Getting bats out of your property is actually only half the battle. The hardest part of this journey will usually be working out how to keep the animals out afterwards. If you have used exclusion methods to get rid of them in the first place, you'll find that the sealing mission will be much easier. You can seal the smaller and lesser-used holes whilst focusing your exclusion efforts on the most popular ones.



If you have sealed up your building to the best of your ability, you will find that no wild animals will get in. That doesn't mean they won't hang around though. With critters such as rats or raccoons, we would instantly recommend removing any sources of food, but this is quite difficult with the bat — the animal eats insects and there isn't really a way that you can eradicate entire insect populations from your back yard. Nor would you want to do this.

You can put other plans in place, however. You can keep on top of property maintenance to make sure that the bats can't come back. They will if you don't, too — bats will return to the same roosting spot many years over if it is still available. Regular inspections will help, especially when you know that you might come under attack. Spring and summer are bad months for people trying to keep bats out (or get rid of them), as this will be when the mothers flock together in huge maternity colonies and give birth. If possible, inspect and repair/maintain your property as close to the end of winter as you can — before the bats have a chance to move in and start having pups.

Another clever trick that you could use if you wanted to help out the bat colony (and you have a big enough expanse of land) is to create a bat box. This is essentially just a home for bats which you can either build or make from wood, that you hope the bats will move into. You can't install a bat box too close to your actual building, of course; you're running the risk of bats finding another way inside. You also can't use a bat box if you run the risk of creating a bat problem for anyone else. One example of this would be when your garden backs onto another property. If you place the bat box at the end of your garden, it will be too close to the other property and will potentially cause problems. Legally, that property owner would be well within their rights to complain about you and get you to remove or move the box.

Repellents … You could waste your time on these, but you really will be wasting your time. No repellent or deterrent on the market has been shown to have any success with bats, and may even encourage them to set up roost in a place that you don't want them to, such as deeper in the attic that you're trying to evict them out of.

Go back to the Bat Removal home page or email us for more info about Property Modifications That Will Keep Bats Out