Common Homeowner Mistakes

Homeowners, like most of us, when facing a problem either, try to fix it themselves or find an inexpensive solution. Unfortunately after spending many hours and money they still have a bat problem and they end up even more frustrated than before.

The most common mistakes/remedies that homeowners try and are completely ineffective are the following:

1. Buying an ultrasonic device.

These devices are a complete rip-off and they have never removed bats out of a house. If these devices were actually working we would have been out of business many years ago.

2. Bat Houses.

Bat houses can be used as a present but not as a tool for removing bats from your home. Bats prefer hibernating in an environment that offers protection and above all a stable temperature. Unfortunately your home offers that and the bat house doesn’t. A nice example would be to ask yourself if you would prefer to spend your winter in your nice warm house or in the cold insulated shed in your back yard.

3. Yellow Foam.

Homeowners and many wildlife companies are using yellow foam to seal the gaps and holes of a building. First of all applying yellow foam around your house it is not something that you would be proud looking at everyday for the rest of your life. We use materials which after we are done blend with the building and are not an eyesore for the neighborhood. Also yellow foam is not applicable to all surfaces. For example if you apply yellow foam on a metal surface be prepared for the foam to fall off in the next couple of months. What you need is a permanent solution and not patchwork.

4. Lights and loud music.

Lights and loud music don’t affect bats. The ones who will be affected are you and your neighbors.

5. Mothballs

Placing mothballs in the attic or in an identified entry spot is completely ineffective. We have been in homes where the people had to put so many in the attic that you could smell it in the house. Also there are many manufactures that under directions of use they explicitly state not to use for Bats.

6. Plug one hole or install one exit vent.

Not all bats leave at the same time to feed or drink, that means plugging up a whole  you will either force them to use other holes, force them in your leaving space or let them die in your house. Also most people believe that bats use just one entry point. That cannot be further from the truth as the homes that we see with only one entry point is less than 1% annually. You  have to remember that even if the use one hole that doesn’t mean that there are not other areas of your home which can be used as entry points.

7. Trying to bat proof your house after September.

Homeowners are trying to bat proof their home after September believing that all the bats have exited their home and went to the caves for hibernation. You have to remember that only two species of bat colonize a house, the small brown bats and the big brown bats. The small brown bats who are hibernating in caves do leave in September but after the white nose syndrome almost all of them (close to 99%) are dead. So chances are that you have big browns colonizing your home. So even if you successfully bat proof your home, which is an extremely difficult thing to do in the first place, the bats will show up in your house in the winter months and spring and if they don’t find another hole to get out, they will die inside your home.

8. Hiring a wildlife company.

Some wildlife companies are usually a fraction of the cost for bat proofing a house. And that’s ok with them as they only do a fraction of the actual work that is needed to be done to bat proof a house. Many of our clients have already wasted their money with a wildlife company because they chose them based on price and not on their reviews or skill set. If you are going to hire someone please do your research. Spending a few hours searching on the web will save you thousands and undesired aggravation.