, they are more than just a nuisance. Bats can carry deadly diseases, like rabies, which means that if you have a bat, you need to take steps immediately to solve the problem. Removal Options Removal is best left to a professional due to the risks involved. Single Bat A single bat may get into the house through an open window or the chimney. The good news is that this usually is a one-time event and you don't have an infestation. The best course of action is to remove pets and people from the room with the bat, open all of the windows in the room, and then close off the room so the bat can't get into the rest of the house. With luck, the bat will find a window and leave. If you must handle the bat, wear gloves and do not touch the bat directly. The safest option is to call in a pest service if the bat doesn't leave on its own. Roosting Colony Sometimes your home provides the perfect place for daytime roosting. Little-used attics are most at risk, but bats may also colonize crawlspaces, spaces in your walls, or outbuildings. You should not try to remove an entire colony of bats on your own. A pest professional that is aware of local and federal wildlife laws should be called in to trap and remove the bats. Prevention Tactics Once you are free of the bats, your next step is to ensure that they cannot return. Exclusion If a bat can't get into your home, you can't have a bat problem — which is why exclusion is your main goal. Your pest service will inspect your home and find the likely entry points that the bats are using. You can also watch your home during the twilight hours to find where the bats are emerging. Once you know the likely entry points and have had all bats removed from the house, you can seal up the openings so the bats can't regain access to your home. Alternative Dwellings If you live in an area with a high bat population or would simply like to keep these beneficial insect-eaters nearby, then providing alternative dwelling options can be just the ticket for diverting bats away from your home. You can buy or build simple bat boxes. These boxes are typically attached to trees or poles to provide a more attractive roosting space for the bats. Cleanup Safety Bats are not clean animals. If a bat has been roosting in your home, then you will have droppings (called guano) and urine to deal with. Guano Sanitation Bat guano can carry histoplasmosis, a fungal spore that can cause a chronic respiratory disease. If you must try to clean up on your own, you need to cover all of your skin, wear gloves and eye protection, and use a respirator mask. All debris must be cleaned up and all surfaces must be sanitized with a bleach solution. Professionals will also use a HEPA vacuum, which has a strong filter that ensures none of the possible fungal pathogens remain in the air. Dead Bat Removal Extreme caution is necessary if there are dead bats in your home. Conditions like rabies can still be transmitted from dead animals. Wear gloves and do not touch the bat directly if you attempt to remove it yourself. The area where the bat was found must also be completely sanitized with a bleach solution. For more assistance with a bat in the home, contact Anteater Pest Control, Inc.
Ticks carry a host of diseases. Educate yourself on the signs of tick-borne diseases and how to keep these pests out of your yard.