Bat-less Belfry Desired

September 7, 2012 12:36 PM

I would like to politely encourage a bat to leave my premises. Talk to me about bat-doors!

Scratching and scraping noises on one bedroom wall of the house has led us to believe there might be something in there. An inspection by a company skilled in such things ruled out rodents such as mice and rats (I told them this would be the case before they got there. The cats would not permit it. It was an insult to their honor.)

What they did find was a small, quarter sized hole where the roof slopes down to meet the gutters. They think a bat might be able to fit through it, or a small flying squirrel, but not a grey squirrel. From there, I imagine, it has burrowed deep into the wall, and set itself up a cozy little bachelor pad with soft furniture made from insulation and a live feed from my cable tv.

They have proposed putting in a one way bat-door that would allow the critter to depart, but not allow it to re-enter. Then, after a couple of weeks of no noise, they would remove the door and seal up the hole, plus any other suspicious spots on the house. For this task, they have quoted me $800.

I have a perfectly good contractor who will charge me a whole lot less than $800 to seal any holes I ask him to take care of. What I do not have are one-way bat-doors, or knowledge on how to install them.

I have googled about, and the words bat exclusion device have brought up plastic tubes and netting and whatnot, priced anywhere from $20 to $150.

Has anyone out there dealt with this, and have recommendations as to devices to purchase, and companies to purchase them from? Are they difficult to install, and is this really something I need to pay $800 to have handled, or is it a fairly simply thing to rig up a nice, non-lethal exit that will let us all live in peace with our helpful killer of mosquitos?

posted by instead of three wishes to home & garden (9 answers total)

It cost us about $600 three years ago to get one-way squirrel doors done by a highly recommended local pest control person. We are pretty DIY folks but we didn't want to fuck with it ourselves.

Since bats are protected in most North American jurisdictions, the consequences of fucking this up are potentially more serious than fucking up a squirrel door.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:42 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

If it is a bat, perhaps an ultrasonic bat repeller? If it's a squirrel, that's tougher - maybe a cruelty-free trap? Unless your insulation is made of Cheetos, it WILL need to get in/out in search of food eventually. Warning: get it out sooner rather than later. You do not, do not, DO NOT!!! want it to die in there. Cleaning a liquefied squirrel out of our attic was the worst household task my boyfriend has ever had to perform.
posted by julthumbscrew at 12:44 PM on September 7, 2012

Wait till dark after the bat should have left....bang on the walls to be sure and scare him off....crawl up there yourself and stuff the hole with steel wool. $2.
posted by pearlybob at 12:47 PM on September 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Bats rarely live alone, fwiw.
posted by fshgrl at 1:43 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

You could contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (www.fws.gov) if you live in the US; they have actually a pretty good social media presence for White Nose Syndrome in bats alone, so they should have resources online or someone you could tweet at to see if there's a recommended solution.
posted by jetlagaddict at 2:13 PM on September 7, 2012

It looks like something simple like this could work.
posted by defreckled at 2:33 PM on September 7, 2012

Hello! I have a bat on my patio who's very unassuming and sweet and noms so many mosquitoes that I'm finally having a nearly mosquito-bite-free summer and start of autumn. When I contacted our local bat protection society, they said that in case my cats endangered her too much, the easiest way to safely discourage Miss Pipistrelle's presence was to leave out citronella essential oil. Bats can't stand the strong smell of it, apparently.

So you could try citronella oil.
posted by fraula at 4:25 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I moved an entire colony of bats out of my collapsing rented Maryland farmhouse by a) installing a bat house down at the end of the yard and b) turning two boomboxes onto classic rock radio very loud, pressing the speakers up against the wall the bats were inhabiting and then leaving for the weekend. Nothing can withstand the power of classic rock! When I came home, no bats. I think they were living in the bat house, since we still had evening bats flying around and less mosquitoes than anyone, but I didn't actually check. The bats never came back to live in the wall, which was what I was after. I would have plugged the holes they were using but I was informed by my landlord's handy person that this was impossible, as there were too many holes.
This was years ago but ever since I have treasured the image of that house as containing an infinite number of holes: aka definitely enough to fill the Albert Hall.
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:36 PM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

We handled it ourselves. Looks like it was birds (from the nests we found) so we did a lot of banging and shaking and making sure no one was present before sealing up the cracks.

Thanks all!
posted by instead of three wishes at 8:10 AM on October 11, 2012