I’ve often heard people say that they don’t want bats in their house because they’re a health hazard or they’ve been told that it’s illegal to get rid of bats.
Neither of these are true, bat’s might not be everyone’s cup of tea (although personally they are one of my favourite animals!), but having bats in your house does not necessarily cause a health hazard. They are not flying mice (a term you may well have come across). Unlike mice, bats do not make nests, chew wires or anything inside the house, nor are their droppings a health hazard.
The bats most commonly found in houses in the UK are of the Pipistrellus genus, small in size they are likely to tuck themselves into crevices to roost; behind barge boards, between the wall and roof rafters, cavity walls and under slates/tiles. They only need a narrow gap of a centimetre or two to crawl into a roost site.
Once inside the roost bats may move around in the roost and make social calls in the evening when they are active. The social calls are outwith the hearing of most adults, but children (who generally have better hearing) may hear them.
There are often bat droppings in the bat roosts, the number of droppings will depend on the number of bats. The droppings are simply dried out insect remains and are actually a great fertiliser for the garden, they’re not a health hazard and can be swept away outside or windows wiped down. If the bat roost is above a window or patio doors, you can attach a ‘deflector board’ above them (a piece of wood or plastic that stops droppings attaching to the window) to stop the window needing cleaned so often.
If the bat roost is in your loft space then wait until winter time (when bats are hibernating) and clean out the droppings. To make it easier you can lay down a sheet of plastic so you can hoover/sweep them up more easily.
If you have a really large roost of bats then you may have a few problems, these can often be solved with some help from a local licensed bat worker. For example you might have 100’s of bats in the loft space, the droppings have built up and when the bats are waiting to leave the roost they urinate on the droppings and cause a smell. The best way to solve this is to temporarily exclude the bats under licence, clear out the roost and employ a joiner to create an internal bat box (a box in the loft space) which keeps the bats above the floor of the loft, but still giving them access to their roost exit. To do this work you would need to apply for a licence, but the licencing bodies are very understanding of house owners and in circumstances like this it is more than likely a licence will be granted.
So next time, someone tells you they have a problem with bats, please direct them (in the UK) to the Bat Helpline and they can help with advice or direct you to where you can get a local bat worker to visit your property .
If you want to find out more about bats and find out about your local bat group, check out this page. I have also just noticed that I’m actually in the photo on that page!
Have you any good bat stories?
J x
The Reading Residence says
This is such a useful post. Like you, I do like bats, though as we’ve never had one I’d not given much thought to how to deal with them in the house. Hope this helps others, and I will remember to come to you if I get one!
Ellen says
that is so informative! #pocolo
Jenny Eaves says
Thank you, hope it’s of use to someone! 🙂 x
Jenny Eaves says
I hope it helps others, there’s so much misinformation, I wanted to help clear things up and help anyone that has problems with bats. 🙂 x
Christine says
We had bats in one of our old houses and I loved them. Sadly we don’t in our current house but I was watching one fly in circles last night just along from our road so I know there’s still some nearby. #pocolo
A Cornish Mum says
I have never actually seen a bat other than at the zoo! Helpful post for those that do have bat ‘lodgers’ though! Thanks for linking to #PicknMix lovely,
Stevie xx
Becky, Cuddle Fairy says
Eeeeeee no thank you! We found a bat in the garage once & I kind of freaked out. I wouldn’t like an entire family of them living in my house! Ahhh! Very informative post though! #PicknMix x
Helen Porter says
this is a great post I never knew all of this about bats there are lots of them around near where I live I love watching them at night I think its because we live near alotments #PicknMix
Merlinda Little (@pixiedusk) says
OOhhh I know that their droppings are good fertilizer! I love bats as they are so cute and helps the environment =) #pocolo
Morna piper says
I kind of wish we did have bats in our house…..if it’s good enough for the mice…….#picknmix
Jenny Eaves says
Ha ha! Bats are much better than mice! Hope you don’t have too many?! x
Jenny Eaves says
Yay! Someone else who loves bats too! 🙂 x
Jenny Eaves says
You could put up a bat box somewhere if you wanted to attract them? There are bats flying around most places, lovely to watch! 🙂 x
Jenny Eaves says
Thanks Stevie. You probably have them flying around nearby, have a look outside at dusk, in the halflight you can see them flying past against the lighter areas of sky. I love to watch out for bats. 🙂 x
Jenny Eaves says
Oh no! They are lovely really, if you get one in the garage then just open the door and they’ll fly out soon enough! Hee hee. 🙂 x
Jenny Eaves says
There is probably a roost nearby if you have a lot around. If you can get hold of a bat detector (you can often borrow from local bat groups) then you can listen to their calls as they fly past. 🙂 x