Home Remedies To Remove Bats and Keep Them Away

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Bats are a flying creature that will often live in fairly large colonies, and while they themselves are quite harmless, they can often become a nuisance because of the sheer number of them that will usually be living together. In truth, bats are actually a very useful animal to have in the area, because they eat a large number of flying pests, and can significantly reduce the number of mosquitoes, midges and wasps in the area of your property. However, you won't necessarily want them roosting in the attic of your home, which is why there are several different traditional home remedies which are said to get rid of bats.



What Are The Common Home Remedies Said To Repel Bats?
There are several chemicals often found around the home that are said to be unpleasant to bats, and common among these are mothballs and ammonia. Other chemicals which are also said to have an effect are phenol which can be sprayed in the areas where the bats are present, while hanging aluminum foil in the area is also said to be a bat repellent.

You will also find people recommending different natural repellents for bats, with cinnamon being one of the most common said to be unpleasant for the bats. It is also said that eucalyptus is said to be a bat repellent. One more unusual option also said to get rid of bats is to release several helium filled balloons into the gap in the attic where the bats are roosting.

Learn about Bat bug infestation.

Do These Options Really Work?
In truth you are unlikely to see much of an effect from these approaches to dealing with a bat infestation, as the home remedies aren't really designed nor appropriate for dealing with a bat colony. Bats are creatures that hunt through echolocation, so they will not usually have a great sense of smell, so repellents that work via scent will rarely have a great impact on the bats themselves. The other factor is that bats will find the attraction of the warm dark area worth overcoming a few distractions, which is what the repellents will be.

Read about How to Get Bats Out of Your Attic

How To Deal With A Bat Infestation
The only real way to solve your bat infestation is to carry out exclusion work, and the first step for this is to carry out a thorough examination of the area to identify all of the points where the bats are getting in and out of the property. You will then want to seal most of these, and then install exclusion netting over the remaining areas the bats are using to get in and out, as this will then allow them to leave the roost, but will prevent them from getting back in. Once you are confident all of the bats have left the attic or roof space, then you can start with the work of cleaning the guano and carrying out the repairs.

Find out more: How many bugs per night do bats eat?

Installing Bat Boxes Near Your Property
While bats are neither cute nor fluffy, they aren't a nasty animal and if you are thinking of carrying out exclusion work, you may want to consider putting a bat box nearby. Having bats in the area makes for a more comfortable place to live, as they come out at dusk and eat many flying insects and other pests. A bat box provides the bats with an alternative place to roost when they have been excluded from your attic, and allows you all of the benefits of having a bat colony nearby, without the drawback of the noise and the droppings in your attic.

For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does bat removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of bats - my main bat removal info guide.
Example bat removal photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Bat job blog - learn from great examples of bat jobs I've done.