Getting rid of bats....

Why would you want to? If they are outside, no problem. However, sometimes bats will appear inside homes, which many people find scary or creepy. . Many of these bats found inside the house are young bats that accidentally come in through an open window or door or an unscreened fireplace, and wind up inside . If bats take up residence in your home, you may have a bigger problem on your hands than noise and bat poop.Large numbers of bats living on walls, attics and other living spaces can be both a general nuisance and a possible health risk. Accumulating guano (bat droppings) can damage building materials and become very smelly.. The urea in bat guano has also been known to destroy paint, even the kinds used on vehicles.

Common Signs You Have Bats in your Belfry (or attic)...

• Scratching in the ceiling and walls at night.
• Chirping in the attic.
• You've caught a bat in the house.
• Commonly see bats flying around outside.
• At dusk or dawn, you see bats enter your home.
• Dirt marks on the louvers of your gable vent.
• Droppings on your porch or around the house.

 Invading bats often cause structural damage and leave behind droppings that slowly corrode wood and other building materials so you really don't want them in buildings you live in. Exposure to bat guano can also pose a serious health risk to you and your family if ignored. You might have considered calling a professional pest removal service, which can be a good idea if you’re faced with a severe infestation, but there are actually a few simple steps you can take to evict winged intruders from your property and make sure they don’t come back

Histoplasmosis is an airborne disease caused by a fungal organism that has been found in bat guano. Histoplasmosis primarly affects a person’s lungs, and its symptoms vary greatly. Chronic lung disease due to histoplasmosis resembles tuberculosis and can worsen over time. Special anti-fungal medications are needed to treat this disease. Occular histoplasmosis is another condition that affects the vision. Without proper treatment this can lead to impaired vision and sometimes even blindness.

First determine the species of bat you are dealing with. Different species require a different approaches.  Read up on "your" bat and find out what he likes and doesn't like...

• Locate the entry point in your home. In the evening about dusk, watch to see if you can catch the bats leaving.

• Carefully remove the entire colony of bats using traps or repellents. (more dangerous than just carefully evicting them through other means). 
  
  
• Completely seal up their entry point after they leave for the evening.

• Clean up the guano droppings. You've hear that bats can be dangerous because they carry rabies. But a lesser known danger, is Histoplasmosis - a disease you can get from exposure to bat guano (bat droppings).
  
  
• Create a disturbance - they don't like light and commotion.  Leave the light on in the attic, or invest in a white noise machine. 
  
  
• It’s against the law to exterminate bats in areas where they are an endangered species, which means you’ll have to find a non-lethal way to get rid of them
  
  
• Hanging strips of aluminum foil from the ceiling can create a series of obstacles that will disorient and repel bat's ecolocation.
  
  
• Put up a bat house, give them somewhere to go when you flush them out so they won't come back.
  
  
• Install a one-way exclusion device at suspected entry points with a one-way valve or tube. Invading bats will be free to exit a space but won’t be able to get back in. This way, bats will simply leave on their own.  This exclusion process should not be conducted when the young are flightless (usually this is June and July in Northern Michigan); doing this would result in starving the young and potential odor problems. In some instances the bats in northern Michigan will leave these roosts, sometime in the fall, permitting exclusion during their winter absence.
  
  
• Repellents and ultrasonic devices are not effective in deterring bat colonization. It's been documented that poisons are ineffective as well, and pose possible health hazards to people. There is no pesticide labeled for use on bats, therefore it is illegal to use pesticides on bats.

Should I worry about bites?

However, because their teeth are so small, most bites do not appear as bites at all. Bat teeth can scratch exposed skin or they can puncture the skin, but the bite resembles the appearance of a pin prick if it is visible at all. Bats bite only if they are sick, threatened or trapped, such as in a shirt. Be very careful and use heavy gloves if you are trapping or handling bats you catch in your home. This is why trapping is not always the best solution.

Rabies is the most important health risk associated with bats. You will usually know if you have been bitten by a bat. However, bats have very small teeth and may leave marks that are not easily identifiable. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) advises that you seek medical advice if you awaken and find a bat in your room, or in the room of an unattended child, or if you see a bat near an intoxicated or mentally impaired person.

If you are bitten by a bat, or bodily fluids from a bat gets into your mouth, eyes, nose, or a wound, wash the affected area thoroughly with soap and water and get medical attention immediately. If possible the bat should be captured and sent to a laboratory for rabies testing. The good news is that less than 1% of the bat population is rabid. The bad news is that 5% of the bats that have been tested in the state of Michigan have tested positive for rabies.