Bats in my house.

On 3 occasions I have had flying around in the house. The first two times I figured that the entry was through a window that was open 6" and the screen was out or a door got left open by the kids. But a week or so back I came home to find another bat flying around the house.
A room we use for storage door was open on the 3rd bat. That room has an opening into the attic from a roof leak back when it was a rental. I fixed the leak but not the internal ceiling due to time.

I took a towel flipped it and caught all 3 bats and released them outside.

I know nothing about bats. What do I look for and watch out for? The last one appeared pretty mad making noise and seemed to be biting at everything in its reach.

I prefer to wait till they land then I often reach up and cover them with a empty Cool Whip or butter tub to contain them THEN slide a pc of cardboard along the wall to trap the bat in the tub and take outside and release.
If flying I use a long handled crabbing net modified with smaller mesh. Same with small birds.

Wise ADC guys get rabies pre-exposure shots for bout $400 so ya only need a $200 booster instead of the entire $6000 series.

To get rid of the bats, you must find where they are entering and exiting and duct tape or staple a piece of tarp or sheet over the hole allowing material to hang about 2 feet below the opening.
Then you find the droppings below where they have been roosting and clean it up. If it is on insulation just roll the insulation up and put it in trash bag. If you have to scrape any off of wood, you must wear a good double filter mask because breathing the dust will give you histoplasmosis. Lay clean newspaper where the old poop was, and see if any reappears in the next few days. If not then you know your exclusion has been successful and you can seal up the entrance Then lay down fresh insulation.
On gable vents I always use half inch hardware cloth

Providence Farm
Contact the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/). They maintain a listing of state permitted Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators (https://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-Licensed_Nuisance_Wild_Animal_Control_Op.pdf) That list may not be current, Contact DNR for updated list.

I should have also mentioned here in North Carolina we cannot do evictions between Memorial Day and Labor Day or else young pups can get trapped

Some good advice was given to the original poster.

I’d add that if you are hoping to either exclude the bats yourself or live with the occasional bat showing up.

Keep a few things in mind in relation to your initial post.

1) the bat is going to see you as a predator. In their world you are plenty big enough to kill and eat them. Not all bats vocalize but it’s really depends on the chase, capture, moment it happens etc and species. Some species go off like a car alarm even if being held very softly in a fleece or other material.

Often this vocalizing and biting is stated as “aggressive” when in reality again they are prey animals for everything from snakes, owls, raccoon, cats, hawks, etc...

Anyone who has ever grabbed a “helpless” little squirrel can affirm when something thinks it’s about to be eaten, they’ll do what they can to stop that.

To that end, always use a barrier. Container mentioned above is a good one or shoe box without big holes in it.

2) be careful if you decide to try to remedy the home to keep them out.

Too many folks go outside and try to fix the house, often waiting till they see some fly out and when no more come they seal the hole and find there are still bats present who are now left with only your interior to go into as they can’t go out.

We tell folks who want to DIY to please stay inside your home, look for the holes and gaps and crevices like you are winterizing for hot air loss. Do not go outside without reading some guidance documents about exclusion.
Proven management practices involve finding entry points, adding proper one ways to allow the bats to exit, giving the bats 10-14 days to exit of decent weather before removing vents and sealing.

But that’s the simple post version.

It can go wrong and be worse than if you did nothing.

This year I’ve had folks within 20 min of leaving a voicemail get on a ladder and start blowing foam into holes during the day. This of course ends poorly for both bat and human.

When done right, good for bats and humans.

When done wrong, bad for both usually.

There are lots of guidance documents from state extension, BCI has a good page on exclusion and federal agencies have an updated acceptable management practices as well on the white nose syndrome website under resources tab.

Any of those will get you further down the road positively than not.

But if you have a serious issue with a fairly decent colony and can hire it out, check the list LA posted.

👍

Justin