How do you get rid of bats?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Just had a bat flying back and forth around the workroom, pretty big, at least the size of a decent blue jay. Took 20 minutes with a big piece of cardboard to guide him out the window.

Have to figure out how he got in but anyone successfully get rid of bats?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Ask someone from Wuhan. Yum yum.

[ckcarr]

You can't.
Plus bats are mostly protected.
There is a "Billy The Exterminator" episode where he seals them out of an attic and they move on.

My front entryway is a bat haven. I get those tiny little brown or Western Pipistrelle bats. So much I can't use the front door at the height of summer... Or I could, but they're pretty fast and could zoom in. Instead I make a drink and watch them.

[Ziggythecat]

Surprising, the preferred method is to chase them towards a window, waving a big piece of cardboard.

[pavulon]

divorce them.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by ckcarr

You can't.
Plus bats are mostly protected.
There is a "Billy The Exterminator" episode where he seals them out of an attic and they move on.

Seasonally protected in Boston. 'Removal reason' started in September I think.

[blucille]

build a better bat house. Honestly, build them a house in a shady, dark area nearby. They are great for keeping the mosquito population down. We have some bat houses on the backside of one of the barns, its cool to see them flying around in the summer at dusk.

[ckelly78z]

I have always found that a well placed tennis racket swinging in the opposite direction of their flight has positive results.

[wdfifteen]

I built this bat house a few years ago, based on information on some bat expert web sites. It has 3 chambers (like 3 vertical "floors") and will hold 100 bats. Bats like it hot so put the bat house about 12 feet up on the east side of a building so it catches the morning sun. This does nothing to stop them from flying around wherever there are mosquitos, so it isn't going to help your problem unless they are nesting in the house.

[dad911]

I'll trade your bats for my squirrels.

Not sure you can trap them or exterminate. 1 loner is probably not a problem. Figure out how it got in, and plug the hole.

[legion]

Hire the Joker?

[Bugsinrugs]

I have bats that reside between my rain gutters and facia. They keep the insect population down and I appreciate that. Live and let live.

[Evans, Marv]

I've had them on my patio off & on. If I find droppiings, I go out with my "bat whacker" (an 8 ft. piece of thin wood) at night and disturb them. I don't try to hurt them, just disturb them so they'll fly off and not feel comfortable coming back to hang around. I have two overhead fans on my patio. I've seen them fly up into the fans (not working at the time) through the crack between the rotating hub & housing. I guess they try to roost inside. Once I found a really small bat. I thought it was a small species or something. So I started disturbing it with my "bat whacker", & it started screeching. A bigger bat came, landed beside it & covered it with one of its wings. The mother bat I assumed. I felt bat for bothering the little bat.

[stevej37]

I have fake shutters on the house made of plastic/vinyl.
They love to crawl up into the louvers and sleep during the day.

[911 Rod]

I've just started researching how to build a couple of bat houses so send them my way!

I think if there is a food source, your bats will keep "hanging" around.

I used to use a fishing net to catch them, although a tennis racket could be entertaining.

[island911]

Shaun, I know that you won't listen but I'll say it anyway; healthy bats do not find themselves in places like that, flying about confused... batty. You should at least talk to a State health official about rabies.

https://www.bphc.org/whatwedo/infectious-diseases/Infectious-Diseases-A-to-Z/Pages/Rabies-and-Bats.aspx

[BK911]

Bat houses are cheap.
I have several around my property.
Pretty cool aerial shows at night while sitting by the fire pit.
So like others have said, relocate don't remove.

[Bugsinrugs]

I’ll repeat a post from years ago. While rafting down the middle fork of the Salmon river a bat landed on my neck. I immediately brushed him off thinking WTF was that. He crawled under the ice chest where we left him . When I told my BIL physician he gasped and took me to the hospital for immediate rabies shots. Don’t mess with bats. If symptoms show it’s too late!

[Jolly Amaranto]

[stevej37]

^^^ Nice!....but another thing to mow around.