There’s an odor in your house. You hear squeaking sounds. You’re pretty sure you have bats in your attic, and you want them gone. Did you know there is a window when bat exclusions can safely and legally be performed? Viking Pest knows about humane bat removal in Pennsylvania and we’re here to help!
Identify the Pest in Your Attic
There are about 45 species of bats in the U.S., but only colonizing bat species live in attics. The two most common bats found in Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania are Little Brown and Big Brown Bats.
With the maternity season ending on August 15th now is a great time to rid your home of Bats.
When bats are present in your home, it’s usually the odor from the bat waste you’ll notice first. Each bat can leave 20 guano pellets a day. Bat waste doesn’t just smell bad; it also destroys wood and drywall and grows mold. If your unlucky enough to have a bat colony in your Pennsylvania home, you might even notice the noise they make.
Why have the bats moved in?
All the bats living in your attic are female. Male bats live outdoors in trees and other structures. A group of female bats is called a maternity colony. They’re using your attic as a safe place to give birth to and raise their babies, or pups. Females only give birth to one pup per year. Pups are unable to fly for several months. Mothers can carry them when they fly, but only until they are too big. Then the pups must remain in the roost while their mothers retrieve food for them. Most maternity colonies contain about 40 bats, plus their 40 babies.
Humane Bat Removal in Pennsylvania
Bat exclusion cannot legally be performed until after August 15; this ensures all young bats can leave. Bat exclusion involves installing one-way doors allowing bats to exit but not return. By mid-August most bat pups are flying and fending for themselves making one-way doors a humane way to exclude bats from a residence.
Protect Your Home During Bat Season:
- April is when all bats come out of hibernation. They’ll eat to restore fat lost during the winter. Male bats gather to form bachelor colonies. Breeding with female bats begins.
- May is when males return to their bachelor colonies, and females form maternity colonies. Bats often return to their previous bachelor and maternity colony locations.
- In June, females consume large quantities of insects to build up fat and energy in preparation for the birth and raising of their young. The gestation period is between 40 days and six months, depending on the species.
- By July, most baby bats are born. Mothers must keep them warm and provide milk. Nursing lasts about four weeks.
- By August, the pups have grown much larger and will start to fend for themselves. Maternity colonies begin to break apart.
- September through October is when bats begin to prepare for hibernation again. They consume large amounts of food and find places to roost for the winter.
- During November and December, bats settle into their roosting place and begin to hibernate.
How can Viking Pest help remove your bats?
The first step to humane bat removal in Pennsylvania is calling Viking Pest to schedule your inspection. We start by thoroughly inspecting the exterior of your home and provide a detail report of our findings.
If evidence of bats is found, they only need a gap of 3/8 of an inch to squeeze through; our professionals will devise a customized plan to safely and legally exclude bats from your home.
Possible steps of the inspection and exclusion process include:
- Examining the eaves, ridge caps, and fascia boards of your home, and looking for possible entry points like holes or gaps where the roof comes together.
- Checking for bat guano (droppings) around possible entry sites.
- Inspecting the attic for any signs of entry and guano.
- If the presence of bats is detected, our staff will install one-way doors, at access points, so bats cannot return after they leave.
- In time, the gaps will be sealed with mesh wire, and the one-way doors will be removed.
If you think you have bats due to a foul order, weird sounds, or simply seeing them enter and exit, call Viking Pest at 800-618-2847 to schedule a free estimate. We offer services catering towards humane bat removal in Pennsylvania. We will generate a custom plan to safely rid your home of bats.
