Bats flying into houses can be an alarming event, leaving homeowners wondering if this flying intruder brings good fortune or potential danger. Let’s analyze what it means when bats enter living spaces, whether it’s good or bad, and tips for humanely removing them.
If you’re short on time, the quick answer is: While bats play an important role in ecosystems, having them live in your home can pose some risks like exposure to diseases. So it’s best to exclude them humanely. Read on for more details!
What Does a Bat in the House Symbolize?
Omens and Superstitions
Finding a bat in your house can mean different things depending on the culture and beliefs. Here are some common omens and superstitions associated with bats indoors:
- In Chinese culture, a bat in the house is considered lucky, symbolizing good fortune and prosperity to come.
- In Western superstitions, a bat in the house can mean death or illness is coming, as bats are associated with darkness, vampires, and supernatural danger.
- Native American traditions consider the bat to be a sacred animal representing vision, illusion, initiation, and dreams.
- In Central American folklore, a bat in the house may signify the presence of spirits, and is a call to be more attentive to messages from the other side.
- In Aztec mythology, bats symbolize communication between worlds, as they belong to both the night and day.
So whether a bat in the home is seen as a good or bad omen depends greatly on one’s cultural lens. But symbols are open to interpretation – no need to panic if a bat finds its way inside. Take it as an opportunity to examine your inner landscape.
Practical Impacts of Bats Indoors
Beyond omens and mythology, there are some tangible effects of having bats enter a home:
- Potential health hazards – While most North American bats don’t carry rabies, bats should never be handled. Their droppings can carry histoplasmosis spores that can cause lung infections.
- Destruction – Bats can chew through wood shingles, rolled roofing, rubber tiles, and other building materials. Their feces and urine may also stain walls or ceilings.
- Contamination – Bat droppings and urine can create an offensive odor in a home. Guano piles up in attics or walls, attracting insects and growth of fungus.
- Noise – Bats make audible squeaking sounds that may keep homeowners awake at night, especially during their most active feeding times.
- Loss of house value – Bats decrease real estate value. Their presence must be disclosed, and repairs may be required for sale. Few buyers want a bat-infested property.
To prevent long-term roosting, bats should be safely evicted. Exclusion techniques involve sealing off all possible entrances from the exterior. For severe infestations, specialized bat removal services may be required.
With dedication and the right methods, a house can go back to being a bat-free zone.
Dangers and Downsides of Indoor Bats
Having a bat fly into your home may seem frightening, but harmless. Unfortunately, indoor bats pose serious health, safety, and property risks. Learning about these downsides can help you respond appropriately if you spot one.
Disease Transmission Risks
Bats are known carriers of rabies, histoplasmosis, SARS, and other dangerous diseases transmissible to humans. According to the CDC, about 6% of bats tested positive for rabies in recent years. Bats also spread histoplasmosis through dried guano that can cause lung infections when inhaled.
An indoor bat raises disease concerns because you may be unaware if you or a family member suffered a bite or scratch while sleeping. Rabies can be fatal if postexposure treatment is delayed, so contact your doctor about shots after any confirmed or possible physical bat contact.
Guano and Damage Concerns
Bats produce large amounts of acidic, foul-smelling guano waste. A single bat can deposit over 250,000 droppings per year. Roosting bats often select attics or hard-to-reach locations, resulting in guano and urine crystallizing across surfaces.
According to pest control companies, guano clean up costs average $500 per affected area but can exceed $10,000 for long-term infestations. Bats also cause structural damage from gnawing and clawing behaviors.
Aggressive Behavior in Cornered Bats
While most North American bats avoid people, accidentally trapped bats may hibernate or behave aggressively to defend themselves. They can deliver surprisingly painful bites. Aggressive behaviors like hissing, screeching, or divebombing indicate you should leave the room and call animal control.
Never attempt capturing indoor bats yourself. Using chemical sprays or direct handling risks enraging them. Certified wildlife removal experts employ humane exclusion solutions to get bats out without harm.
Benefits Bats Provide Humans and Ecosystems
Insect Control
Bats are voracious consumers of night-flying insects like mosquitoes, moths, beetles, and flies. A single little brown bat can eat over 1,000 mosquito-sized insects every hour, with some insectivorous bats consuming twice their body weight in insects each night according to bat conservation websites like batcon.org.
This natural form of insect control saves U.S. agriculture an estimated $3 billion a year in avoided crop damage and reduced pesticide use.
Large bat colonies roosting in barns, attics, and gardens can make substantial dents in local insect populations. Fewer biting insects means less disease spread and discomfort for humans. Bats have a voracious appetite for crop-damaging moths, beetles, and leafhoppers as well, providing free natural pest control.
Their insect-control services are difficult to replace with other methods.
Pollination Services
Bats like fruit bats, long-nosed bats, and long-tongued bats serve as essential pollinators in tropical and desert ecosystems. They disperse pollen at night after bees go to sleep by feeding on plant nectar. Almost 500 species of plants rely on bats as primary pollinators according to the U.S.
Forest Service. These plants tend to open their flowers at night specifically to attract bat pollinators.
Crops like bananas, mangos, cloves, cashews and agave depend on bats for pollination services globally. The loss of fruit bats leads to lower crop harvests. In rainforests and deserts bats maintain healthy levels of plant biodiversity through their long-range pollination flights from tree to tree.
Indicator Species
The presence and diversity of bat species serves as an indicator of habitat health. Bats require specific roosting areas, suitable insect prey, and access to clean water – making them a barometer for ecosystem wellness.
Dramatic declines in bat numbers can signal wider issues like excessive pesticide use, loss of insect food sources, or declining water quality according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Monitoring bat population numbers over time helps biologists identify threats and maintain biodiversity. With long lifespans and low reproductive rates, bats are slow to recover from habitat loss, toxins, or roosting disruptions. Protecting bat species means keeping ecosystems productive.
Deterring and Removing Bats Safely
Exclusion Techniques
Excluding bats from your home is the most effective and humane solution for getting rid of bats. Common exclusion techniques involve sealing off entrance points so bats can exit a structure but not re-enter.
According to Bat Conservation International, the best times for bat exclusion are spring or fall when young bats can fly and roost elsewhere.
Start by inspecting the interior and exterior of your home at dusk to observe where bats are entering. Use weather stripping, caulk, hardware cloth, or foam sealant to seal cracks and gaps wider than 1/4 inch that may allow bat entry. Install draft guards on attic vents.
Cover large gaps with insulating foam then install fine mesh netting like aluminum window screening over the sealed area. This allows any bats inside to get out but keeps other animals from enlarging holes.
Avoid exclusions May through July when mothers may have baby bats that cannot fly. If waiting causes an overwhelming issue, contact wildlife control companies that abide by science-based protocols on humane exclusions.
Using harmful methods like sticky traps, lethal chemicals, or denial of re-entry before young can fly leads to extreme bat suffering.
When to Call Wildlife Professionals
While minor gaps are doable as a DIY project, heavily infested homes often require calling professional wildlife control operators. Choose an operator certified by the National Wildlife Control Operators Association to ensure proper handling of animals using vetted standards.
Reputable companies will conduct an inspection, design an exclusion plan, oversee installations, and provide post-exclusion recommendations.
Costs vary by company and project complexity but often run $500-$1500. Compare multiple bids and availability. Ask questions about specific exclusion techniques and timeline so young bats will not be trapped inside. Request references and licensing paperwork.
Avoid amateurs that lack humane protocols or legal operating permits. Doing nothing may incur higher costs over time from damaged structures, contaminants, and disease transmission.
Conclusion
While cultures around the world may view the bat as a good omen, these flying mammals can pose some safety issues when sharing living spaces with humans. However, they also provide ecological services like insect control.
With informed handling using humane exclusion methods or professional help, homeowners can stay safe while respecting the bat’s valuable environmental roles.
