When bats fly into your home, they’re looking for shelter and warmth. This leads them into your attic, where they quickly find and make a home in the insulation. As the weather warms up, they become more active, more noisy and easier to detect. Here’s how you can determine if you have a bat infestation:
Strange Noises from the Attic or Walls
The first sign of bats is always the noise. Bats use sound to get around as well as communicate, and it’s hard to miss the high-pitched noises they make when they’re chatting. If you start hearing these noises in your attic or in the walls, it could be a bat infestation. It could also be mice, which can make similar noises as they scurry around.
Musty Smells from the Attic
You would think the smells coming from bats have to do with their feces, but the bats themselves and their urine are typically the first things you’ll smell if you have an infestation. They emit a distinct musty, ammonia-like odor that you may not recognize at first, but if you smell it again, you’ll know right away that it’s the smell of bats.
Finding Bat Residue
Some signs of bats are more obvious than others. Bats leave black, oily marks on insulation that is secreted from their skin. They also have urine that contains an acid that can eat through finishings we use in our homes. Bat droppings, or guano, are the easiest to spot. They’re small, torpedo-shaped and don’t look quite like rodent droppings. If you find bat droppings, you most certainly have bats in your home. You’ll most likely find them on window sills and ledges.
Contact a Professional
When in doubt, leave it to the experts. Have a professional company that offers bat inspections come to your home. Then, the company can not only help you determine whether you have bats but also assist in removing them from your home. Removing bats is a delicate process, as these creatures are easily disturbed and can spread nasty diseases. They also need to be released in a humane way.
At Pro-Staff, we offer Des Moines bat inspections and bat removal services. Call us at 515-279-7378 or contact us online to get started.
