Does a dense swarm of mosquitos get you really excited? Well, then you must not be a bat! Bats are furry little mammals with wings, living all over the great state of Georgia. There are about 16 different species of bats in our state. Three of these species are considered endangered. However, the two most common bat species that typically cause issues with humans are the Big Brown Bat and the Little Brown Bat. Normally, the issues are due to the bats finding a nice place to live… inside your house! As much as we like bats and need them in our ecosystem to control the bugs, we don’t like to share our living quarters with them.
Why not share a room with our bat friends? Well, there are a few reasons right off of the top of my head. Aside from bats creating quite a bad smell from the accumulation of their droppings (guano), they also can be responsible for the spread of disease.
Bats are carriers of rabies and should be treated/handled with extreme caution. Not all bats have rabies, but we should treat them as if they do. Infected bats are not known to show aggression towards humans and often show no signs of being sick. Many times, rabies is spread through a bite from a bat that becomes sick with rabies and simply crash lands into someone’s yard. A child or a curious pet may be the recipient of an infectious bite in a scenario such as this. If any human contact with a bat occurs, one should follow post-rabies exposure protocol and seek medical help as needed. More information about rabies can be found through the Georgia Department of Public Health and the Georgia Poison Control Center, which is available 24/7 at 800-282-5846.
Another notable disease that bats indirectly cause is Histoplasmosis. Histoplasmosis is caused by the inhalation of fungal spores growing in the bat’s guano. Histoplasmosis presents as a flu-like illness and can be potentially fatal in humans. Guano typically accumulates under roost sites where bats spend most of their time. Serious precautions should be taken when working around bat roosts for this reason. If you find yourself around roost sites, try not to disturb the guano.
How do you know if bats are living in your home? Many times, people will call saying that they are hearing noises in their attics around dawn and dusk. These are the times when bats are the most active and when they do most of their feeding. One good tactic for confirming bat presence is standing outside your home around these times and watching for bat activity. Bats will also leave a brown greasy residue around points of entry that will sometimes clue us in to where they are getting into your home. Common entry points include gable vents, ridge vents, holes in the soffit or fascia boards, loose siding, etc.
How do we fix your problem without harming the bat population? Bats can live over thirty years, and female bats only have one or two young per year. Therefore, bats have very fragile populations and need our help keeping them out there eating mosquitos! The good news is that our team of bat experts will come in, assess the situation, and devise a plan. Our goal is to harmlessly exclude the bats with one-way exits so they cannot get back into your home. However, before we exclude them from their main point of entry, we have to make sure that your home is bat-proof or they will simply fly to the next weakness in the construction, and we have to start over. Once we inspect and your home is deemed “bat-proof,” we will install our devices, rehome the bats, and seal the final entry point. At this point, we begin the cleanup phase of the job. We use respirators, filtered vacuum systems, disinfectants, deodorizers, etc., thus effectively removing anything and everything that is potentially hazardous from your home.
Whether it be a single bat that flew into your home, or a maternity colony of two thousand bats living in your attic or barn, we can help you solve the problem! The experts with Jason’s Wildlife Removal are individually licensed through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources as Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators. Professionals like us are trained to safely and humanely remove the wildlife and leave your home better than ever. Every job is different, so call us today and we can come up with a plan for you!
