Dayton's Best Bat Removal

How Did a Bat Get in My House?

Having a warm, protected space is a comfort in any home. Bats want to enjoy those same comforts that we do. That can make attic spaces look like a great place to roost for the flying mammals. They have slightly different criteria when it comes to how to use the space, though, especially when compared to humans.

Their Home Needs

Bats start by looking for places that are high, around 30 to 40 feet from the ground. Bats can fit into small gaps and cracks in many areas around the house, including roof shingles, siding panels, joints under eaves, broken windows, chimneys, and more.

Because the majority of the species found in urban settings are smaller bats, it can be years before the odor from their droppings is even noticed. They tend to be very quiet at the roost, as well, making it even harder to notice during the day.

Repeated Home Invasion

Often, having a bat flying around your main living spaces could simply be an accident made by a young bat hunting an insect. If it happens repeatedly, that can mean that they are roosting nearby.

During the maternity season of bats, which usually occurs in early summer, their babies are born. Pups have no fur and cannot fly. When their mothers go out to hunt, they may go exploring during that time and get lost. Rarely will one fly through an open window when hunting. It might be a local colony that is not necessarily in your home specifically.

Hibernate or Migrate

Of all the species in the United States, there are only a handful of larger bats that hibernate in the same places they roost in the summertime. Those colonies are often smaller than the little brown bats. The smaller bats migrate from north to the south during the change to colder weather. They often spend some time in less temperate regions in a shorter hibernation. It is during this hibernation in southern regions that white-nose syndrome began to appear.

White Nose Syndrome

This fungus can be found in caves and mines. It attaches to the bat's nose and wings, waking it from hibernation early. The transition from hibernating to being awake takes up a lot of energy and often it depletes the store of fat that the bat needed to hibernate with. This means the bats often starve and die because there are simply not enough sources of food for them to survive if woken up too early. The syndrome caused millions of bats to die across North America since its discovery.

Roosting – What Bats Prefer

When it comes to roosting in the newest habitats, such as human buildings and homes, there is absolutely no discrepancy between new versus old homes. As long as the bats feel protected and the temperature does not fluctuate too much, they will seek out ways to get into the attic and walls. Generally, bats do not want to be in your living room. There is no food available, it is not dark enough, and the space is too open for any good protection. They are only in your living spaces when they lose their way from the roost.

Why They Get Lost

One theory on how they get lost is that sometimes bats follow air currents from known entrances to exit by. Instinct makes this a habit for them. As the weather warms up outside, we turn on our air conditioners inside. The cooler air currents can vent into the attic from various holes below that can confuse young bats into thinking the exits are in a different spot this time around. That can lead to them finding you on your couch or under the covers in your bed.

Where They Choose

The main spaces to find bats in your home are the attic and walls. Because of the way we build our homes, they can exit into your living space by crawling through walls. Temperature changes can cause them to search further into the wall structures for the right comfort level to sleep. Air ducts and piping can lead bats anywhere in your home because we leave space for them to move between the drywall and two-by-four studs. When a sudden temperature swing occurs, it can send the bats crawling through the walls. That is why it is most common to find bats in the basement during these periods of crazy weather patterns.