Removing Live Bats From Your House

The picture here is what i call a "little brown friend". I believe he is actually considered a Small Brown Bat. Just about every year (and every season) we get these little critters in our living spaces. They finaggle their way in through holes and cracks and then go swooping about through the house. My entire family is afraid of bats with me being the only exception. It's my job to remove them. Hopefully I can offer you some advice and tips on how to safely remove a bat from your house. Bats in the house are a common problem for many people with older homes or who live with people who like to leave doors open at dusk.

To remove a single bat (or two) you may need the following:
-Leather work gloves
-Coffee can, bucket, or large sized plastic cup
-Sturdy flat piece of cardboard
-A coat with a hood if it makes you feel safer to wear one

Removing the bat with a cup:
(Wait for bat to land)
For this method you will need the gloves and cardboard as well as the larger sized plastic cup. This method is ideal if your bat has perched itself in a corner or tight area. Once you have located the bat and figured a way to reach it if it's up higher, you will need to ready yourself for it to see you and perhaps fly at you. Be prepared at all times to make a break for it. Most of the time bats have worked long and hard to get from your wall into your house and have pooped themselves out, so them flying at you is somewhat unlikely.

Take your cup in your favoured hand and quickly place it over the bat. You may hear him yelling and feel him moving about in the cup. Pay this no mind. If he hasn't detatched himself from the wall or whatever he's attatched to, take the cardboard and with great care (because broken toes hurt) push his feet away from the wall. He should pull them away by himself as soon as he feels the cardboard touch them. Now that you're sure he's in the cup, slide the cardboard between the cup opening and the wall. Be careful not to hurt the bat (it's illegal in most of the U.S. to kill them or even hurt them). Now that cardboard is over the opening in the cup, keeping both the cardboard and the cup together, pull away from the wall. Place a hand over the center of the cardboard so the bat can't knock it off and escape. Go outside, some distance from your house, with the bat. Set the cup and cardboard on the ground, gently knock the whole thing over with a foot (so that the cardboard is away from the opening in the cup and the cup is tipped over) and run like mad back to the house. The bat should leave the cup and go on its merry way.


Removal with a coffee can:
Same as with a cup, only a coffee can is better used in flat areas.


Removal with a bucket:
A bucket should be used only when the bat has lighted on an object attatched to the ceiling or the ceilin itself. Such things as circular lights that the bat has landed on or perhaps ceiling fan lights are good for bucket use. Again with cardboard, maneuver the bat into the bucket. You should keep the bucket covered, however bats are eluded by buckets. Meaning they can't figure out how to climb out and can't fly out because they can't climb the walls to gain height. So you're a little safer with a bucket if you wish not to keep cardboard over the top.

Opening a Door:
If you wish not to have contact with the bat, try opening a door that leads outside and closing all bedroom and kitchen doors so that it's confined to a smaller space. Eventually the flying bat will find the open door and leave.

Quick Bat Facts:
Bats can carry rabies but not all bats are rabid.
Bats do not want to be in your hair.
Bats dive-bomb to get you away from them, they do not want to touch you at all.
Some bats look like puppies while others are a bit more odd looking in the face. (the bat in the picture is one that looked like a puppy)
Bats can bite but have very tiny teeth therefore the bite is usually not horribly painful.
Bats are beneficial to the ecosystem. They eat their weight in bugs usually on a daily basis.
Bats have homing devices and may come back into your house's walls.
Bats are protected by many state and federal laws, some are endangered while others have the status of threatened or protected.
The majority of bats are not vampires. Vampire bats live in South and Central America and feed on the blood of cattle and pigs.
Some bats eat just fruit while others are insectavores, eating just bugs.
Flying during the day is unusual behaviour for an undisturbed bat. If you notice a bat flying during the day for 2 days or more, contact your local animal control. The bat may have rabies or some other serious illness.
Bat saliva can transmit rabies if the bat is rabid. If bitten, seek help immediately. Rabies is a horrible way to die.
-Most bats don't have rabies.
-Bat houses are a good way to keep bats out of your house and walls.
-The common bats of Michigan are:
-the Big Brown Bat (13 inch wingspan)-social
-the Small Brown Bat (10 inch wingspan)-social
-the Eastern Red Bat (12 inch wingspan)-solitary
-the Hoary Bat (15 inch wingspan)-solitary
-the Tri-Coloured Bat (9 inch wingspan)-social-Upper Peninsula
-the Silver Haired Bat (11 inch wingspan)-solitary-uncommon in Michigan
-the Indiana Bat-social-Endangered
-the Evening Bat-(10 inch wingspan)-social
-the Northern Long Eared Bat-(10 inch wingspan)-females social, males solitary
Social/Colonial bats like to live with other bats in a roosting area.
Solitary bats usually roost alone.
Most solitary bats don't enter homes.
The most common bats found in houses are the Big Brown Bat and the Small Brown Bat.
Social bats can form colonies in a house, usually preferring the attic for the roost.