Bat House Forum

[EME]

Hello - I've never joined a forum before, but after having a (sort of) unexpected guest last night, I've been shaken up and searching for info on bats all day.  This sight had a lot of "bat knowledge" on it, so I'm hoping to pick the brain of some experts.   Sorry if this post is way too long, but I want to get as much info "out there" as possible before I asked questions.

I live in North East Ohio (approx. 5 miles from Lake Erie) in a house that is 80 - 90 years old.  I've been living there for approximately 5 years. 

The first year I lived there, the house was under construction; open windows & cracks galore.  We had several bats make their way inside that spring/summer.  While it was petrifying for me, it wasn't a shock; it seemed the area was "bat prone" (I'd lived in another house on that same street and encountered an indoor bat; also the neighbor behind us has had run ins) and we left numerous "gateways" for them.  We searched and tried to fill in every crack we could find.

The second year, in February, we were watching TV and a bat flies through the room.  It appeared to have come from the basement, but we had a wall exposed for a minor project, and thought maybe it was hibernating in our attic and we woke it up or something.  We (ok, by we, I mean my husband - I stand "guard" ready to run at any moment) checked the attic.  There were no signs of bat droppings.  The screens were fully intact.  Spring came; we searched and tried to fill more cracks and crevices, put screens on the chimney, sat outside at dusk to see if anything took flight from our house.  Which lead to the third year.....

Year three.  That spring/summer we had 2 bats.  The first one was discovered atop a window.  We have extremely high windows in our living room, and when my husband investigated, it looked as though the screen had a small gap in it.   My husband assumed this is how the bat got in and the window has been shut ever since .  Just a day (or two, I don't recall) later, another bat was discovered hanging in a bunch of plants we have.  These plants are very high up in an alcove; my husband assumed it got in the same way the other one did (wishful thinking more than anything).  For good measure, windows in the alcove were shut (and have remained so since

I believed bats were nested in our walls or the attic and made their way inside via somewhere in the basement.  At this point, I had enough and contacted a pest control guy; he was completely rude and had no qualms about telling us he'd charge us a fortune.  He was such a jerk, we canceled the appointment.  We did the usual; checked the attic, searched for cracks and crevices, sat outside at dusk.  We had no more visitors that year.

Year 4.  One bat found by the dryer.  Deceased.  Husband did crack/crevice search and, found a previously undiscovered crack/crevace.   No further bats.  Thought problem was finally solved.

Year 5.  Last night.  Cats begin to act squirrley and I heard what sounded like a cricket - not the chatter I was all too familiar with.  Assumed the cats were hunting a cricket and didn't think anymore of it.  Ten minutes later, a bat comes flying through the living room.  HOW!!!!!  WHERE!!!!!!!!  WHAT THE HECK!!!!!!!!! 

So here are a few questions:

1. Will bats nest in basements?  The deceased one was down there, and several others appear to be coming from that direction (or try to head back in that direction).

2. Is it possible bats are nesting in our trees and getting in through our chimney or water heater vent? The Pest guy said no way, but my husband put screens on the water heater vent anyway.  He put the screen on year three; the only bat we had after was the deceased bat.  The gas company made us remove the screen last September, but after last night's occurance it's back on.  Not sure if this is a coincidence????

3. What could we be possibly over looking????????

Any guidance, experiences, thoughts, suggestions, ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated.  

 

[KC]

I've been having the same problem ever since I moved in to this house a little over a year ago.  I haven't been able to find out how they're getting in to my basement.  Until tonight that is.  I heard something rattling against metal and finally tracked it to a heating duct outlet in the kitchen.  The bat was clinging to the heating duct just below the grating which it, evidently, couldn't get around.  The bats, apparently, are getting in through the furnace air intake or exhaust (they're a pair, the exhaust above and the intake below.  Somehow, most of them find their way in to the basement but this one took a  wrong turn and couldn't find its way out.  I had to take off an entire section of the duct to get the bat outside.  My question is, is this a common way for bats to get in?  Do they really crawl in to the furnace exhaust pipe so close to the ground like that?  I'd better get started with a bat house since they seem to need a place to live.

[Terry Lobdell]

Bats explore more this time of year, especially the pups. They end up in places they should not be and can't find their way out. Here is a link to instructions on how to safely and humanely exclude them from your home. Thank you for your interest.......and remember........bats are to insect control what honey bees are to pollination..........

http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=51

[EME]

I wonder the same thing too - do they crawl, or enter into low areas like basements?  I guess I've always thought they stay up high.

And is it "normal" to get a random bat in your house once a year?  Unless there is some strange place in the basement they are nesting (not sure if they even do that), I do not think they are in our walls or attic.  We never hear scratching, my husband has checked the roof and screens, etc. and our attic shows no signs of droppings. 

[EME]

Thank you.  I'll definately check out the article.  Plan A in all of our bat adventures has been to open a door and wait it out.   That's what's currently happening with the last one; he's in our basement.  After he flew through the living room, he headed back to the basement.  Since we have a door that leads outside from the top of the basement stairs, we opened the door and waited for quite a long time.  He didn't reappear, so last night we did the same thing.  He never came out.  It was raining though, so I don't know if that's why he didn't reappear.  We'll try again tonight.

I've come to accept the bats outside my home, but I just can't handle them inside.  Maybe I stumbled on this sight for a reason - to give the critters a bat house, and maybe they'll stay out of my house

[KC]

Most of the bats that have gotten in to my house were freed in to the night.  Usually, they manage to fly out of the basement in to the house where I just open the door wide and wait for them to find their way out.  The one in the duct may have been there for two or three days; he was pretty weak and couldn't get out which is why I had to remove the section of duct and carry him outside.  He was gone twenty minutes later so I presume that he recovered.  They don't scare me and I know they're important, I just think that getting in to my house is a waste of their time and if they keep getting in through the furnace, sooner or later, one of them will fry, literally, and I want to prevent that from happening.

[Joe Spencer]

Nursery colonies females and young do not roost in basements during the active feeding season.  Warmer temperatures are required to raise young as quickly as possible.  Male bats especially big browns will roost in cooler areas such as basements (and also hibernate there).  Bats can indeed enter areas/buildings at lower exterior levels.  I think your current approach and advice within this thread is sound.  Older homes are obviously far more likely to have bats.  I went to inspect a nursery colony in western Mass. a few years ago and found a siding crack entrance/exit immediately based on guano stuck to the siding.  Bats often defacate near the entrance/exit prior to returning to roost.  The crack was only 1/2" which was easily enough room for even a big brown bat to squeeze through.  With only 1 1/2 feet of ground clearance to leap and obtain flight, I observed 100+ bats emerge and all of them negotiated this height easily.  Here are a couple other options

Infrared Thermal Imaging;  to determine home energy loss cracks crevices etc. where bats my enter.  Best utilized on cooler nights.  MORE Expensive

Less expensive but still viable are these:

http://www.amazon.com/Raytek-MT6-MiniTemp-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B000O80B5M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1219935278&sr=1-1

 

 

 

[EME]

Thank you so much for the info.  As of last night, we still haven't found the bat.  We've had our basement shut off so it wouldn't get in the house, but if it possibly got in through an entry point in the basement, it may have gotten out as well.  I hope so, for his safety and my sanity!!!

[KC]

My solution to my specific problem was to buy a small sheet (3' by 5') of 19 gauge 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth.  I used a wire cutter to cut a section that fit in to the furnace exhaust opening.  It's heavy enough wire mesh that I doubt that bats can chew through it with those sharp little teeth of theirs. 

[Dianna]

Hi EME
Your story is a lot like mine, but we haven't had that many get in and we know ours come down the chimney. Last week, one of the cats found a bat in the fireplace. I did a quick search of the web for help on how to get it out. The site was WikiHow and it was very helpful.

I've read that if they are coming in your house, they must not have enough appropriate housing available to them. Maybe you should put up a bat house, but make sure it's in the proper location. I guess they are choosy.

Remember, even though they are a little scary, they are really wonderful and beneficial creatures who usually do their own thing and we aren't even aware of them. I like anything that eats bugs!

Best of luck!