How To Remove Bats From Your Home in Houston

Bats are common in Houston due to its warm climate and insect population. While they help control bugs, having bats roosting in or near your home can pose health risks. Here’s how to remove bats in Houston area.

Signs of Bats in Your Houston House

Look and listen for these signs that bats have made themselves at home in your Houston property:

  • Bat droppings around attics, porches, windows, and entry points. Their dark, pellet-like poop often accumulates in piles.
  • Sounds of flapping, scratching, chittering, or squeaking at night as bats emerge to feed.
  • Rub marks, grease stains, urine stains, or scratch marks from claws around openings where bats squeeze through.
  • Strange musky odor from bat urine and scent glands.
  • Bats themselves flying around at dusk or roosting while sleeping during the day. They often hide in attics, eaves, shutters, or weep holes.
  • Presence of live or dead bats in the home, especially attics or basements. They may fall inside and be unable to escape.

Dangers of Bats

While most Texas bats don’t attack people, there are still risks involved when they roost in your Houston home:

  • Accumulation of bat urine and droppings promotes growth of molds, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites indoors. Some can cause respiratory diseases.
  • Bats can carry rabies as well as histoplasmosis, an infection that can lead to lung disease and flu-like illness in people.
  • Bats infestations can lead to costly repairs and damage to your home's structure, insulation, siding, shutters, and wiring. Their urine and waste corrodes materials.

For these reasons, bat removal in Houston homes is recommended to reduce health hazards and property issues. Never handle bats directly or let children play near them.


Humane Bat Removal Techniques

It’s usually best to hire a professional Houston bat control company for large colonies. However, you can try these DIY methods for small bat populations:

Identify and seal entry points. Caulk, seal, screen, or fill openings in attics, eaves, vents, chimneys, and gaps around pipes and wires. This keeps new bats from getting in.

Install one-way exclusion devices. These tubular gadgets let bats leave through a slit that prevents re-entry. Place over main exits at night when bats leave to feed.

Use repellents and deterrents. Light, noise, fans, ammonia-soaked rags, predator odors, sticky substances, and prickly plants placed around entry points may convince bats to leave. However, this works best on small colonies.

Remove roosts and block re-entry. After ensuring all bats have left, remove any nests or covered areas they are using as habitat. Then permanently seal up all possible access holes.

Convert attics and buildings into hostile environments. Adding bright lights, fans, and repellent smells helps make old roost sites unappealing to bats so they don’t return.

Build new homes for bats. Installing bat houses in the backyard gives them an alternative, bat-friendly place to nest other than your house.

Call wildlife professionals. For big colonies, professional bat removal experts employ humane tactics while also addressing issues like guano clean-up, attic disinfection, and damage repairs.


Prevent Bats From Returning

After removing bats, it’s important to bat-proof your home’s exterior to avoid continual issues each season. Recommended prevention measures include:

  • Seal up any openings wider than 1⁄4 inch with caulk, foam, wood, steel wool, hardware cloth, or other materials. Large gaps may need aerosol expanding foam fillers.
  • Cover vents and chimneys with commercial vent caps and chimney covers to keep bats out when not in use.
  • Repair loose roof shingles, flashing issues, and damaged soffits that allow bat entry.
  • Install durable, tight-fitting screens made of 1⁄8-1⁄4 inch hardware cloth over large areas like gable vents.
  • Keep attic insulation in place as bats can hide within when gaining access.
  • Ensure doors, windows, and weep holes have well-fitted screens.
  • Monitor your home at dusk to look and listen for signs of returning bats. Re-seal any newfound entryways.
  • Consider professional exterior treatments that create long-lasting barriers to re-entry on your home.

Staying alert and properly excluding bats will keep them from roosting long-term in your Houston property. Call on professional bat control companies whenever infestations become severe or difficult to manage yourself.

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