Bats in my Belfry!

[cheeptrick]

Ok...this morning I went up in my attic to caulk around the chimney of our 5 years young house because we noticed the top block on the chimney was settling in a not so good way causing the mortar to push out...which is common I'm told...which is why I was caulking. We had put up mouse traps because we heard little scratching at night in the walls....put some in the attic just in case where we found a small amount of mouse droppings. Never caught anything. Well, this evening I went to check on the drying caulk and what did I find on the mouse trap BUT A BAT! He was still alive! I was so sad...I had caulked the poor fella in! DH tried to peel him off the sticky mouse trap and put him in a tree...my dd went to check and he was gone! Hope he made it!
I used that spray foam all around the base of the house and tried to secure every hole
I put a radio up there and left the light on for the night to drive out any others that may be hiding! Did you know they can squeeze in like mice?
Now I keep seeing bats everywhere! NOT to mention guano around my chimney where they were coming in...got to get out the vacuum and face masks! Wish me luck!

 

[rooster-red]

Bats can be beneficial, you might think about buying or making some bat houses and putting them up around your yard, they might not go back in your house if they have more hospitable housing close by.

 

[cheeptrick]

I was just looking up bat box designs!
24 chickens, bat boxes...I'm not going to have an insect in sight!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Call you county extension office. They can tell you how to keep them out of the house. Try not to seal up all the hole until they all leave. You can put up bird netting. They can slide out under it but can't be back in.

 

[psimek]

One little bat can eat 1000 insects an hour.
When you get your bat house, make sure it has some kind of mesh on the main board beneath the entrance. This way they call climb up into the house. Paint the house black. Do not put it in a tree. Put it up at least 15' high, facing south. They like the heat. After you get the house up, wait until night to caulk up the attic again. You can even attach the bat house to the side of your house. It's fun to watch them leave at night, and feeding them is free!
The Organization for Bat Conservation has designed and more importantly, tested the bat houses they sell. They have a lot of information on their website.
You are so lucky!

 

[peepkeeper]

I had bats last year. Yes, they're good to have, but not in the house. Where there's one there's more. Call an experienced bat guy in to trap and remove them (they put up a box that the bats fly into and then can't fly back out of, then relocate them. The bats aren't hurt). I would not attempt this yourself due to the health risks. This is for the experts.