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Bats are winged creatures found in caves, houses, and woodlands. They emerge at night to scavenge insects and fruits.
Every day, bats consume up to half their body weight in food! What happens, however, if you have bats in your house?
Bat infestation is a difficult problem to solve. Where the bats are roosting, you may notice droppings or stained surfaces. Bats can also contain diseases such as rabies and histoplasmosis, making people sick if they are bitten by one!
As a result, it’s critical to understand their anatomy, what attracts them to your home, and how to get rid of them before they cause any damage to your home.
Bats Anatomy
Bat feet are specialized to help them grip and climb surfaces. Their foot structure includes a unique reverse trisect, allowing the bat’s feet to stick to different surfaces such as rough bark or smooth rock.
Most bats do not use echolocation during flight because their eyesight is so good that it can guide navigation and find prey. Bats’ exceptional vision reveals how vital the eye is in hunting for game and navigating obstacles while flying at night, without needing sonar technology like other animals such as dolphins or whales.
Bat ears have modified versions of ear bones typically found in terrestrial mammals; this indicates an evolutionary link between land-living creatures and those adapted for flight within the air.
Bats can navigate through their environment using echolocation, which helps them find prey. The advantage of being nocturnal is that fewer predators can hunt at night for bats as a food source.
Bat wings have evolved over millions of years into what they look like today with help from natural selection, through the process known as speciation by adaptation since small changes in wing size or shape were helpful for survival purposes.
How Do Bats Access Your Home?
Most bats that access our homes are colonies of mums looking for a comfortable place to mate, give birth and raise their pups.
The attic or barn comes in handy for these bats to mate, give birth and raise their offspring for months.
However, during winter, the rare little brown bats will migrate and hibernate. But the big brown bats are stubborn and can prove to be an issue to your home.
Bats have a unique body structure, making it easier for them to enter your home through small gaps (⅜ inches). Any tiny cracks in frames, ceilings, siding, or walls are ideal for them to enter your home.
The first step is to understand the origin of the problem and the best practices for preventing bats from accessing your house. Here is everything you need to know to help you navigate bat problems in your home.
Vents
Vents are one of the familiar guide places that allow bats to enter your house. Besides, it’s easy for small mammals like bats to identify the vents because they’re more spacious than gaps and cracks.
Bats find vents conducive since they have an abundance of edible insects, warmth, and protection for themselves and their pups. These features make vents a perfect environment for their existence.
Vents pose a critical and challenging problem since they lead bats to most rooms in your house. This makes it dangerous and complex to identify and get rid of the problem. However, it’s easy to prevent bats from creating a habitat in your home with vent covers.
Gaps and Cracks Between Your Walls or Bricks
Besides holes and cracks in the ceiling, cracks or gaps on your external walls makes it easier for bats to infiltrate your house. If you have poorly insulated rooms, you should address it before bats camp in your house.
Also, poorly protected attics, garages, and barns with direct access to the exterior of your house make it possible for animals or insects to enter your house.
Bats find these places warm and comfortable as your entire room despite them not having screening. Ensure cracks and gaps in your walls or tiles are fixed internally to prevent bats from accessing these places.
Chimneys
With increased urbanization, bats have to find safe ways to adapt to new environments. So they will always hunt for warm, protected, and accessible areas to take up residence.
Therefore, unlike cracks, chimneys present a better place for bats to reside in your home because of the abundance of insects and spiders.
Chimneys can be a conducive place for bats colonies, but other bats will use them as a front door for them to enter other comfortable rooms in your house.
You can prevent this migration with chimney caps to prevent unwanted animals from accessing your house without interfering with airflow.
How to Get Rid of Bats from Your House
If approached carefully during the day while they are sleeping, it is possible to catch bats with a net and release them back into the wild. However, you should never attempt this at night as they will be more active and could become aggressive if woken up abruptly.
Suppose the bat has found its way inside through an open window or door. In that case, you can scare it away by opening another door or window for it to exit from – do not try to touch or make direct contact with the animal as this might result in injury.
Furthermore, ensure that all doors or windows remain closed until all visible signs of bat infestation have been removed; otherwise, there may still be some lurking around which could re-enter your property overnight.
Clean all the bat droppings on surfaces such as floors because they pose a serious health risk if left untreated. The droppings resemble coarse sawdust and contain uric acid, which causes them to become solidified.
This material is toxic and it is essential for anyone who comes into contact with bat droppings or any porous items contaminated by these drops, such as curtains or soft furnishings, to seek medical advice on possible treatments.
Finally, bats love hanging around in attics where food may be easily accessible. But this provides an ideal environment for pests like cockroaches that carry parasites harmful to humans.
So, it is proper to remove the creatures from your house through humane means which will also help you avoid contracting intestinal worms, among other diseases.
Conclusion
Although there are documented benefits to having bats in your home, they can be bothersome to humans.
Allowing bats inside your home can be dangerous, even if their presence does not disturb you. Your house’s sanitary standards are critical for your children, family, and pets, which bats cannot provide.
This page discusses the anatomy of bats, how bats gain entry to your home and tried-and-true methods for removing bats from your home. Being able to keep bats out of your house will provide you and your family with a safe and sanitary atmosphere.
Please share this post with your friends and leave a comment if you have any further information regarding bats’ body parts and their anatomy.
