Summer is known as bat season for wildlife control professionals servicing the Guelph area. It’s during this time, and in particular August, that bats are at their most active and most likely to find themselves inside the living spaces of houses.
Few homeowners like the idea of having to deal with bats flying around their living room. In almost all cases bats that get into your house belong to a colony living in the walls or attic. It’s rare for them to fly in an open door or window.
Most people don’t know a great deal about bats, much less how to remove them from their home. Internet searches bring back plenty of results and one of the most common suggestions is for homeowners to install a bat house on the property. The hope is that the bats will leave your home in favour of a bat house that is specially designed for them. But what are bat houses and do they really work?
Bat Houses
There are several reasons why people might choose to install a bat house on their property. A single bat can eat up to a 1000 mosquitoes in an hour and that can help homeowners enjoy their yards and gardens during summer. There also humanitarian reasons, as many species of bats have suffered a loss of habitat and bat houses are a way to help provide them with a secure place to live.
A bat house erected in an open space
Why do bat houses fail?
Attracting bats to your bat house can be difficult. Bats can be picky about where they decide to live and a poorly constructed or placed bat house is doomed to fail.
Here are the tops reasons why bat houses fail:
- Temperature. Bats desire stable temperatures and a bat house installed in a location without enough sunlight won’t warm up enough to make bats comfortable.
- Height. Bat houses need to be installed at a height in order to keep them safe from predators and allow them to reach flight more easily. Many homeowners install their bat houses too low to the ground to attract bats. Ideally they should be placed 15-30 feet in air.
- Poor Design. The size, shape and materials used to build the bat house can all contribute to their success. For instance, many bat houses lack a rough texture to allow bats to adhere themselves to the interior.
Can a bat house solve your bat problem?
The truth is that if you have a colony of bats living inside your walls or attic installing a bat house on your property isn’t going to persuade them to leave. It’s best to think of your house as a luxury bat box.
Bats aren’t going to abandon your temperature controlled and weather protected attic for a wooden box that doesn’t offer the same shelter and protection. It’s also important to note that bats like to live inside human houses because they are warm enough to allow them to hibernate there through harsh Ontario winters.
Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control
Removing and excluding a colony of bats from a house isn’t easy and takes some skill and knowledge of bat biology and behavior. Fortunately there are professional and humane bat removal services available to Guelph area residents.
Our process starts with a complete inspection of your home to identifying how the bats are getting in. Once we’ve determined their entry points one-way doors are installed to allow the bats to exit for food but prevent them from getting back inside.
Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control has been removing bats from houses in Guelph since 1989 and we offer a lifetime guarantee against re-entry.
If you’ve had bats in the house then book your inspection today! Call us at 1-888-592-0387
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