What is a Bat Control Specialist?

• A New York State D.E.C. (Dept. of Environmental Conservation) Licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Officer, qualified to removal nuisance wildlife (bats, squirrels, birds, woodchucks, raccoons, SKUNKS) from your property.

How is this performed?

• If a bat is flying around in your house, we hand capture the bat and relocate it to another area.
• We then make sure this is not just an isolated incident. There could be a bigger problem! Performing an inspection of your home is the next step.

What is involved in the Inspection of the home?

• We inspect the attic of your home for identifying signs of bats and other animals. Signs of living animals include guano, nests, scratch marks, urine stains, holes in the siding, damaged roof flashing, vents, soffits, fascia and insulation.
• We then inspect the outside of the house looking for gaps around the house: chimneys, siding, intersecting rooflines and flashing. This includes looking for guano on sides of the home and rub stains.

How do you get the bats out?

• Bats will enter and exit the same opening. We install a one-way door which allows them a safe and easy way out, but they CANNOT come back in.

Will the bats come back to my house?

• Yes, but we Bat-Proof the house so the bats cannot find another hole to get back in.

How big of a hole do bats need to get in?

• Bats need a hole that is ¾ of a square inch (about the size of a quarter) to get in.

Do bats chew their way into a home?

• No! Bats are not rodents like mice, chipmunks or squirrels. Bats don’t have teeth like them, so they can’t chew on things. Bats are flying mammals.

How many bats live together?

• Bats are a social species. They live in colonies. Colonies can range between a few to 1000’s of bats. Depending on the species I am working with it can vary, but the average colony is about 10-15 bats.

What do bats eat?

• Bats are called Insectivores. Bats only eat flying insects like mosquitoes, gnats, moths, beetles, and some wasps.
• Bats catch the insects using echolocation.

When will I see a bat?

• Bats are nocturnal meaning they are active at night. Bats come out to feed from dusk until dawn and sleep during the day.

Are bats dangerous?

• Bats are wild animals. Would you go up and pet a bear? Keep your distance from bats. They will not attack you, but they will fly around you at night eating all the insects they can.
• Bats can also carry RABIES. Rabies is a disease that is transmitted from being bitten.

Are bats good for the Environment?

• YES! Bats eat a lot of insects each night. Can you believe they actually eat their weight in insects every night? Without bats, we would have one bad insect problem.

Bats are the only flying mammals. They give birth to live young and nourish them with milk. Bats are nocturnal; they are most active at night and sleep during the day hanging upside-down. Bats are found in all types of habitats all around the world except at the poles. There are over 900 different species of bats.

During the cold winter, some bats migrate to a warmer area. Others, like the brown bat, hibernate during the cold of winter, sleeping very deeply until warm weather arrives.

Anatomy: Bat's wings are long fingers covered by thin skin. They have furry bodies. Some bats have short tails, others have no tail. Bats have weak legs and don't walk very well. The smallest bat is the bumblebee bat (with a wingspan of 6 inches=15 cm, weighing less than a penny); the largest bat is the flying fox bat (with a wingspan of 6 feet=1.8 m, weighing 2 pounds=1 kg).

Senses/Diet: Bats can see, but do not use this as their primary sense.

There are two types of bats that differ in their diet and in the way they sense and obtain food. Bats are divided into:

• Microchiropterans: These bats use echolocation to find insects and small animals to eat. While flying, these bats send out high-pitched sounds that bounce off other objects. The bat listens for the bounced sound, and can determine where objects are located. People cannot hear these high-pitched sounds. Some Microchiropterans include the vampire bat, the frog-eating bat, etc. The vampire bat is the only bat (and the only mammal) that eats blood. It makes a small hole with its two very sharp incisor teeth and laps up the blood, which doesn't clot because of anti-coagulants in the bat's saliva.
• Megachiropterans: These large bats use the sense of smell to find their food, fruit and/or nectar. Some Megachiropterans include the fruit bat, the blossombat, etc.