Will repellents get a bat out of the attic?

Bats In Your Home

At some point, you'll find bats inside your attic. These animals will be a serious cause for alarm.

Not only do they transmit deadly diseases like rabies and histoplasmosis, but they can also do a lot of damage to your attic. Their corrosive guano can eat away at the house's structure, causing permanent damage. It also leaves behind terrible stains and smells, which ruins your pleasant home.

Why Repellents?

Because of all those problems, you want to remove bats as soon as possible. Yet you might be busy, so you want to find an easy solution. That's why you look towards repellents which can quickly remove the problem for you, with almost no effort.

These devices promise the world, saying that they'll remove all the bats in your home. All you have to do is use a few mothballs, spray some oils, or buy an electronic repellent so all your problems go away.

The Truth About Repellents

Unfortunately, this sounds too good to be true, and it is. Repellents simply don't work, and they're far from reliable.

These repellents might annoy the bats a little, but the animals aren't going to give up warmth and shelter because of a mild inconvenience. They just have too much to lose.

Even if the repellents did work, it wouldn't be in your best interest. That's because the presence of the bats is just a symptom of a much worse problem. This is why using other methods will both remove the bats and permanently solve the problem for you!

Methods That Do Work

While there are a lot of different ways of removing bats from your attic, here are two of the best.

Calling a Professional

If you're after the convenience of having repellents, then you should call a professional. This approach is just as easy and gives you much better results.

Experts will be familiar with bats and how to remove them, so they can solve the issue quickly and effectively. Calling a professional will also give you a guarantee that the bats will be gone for good, and that no other pests will arrive to take their place.

DIY Exclusion

If you'd rather save on costs and try to remove the bats yourself, then your best bet is to try exclusion. Poison and other methods will not work, as they're difficult, dangerous, and illegal. Exclusion on the other hand is much more straightforward and ethical.

• Inspect your home: 
  
  

Your first step is to inspect your attic to confirm that bats are indeed the problem and to learn more about them. You should try to find their nests, as well as what holes they use to enter and exit your home. These will be indicated with grease stains.

• Seal most entries:
  
  

The next step is to seal all entries in your home except one. You'll need the last one to remain open so the bats can leave your home. And by sealing up all the other ones, you are limiting the bats to just one pathway.

• Install exclusion devices:
  
  

You should now install an exclusion device like a cone or net on the last hole. These devices are fairly inexpensive. They're designed to let bats exit the home, but prevents the animals from coming back inside.

• Wait for all the bats to leave:
  
  

With the exclusion device set up, you only have to wait for the bats to leave on their own until none are left. Make sure the bats don't have any children with them before you set up the exclusion device, as the children will be abandoned and will starve — something both unethical and illegal.

• Clean the area:
  
  

With the bats gone, you should seal up the final hole and clean the area. Make sure you remove all the droppings, and that you thoroughly disinfect the area to avoid contracting any diseases.