Author Topic: Bat in the house (Read 14750 times)

LogicalBee · « **on:** January 05, 2015, 11:44:13 pm »

I’ve got a bat loose in the house! Flying around the living room and kitchen.... How do bee keepers deal with that?

Been doing a little renovation and took the ceiling out of a 2nd story bathroom the other day for new lights, vents, plumbing, etc. I suspect the bat was wintering in the cold attic and when it started to feel a little more heat (not much since it’s only 6F outside!) and some light it figured spring had sprung!

What to do?

Jen · « **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2015, 02:05:54 am »

Or, your work woke the bat from it hibernation. I have had that happen two times in our house. Please don't harm the bat. If the bat has landed, take a sheet or large beach towel and gently toss it over the bat, very very carefully try and gather the bat within the sheet. They are very delicate animals. If you can help it back it back in the attic that would be ideal. However, if the ceiling is still open, you can open up the sheet or towel in a shed, barn or out building, bat will go back to sleep.

Perry · « **Reply #2 on:** January 06, 2015, 06:19:15 am »

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bats-nearly-wiped-out-by-white-nose-syndrome-in-eastern-canada-1.2814088

If you can find some way, like Jen suggests.........
We have lost an estimated 98% of our bats up here in the last 2 years.
Losing bees gets press, the bats not so much.

LogicalBee · « **Reply #3 on:** January 06, 2015, 08:27:36 am »

My goal is to save the bat. Assuming I can catch it, the real problem I see is getting it to go back into hibernation. It’s going to be in the single digits here all week and I’m sure it will freeze to death if it gets scared and flies outside.

Wow, I never heard about this white nose fungus until just now. Just read an article on line too. I still see lots of bats here in Michigan, but this new fungus sounds ominous. I believe most of the bats I see are solitary bats.

Jen · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2015, 12:02:02 pm »

White Nose Syndrome ~ Definately an awful plight for the bats, and we so needs the bats, they are one of our most important pollinators. It's estimated that WNS will arrive in California in about 2 years

It has been said, but I don't have proof, that the bats have compromised immune systems due to commercial and back yard pesticides, hense weekening their immune systems. So much the same story of our bees and butterflies.

http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=4389

So how goes it with your bat LogicalBee? is it still inside your house?

riverbee · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2015, 10:03:15 pm »

bats......how old is the house?

what species of bat is it?..............there's probably more than one and more than you realize........

a bat in the house? whack it hard with a broom. kill it dead. or get a small garbage can, bucket, etc, a piece of cardboard, something stiff......when it lands on a wall, flop the garbage can or container over it. slip the cardboard or whatever you have trapped it in. go outside, shake it out onto the ground, and whack it dead.

harsh....yes........bats are good in general, but they are not so good roosting in your house somewhere year after year and raising young............

LogicalBee · « **Reply #6 on:** January 06, 2015, 10:58:41 pm »

I was kind of dreaming about the Batman movies last night (Dark Knight Trilogy).

If Bruce Wayne didn’t kill the bat in his house, I’m not going to either. If I see it again, I will catch it in a net, or blanket, and relocate it to the attic (for now). I’ll deal with any holes in the attic when it’s warmer than 8F outside!

Bats are very common in my area of Michigan and quite often live in peoples attics since this is mostly farmland where I live. I’m not up on my bat ID, so I’m not sure what kind of bat it was. I’ll look at some images on google and see if I recognize it.

"What IS that sound" Commissioner Gordan

Jen · « **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2015, 12:16:01 am »

Nice Logic! Thanks for being nice to 'Bat'. I have a bat house that I found in a junk shop in town. I looked up bat houses and it was said that my bat house may not be a good one... for whatever reason. Maybe I could take some pics of it and you can tell me if it's worth hanging up for our neighborhood bats? We have the Little Brown Bat here in upper northern Calif.

riverbee · « **Reply #8 on:** January 07, 2015, 03:18:15 pm »

we have 8 species of bats, and three of those 8 species migrate south, the rest hibernate......in the walls, in the attic, in your siding, eaves, outbuildings, the woods, rock crevices, etc. those that migrate, come right back to the place they roosted and raised their young, and so the young do as well. for generations. and so do the bats that hibernate. once they are established you will find it very difficult to keep them from coming back to find a way into your home, cuz they will.

our farmhouse was built in 1902. when we bought the place it had a bat problem, still does to a certain extent. if you have one bat, you have a colony somewhere. we sat outside one night, and from one corner of the house counted well over a hundred bats flying out in that one corner and from the roof......with guano piled on the siding, and there was a smell in one room on the 2nd floor on one wall.......urine. when the roofers came to replace the roof, it was a total tear off. the farmer that built the house used oak planking (not plywood) and there were more layers of shingles on top than should have been. rotting shingles and large gaps in the planking. i watched as they started the tear off, and literally hundreds of bats took flight every time an area was disturbed. the smell was rank. the roofers took photographs of what they found up there. generations of dead bats, urine stains and literally piles of guano, and near the chimney about 4 feet high. 4 foot pile of guano.

cha ching, project # 2. evict the bats
cha ching, project # 3. all of the insulation had to be removed, the entire attic sanitized and reinsulated.
cha ching, poject # 4. insulation? asbestos. and empty bags bearing the name of WR GRACE on them laying around on the floor of the attic. not good. very expensive removal.

very expensive roof.
so what we did was, the roofer sealed every nook and cranny, and cut and capped the chimney off. we had bat removal experts seal up the house, every nook and cranny and place traps. traps: they can get out, but can't get back in. the insulation had to be dealt with by guys in masks and white suits, not to mention all the hoo-hah we had to go through.

to make a long story short. we still have bat problems, it's farmland and it's a farmhouse. me? i'd relocate one bat outdoors and let it freeze to death. i don't want it or it's offspring returning to roost/hibernate in my home........

LogicalBee · « **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2015, 04:54:26 pm »

Ouch, I didn’t like to hear all those cha chings!

Asbestos in the attic insulation? Good Lord is there anything they didn’t build with asbestos in the good ole days! Was that vermiculite/Zonolite insulation? My attic insulation is black from coal dust and dirt over the decades, but I think it used to be blown fiberglass. I’ve got to investigate that a bit more.

I’ve been in the attic and I think I would have seen (or smelled) a large colony of bats, but who knows, it is dark. Didn’t see any guano. I have heard of other folks in this area having a bunch of bats in their attic and the guano buildup you spoke of.

Looks like I’m mistaken about the social behavior of these bats, evidently they aren’t really solitary; unless they’re males maybe? Anyways, thanks the for bat education and the wise advice to do something to prevent that cha ching sound! Since the bats are not a real problem for me (yet), I’m going to live and let live and address any attic holes when it warms up in the spring. Thanks again for the info.

riverbee · « **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2015, 05:13:42 pm »

vermiculite logical......

most species of bats are not solitary. my guess is that it found it's way into the main living area of your house from the attic, it's warm up there ya know........

ps. your welcome!

Perry · « **Reply #11 on:** January 07, 2015, 05:26:47 pm »

Minor off-topic, but if you find vermiculite insulation, have it tested before removing it. Not all of it contained asbestos.

iddee · « **Reply #12 on:** January 07, 2015, 05:30:50 pm »

I had one bat sleeping in my basement in the summer. "migratory" Before it got too acclimated, I put a bat house on a pole in the yard and closed it's entrance to the house. I haven't seen one in the house for about 3 years.

riverbee · « **Reply #13 on:** January 07, 2015, 05:44:07 pm »

"Minor off-topic, but if you find vermiculite insulation, have it tested before removing it. Not all of it contained asbestos."

perry, i mentioned WR GRACE, you are probably not familiar with this company and Libby or Troy, Montana. the long and the short of it, when i saw the Grace bags. i knew then and there we had trouble. and yes, it was tested. cha ching.

W.R. Grace - Trust Fund, Products & Lawsuits

iddee, we had too many bats to put up bat houses.........the bats had already found a house...........

LogicalBee · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2015, 09:44:49 pm »

I would imagine that an attic full of WR Grace vermiculite insulation might make those old 9”x9” floor tiles seem pretty innocuous! How would you ever get all that stuff out of there without dropping the ceilings and sweeping every square inch of the entire house to a shine. I've never met anybody in my area with the vermiculite insulation, but I'm sure it's around. Any luck getting any compensation form the WR Grace trust fund for the cleanup?

We’re still in the deep freeze here, but as soon as it warms up to a balmy 28F or so, I’m going to poke my head into the attic again and make sure there’s not a boat load of bats up there.

Jen · « **Reply #15 on:** January 08, 2015, 12:30:53 am »

Hey Logic, I'de be curious to know more of this bat story

And if it were me dealing with a boat load of bats, I think I would contact Fish and Game and ask how they would proceed getting the bats out and relocated.

riverbee · « **Reply #16 on:** January 08, 2015, 12:14:06 pm »

jen, my guess would be any fish and game department is going to tell you or anyone else to hire a professional bat remover.... lol, a bat man/err woman, or maybe give some advice on how to keep a few of them out. the structure has to be sealed up/caulked/repaired, etc, and one way traps or screens put in place. bats can exit from these screens, but they cannot get back in through the screen, but what a bat does is search for another way in, and it is amazing how small of a nook/cranny they can squeeze through to get back in, or take up residence in the siding and behind eaves, trim, shutters, etc... relocation? if the sealing is successful, bats relocate themselves, find somewhere else to go, but i think it's illegal to trap them and relocate them a distance away, and even if one did, they would find their way back to your house. i relocate them when one finds it's way in.......they go to the 'bat promised land'.

logic the vermiculite.........the abatement crew that cleaned this up. amazing equipment they use. everything is sealed off. they use special vacs with filters and air pressure machines/scrubbers.

ps i really hope you don't have a bat problem.....

Jen · « **Reply #17 on:** January 08, 2015, 12:29:38 pm »

That's what I was thinking Riv, bat removers. My friend Sam, the wildlife biologist is pro-bat, that is he prefers them in the caves and out is the woods. I could ask him what he would do if bats have inundated an attic. I'm curious

riverbee · « **Reply #18 on:** January 08, 2015, 01:17:21 pm »

jen, what we had was an infestation, coupled with many other factors, the condition of the roof, and the vermiculite really just added to the complicated nature of everything. it was also a health hazard/risk, bats included. we purchased the property for the 80 acres and the river. when we realized what the cost would involve, if it had not been for the mortgage on the house, it would have been better and cost effective to level the place and start over, but we couldn't. i wouldn't wish this on anyone. if one thinks that a bat eviction happens overnight, it doesn't. it takes time. we are still dealing with it, but that's because the previous owner ignored the condition of the home, and it had been ignored. she was the 2nd wife of the original owner. sealing and caulking and moving traps around or putting new ones up, and repairs. they just keep coming back.

Jen · « **Reply #19 on:** January 08, 2015, 01:32:06 pm »

Creepy story Riv, so sorry you are having to deal with that. And, I know you have run the gamot on trying to remedy the sitch. Just cause I want to know, I'll email Sam and ask.