How to Bat Proof Your House

The memory is burned into my mind; My husband and I were lying in bed at about 11:00 PM when we began hearing a scratching sound in the floorboards above us. At first I was ready to ignore the sound, hoping it was the house "settling," but soon I could not deny that there was something crawling around in the floor of the attic. My husband bravely went upstairs to see what he could find. When he went upstairs, the sound immediately stopped, but after he came back to our room and we were quiet for a few more minutes, the sound resumed. I hoped that we were only hearing a mouse, but I knew that what we were probably facing was a bat problem.

The next day my fears were confirmed when my mom bravely took a tour through our attic and discovered "bat droppings." She said that she didn't think we had them very bad, but that they were definitely up there. I was completely overwhelmed at the idea that there were bats flying around our house at night and immediately got to work seeing what we had to do to get rid of them. Because our budget was very tight at the time, calling in a professional was not an option. Here is what I learned and how my husband and I got rid of them:

1. Find out where they are coming in. Bats enter dwellings such as houses, barns or abandoned buildings at daybreak to sleep until the dusk to come. They generally hang upside-down while they roost, but they are also known to squeeze into cracks in floor boards or ceilings, or even hang behind pictures or curtains. Until you find where they are entering your house, you may not be able to get rid of them. Bats usually find a place to roost at the beginning of the year (late May) and continue there until migration (September), even giving birth to one or two babies in their seasonal "home." And yes, they will return to the same roosting place every spring.