Ground Rules for Bat Control

Depending on where you live, bats can either be a rare and magnificent sighting, or a nuisance animal problem. In areas where over-development has increased, bats have been forced out of their natural habitats, placing them in locations closer to municipal and suburban communities. This causes a problem among property owners because bats can do quite the damage, both inside and out. For this reason, many homeowners have been compelled to learn the ways of bat control.

But keep in mind that trapping and killing bats is never the humane or effective solution for a bat problem. Instead, you must rid the problem at its source using safe and humane intervention. If you are a new property owner and your home or building is located near wooded areas, you might want to prepare yourself for some bat sightings and potential issues. But if you are a property owner that has spotted bats around your property, it is important to make certain changes if you want to prevent potential bat infestations and costly structural damages. Continue reading to learn the basics of bat control, and how to protect your property from bats.

Signs of Bat Activity

There are distinctive signs you will see around your home or property that indicate recent bat activity. For instance, it is common to see bat droppings on window sills or ledges. You can tell bat guano from other animal droppings because it is more segmented and full of insect parts. Other signs include loose or fallen roof shingles, concentrated yellow or brown stains on walls and ceilings, strange squeaking or clicking noises at night, foul lingering odors, and brown or black stains around small openings. When bats come in and out of their roost, the oils on their dark fur rub against the surface, which can stain the edges of the opening black or brown.

Outdoor Maintenance

Bats are very small, so they can fit into the tiniest crevice or gap in the exterior of your home or structure. Often times, bats will use interior areas like attics and crawl spaces to build their roosts and breed their young. And they access these areas through miniature openings in the exterior of the home, some as small as 1/4th inch wide. Siding, roof shingles, soffits, gutters, and more are common entry points for bats. You must have your home or building professionally inspected for possible entry ways, and then have any vulnerable areas sealed. This preventative maintenance will save you a lot of time, money, and frustration down the road.

Once you are sure the exterior of your home is structurally-sound, you can continue addressing the additional outdoor maintenance needs for bat control. Start by removing anything that attracts bats to your property. This includes birdbaths, bird houses, standing water, compost piles, wood stacks, leaves, trash, dead animals, and anything else that attracts mosquitoes and insects.

From there, you can install sound machines and motion-sensored lighting to scare bats off when they approach too close. These strategies will help control the bat colonies living near you. It is important to contact a bat control company for help dealing with bat issues. They can remove bats from interior areas of your property, repair their damages, and prevent their return. Choose a licensed and experienced company for safe and humane bat removal and control services.

Louisville Bat Removal Services

Call 502-553-7622 when you need prompt and professional bat removal and control in Louisville, Kentucky. Our highly-trained and DNR licensed wildlife contractors provide a wide range of residential and commercial bat removal services at the most competitive prices in town. We also offer emergency 24 hour bat removal, back cleanup, minor attic restorations for bat damages, and more. Call 502-553-7622 to request a free estimate for Louisville bat removal service, today.

A Bat that Roosts Inside Leaves!

There are countless bat species that are fun and interesting to learn about. But there is one particular species of bat that has earned themselves a reputation for being unique. That is because they live inside leaves of trees and plants!

These bats are call Spix’s Disc-Winged bats, and have many unique attributes that set them apart from other species throughout the world. Continue reading to learn more about this fascinating bat!

Spix’s Disc-Winged Bat

Scientifically named, Thyroptera tricolor, Spix’s Disc-Winged bat is a remarkable Microchiroptera species that was first discovered in 1823 by German biologist, Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix. And one of its most defining characteristics are the disk-like anatomical features on their thumbs and hind feet. Hence the name, “Spix’s Disc-Winged” bat. The discs on their thumbs and hind feet are supported by an internal cartilaginous plate and work like suction cups, allowing them to grip tightly and easily move across smooth surfaces.

Their color of their top coats range in tone, from reddish browns to incandescent blacks, while their underbellies are usually a pale white or yellow color. They are very small bats, weighing an average of 4 grams and growing no longer than 37 millimeters. Regardless of its small size, they are agile flyers and can navigate quite well, but never fly higher than 3 to 5 meters off the ground. Instead, they fly shallow, looking for suitable roosting locations.

And do you know where Spix’s Disc-Winged roost?

Spix’s Disc-Winged bats are mostly native to Neotropical regions of the world, like South America. But since the species is so widespread, it is recognized as a “least concern” on the bat conversation list. However, their population density largely depends on how abundant a region’s forests and lands are with plants and trees. This is because the Spix’s Disc-Winged bat roosts inside curled up leaves (furled leaves)! And without adequate roosting locations, the Spix’s Disc-Winged bat populations cannot reproduce in large quantities.

Yes, you heard right: Spix’s Disc-Winged bat roosts inside furled leaves! They use their concave suctioning disks to cling inside a leaf, head-up. This behavior is unlike most bat species that hang head-down in their roosts. Just another interesting fact about Spix’s Disc-Winged bats! They usually roost up to 5 bats per leaf, all in head-up formation. And every night they hunt, they look for new roosting locations. What’s even more interesting is that, despite their nomadic lifestyle, they live together for years.

Louisville Bat Removal Services

Call 502-553-7622 for prompt and professional bat removal and control in Louisville, Kentucky. We offer a wide range of non-lethal, safe bat removal services, as well as, bat proofing, preventative maintenance, bat cleanup, and even minor attic and crawl space restorations for bat damages. Whether residential or commercial, our DNR licensed wildlife control contractors are fully-equipped to manage any size animal removal need. Call 502-553-7622 for Louisville Bat Removal you can trust.

Bats in the Basements are a Real Problem!

Specific signs can indicate that a home has a bat infestation somewhere on its property. Signs such as foul odors coming from the attic, strange clicking or chattering sounds at night, fallen roof shingles, and more are common indications that bats are present. No matter where bats are on or in a property, it is vital to get them out fast! Bat’s, although magnificent and beneficial mammals, fall under the nuisance wildlife category and can cause large amounts of structural damage to a home, as well as, jeopardize our health and the health of our beloved pets. Bats in the attic can simply mean a few loners have found a space to get warm, but if you have bats in basement, this is a big problem because it most likely means infestation. Continue reading to learn about the damages bats can inflict on our homes, and how to get rid of bats in the basement as fast as possible.

Remove Bats in the Basement

Bats, the only mammal capable of true flight, prefer higher elevations when it comes to roosting. This is why we commonly think about bats hanging from tree limbs or cave ceilings. For us, this means they typically enter houses at a high point, like the roof, chimney, or attic; however, if they have made their way to the basement of a home, the outlook is not good. This is because bats in the basement often means they have made the journey from the top of the home, all the way down to the bottom, likely occupying the walls and everything in between along the way. More structural damages occur this way. And damages leads to costly repairs.

A frequent mistake made by frustrated and frightened homeowners is sealing off the basement. For obvious reasons, this will only keep bats in, and does nothing to remove and prevent bat infestations from entering from above as they did before. A professional bat removal company can provide safe, humane, and effective bat exclusion services, as well as, bat-proofing strategies and more. Experienced wildlife removal contractors will even offer minor attic, drywall, insulation, and other bat damage restorations for residential properties.

Bat Removal Louisville Kentucky

Call 502-553-7622 for professional bat removal and control in Louisville, Kentucky. We are DNR licensed bat exclusionists with decades of experience in the wildlife control industry. Our bat control technicians offer bat removal, bat cleanup, bat prevention, inspections, minor attic restorations, and much more for both residential and commercial properties. Call 502-553-7622 for safe and humane bat removal services in Louisville, KY you can trust.

A Newly Discovered Technique Bats Use to Navigate in the Dark!

A new study recently revealed that microbats use more than echolocation to navigate around at night. No more is sonar the only navigational resource used by bats! Just to review, echolocation is a type of sonar system that microbats use to map their surroundings in the dark. Although not blind, microbats have small visual centers that inhibit their vision capabilities. By emitting small sounds and listening for the return echo, bats can make a mental grid of their surroundings, and better hunt for prey. The only megabat known to also use sonar is the Egyptian Fruit Bat. All other megabats retain a large visual center that allows them to see well at night.

Microbat Navigation

Now back to the topic at hand! The newly discovered ability in bats involves polarized light! That’s right; microbats apparently use patterns of polarized sky light to navigate their way around. They can actually calibrate their internal magnetic compasses by using the pattern of scattered sunlight in the atmosphere! This is a truly remarkable gift! You see, depending on the position of the sun during the day, polarization patterns and directional sunlight vary.

What we don’t know is how microbats detect polarized sunlight. I guess that answer will come later after more research and studies! One interesting fact is that bees also use this type of navigational resource, and other insects as well. Bats truly are fascinating and wonderful creatures that are a vital part of our Eco-system; however, when they trespass onto our properties, they can make quite the mess and cause quite the disturbance. When this happens, be sure to call a licensed Louisville Bat Removal contractor for safe and humane bat exclusion services and assistance. Bats should never be trapped, harmed, or killed.

Louisville Bat Removal

Call Louisville Bat Removal at 502-553-7622 if you have a bat infestation problem. We are DNR licensed bat exclusion specialists with decades of experience in the bat removal and control industry. We offer emergency services, free estimates, DIY advice, and a wide range of bat control services. Call 502-553-7622 for licensed bat removal services in Louisville, KY and its nearby counties.

Fascinating Facts about Bats

Bats have acquired a distasteful reputation over time.  Horror movies, stories, and harsh stereotypes can be to blame for the misconceptions of what is actually a fascinating creature in our Eco-system.  Many believe bats to be rabies-infested monsters that attack peoples’ hair and scratch their faces.  The truth is far from this common stereotype.  The following facts provide evidence that bats are interesting animals that deserve much more credit than they are given.

Bats are the only mammal that can fly.  Yes, bats are warm-blooded mammals and they are the only ones that can truly fly.  Their wings are similar to a human hand, and create flight through swift maneuvering and stretchy membranes between their elongated fingers.  Their colonies are beautifully coordinated during flight and can create amazing patterns in the air.  It is a truly breathtaking sight.

A bat can consume more than one thousand insects per hour!  This makes them a huge contributor to insect relief at camp sites, backyards, and parks.  By eating so many insects, bats are actually helping to maintain a certain balance within our Eco-system.

Bats use echolocation to see in the dark.  Bats are thought to be blind, but they can see just fine during the day; but they do not live during the day, they are nocturnal and are active at night.  In the dark, bats use this echolocation to send sound waves off solid objects that basically paint a picture of what the landscape around them looks like.  It is a built in GPS system!

Bats make up more than 20% of the mammal species.  Due to the fact that there are 900 species of bats, mathematically, it’s no surprise they make up nearly a quarter of the entire mammal population.  Bats are categorized into orders, classes, suborders, genera, and then species.

For more information on bats, contact a professional that works with them every day!  You can call our Louisville Bat Control Specialists at 502-553-7622 for all bat related services.  We provide bat information, bat removal, prevention, DIY advice, free estimates, and more.  Visit our Louisville Kentucky Bat Control website to get started!