There are many species around the world that use sound reverberation to better navigate their surroundings, including toothed and baleen whales like dolphins, porpoises, killer whales, sperm whales, gray whales, and rorquals. Even certain species of bird are hypothesized to use a type of sound navigation system. The ability to both emit ultrasonic sound waves and use the sound reverberations to map the environment is a biological, built-in system known as biosonar, which is also referred to as echolocation. Like the species of echolocating animals, microbats also use sounds to see.
Continue reading to learn more about echolocation in bats, including how bio-sonar works and why bats use it.
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Microbats Have Echolocation Abilities
As discussed in many blogs prior, there are two primary species of bats: microbats (Megachiroptera) and megabats (Megachiroptera). Megabats are also known as fruit bats or old world fruit bats because they mainly eat the juices and nectar of fruits and flowers. Megabats do not retain echolocating abilities. However, some recent studies show that some might, like the Egyptian fruit bat. Because megabats do not prey on living organisms, they do not need to rely on flying accuracy and agility, so it makes sense that they would not have echolocating abilities.
Microbats, on the other hand, are insectivores and can eat their body weight in flying insects each night. All microbat species use echolocation, such as Big Brown Bats, Little Brown Bats, Lesser Long Nosed bats, and even our beloved state bat, the Virginia Big-Eared bat. But why? Well, it’s not because they are blind or have poor vision.
Bats are Not Blind
Many people correlate bats and blindness, and assume it is the reason they have echolocation capabilities. But the truth is, bats can see very well. They use their echolocation to improve the precision and speed of their hunting abilities. Echolocation allows bats to better dive and dart more accurately for mosquitoes, gnats, flies, moths, and all the other flying insects they consume each night. Microbats are nocturnal, so they are usually out hunting during dawn and dusk when lighting is very low or gone entirely.
How Echolocation Works
Echolocation is the process of emitting ultrasonic sound waves that are discharged into the surrounding area. These sounds reverberate and bounce back toward the bat, which in turn provides a more descriptive mapping of its surroundings. We can measure how bats use their echolocation because they emit a clicking noise when echolocating. Amazingly, bats compare the outbound pulsations with the returning echoes to generate a detailed mental image of their surroundings.
Are experiencing heightened bat activity around your property, thus causing you concern about structural damage and possible infestation?Contact Virginia Bat Pros at 804-729-9097 for comprehensive bat removal and control services in Richmond and all surrounding Virginia counties. We serve commercial and residential clients.
We have been checking yes or no our whole lives it seems, from grade school love letters and SAT questionnaires to county census forms, insurance applications, dating apps, and much more. Perhaps this is due to the fact that a yes-or-no survey platform is proven to work well when it comes to obtaining straightforward answers. When it comes to getting to the bottom of a possible bat infestation, the same type of approach can help you figure it out fast.
Continue reading to review a checklist of tell-tale signs of bats in the attic. If you check yes to even one, contact a licensed bat removal and control company in Virginia right away!
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Checklist of Common Signs of Bats in the Attic
You will need to look for signs of a bat infestation in the attic from the inside, out. This means you will need to perform an outdoor inspection and an indoor one. Start outside, as most signs of intruding bats start there. Then make your way indoors to look for more common signs of bats in the attic or walls.
EXTERIOR CHECKLIST:
Oily Spots and Grease Stains ↔ Y▢ N▢
Do you see oily spots or dark, grease-like stains on your siding? This is a giveaway for intruding bats. Bat fur is a bit oily and dirty, and when they squeeze through openings in the roof or siding, it can leave behind a stain around the entry point, overtime.
Bat Guano Piles ↔ Y▢ N▢
Bats produce excrement just like all other living organisms. And like most animals being sought out or hunted, their droppings tend to be a dead giveaway of their presence. As for the outside of your home or business, start by looking around windowsills, door frames, and roof ledges. Bat guano usually piles up in these areas because it is where they like to perch during dawn and dusk hours.
Flying Bats ↔ Y▢ N▢
If you see flying bats outside of your property during sunset or just before sunrise, you can safely assume you have a nuisance bat threat. Whether or not you have bats in the attic would depend on if they targeted your place and gained entry. If you check yes to this after suspecting that you have bats in the attic, you likely do.
Dead Bats ↔ Y▢ N▢
Same with flying bats, if you find a dead bat on your property, you likely have a local bat population nearby, which increases the likelihood of having a bat infestation in your attic. Do not touch or tamper with a dead bat unless it poses a safety risk to people and pets. Let nature take its course or use a shoe box lid to move it to a safer location.
INTERIOR CHECKLIST:
Chirping Sounds ↔ Y▢ N▢
One of the first signs of having bats in the attic detected by homeowners is hearing chirping, squeaking, and fluttering from within their walls or ceiling spaces. Bats make noise like most animals, and you can hear their noises the most during sunset and sunrise hours.
Bat Guano in Attic ↔ Y▢ N▢
Just like outside, bat guano will accumulate inside if you have a presence of bats. Look inside your attic, if you feel safe doing so, and see if you can spot guano. If you do see bat guano, you can safely assume you have bats in there too. It is not recommended to check your attic if you suspect bats to be in there. Contact a licensed wildlife control professional for an attic inspection.
Stains on Walls and Ceilings ↔ Y▢ N▢
The stains that present themselves on the inside of your house are not caused by the same circumstances of the black or brown oily stains on your siding. Instead, bat urine and droppings will cause brownish, yellowish stains to appear on ceilings and walls. If you see these stains, you might have bats in the attic.
Ammonia Odors ↔ Y▢ N▢
Along with bat urine and droppings come odor. Lingering odors in the living quarters of the residence is a tell-tale sign of an animal infestation. For bats in the attic, their odors are generally described as having an ammonia aroma. Putrid and sour smells can also indicate a long-time bat infestation in the attic.
Bats are an incredible species of mammal, and we are lucky to have them as a part of our surrounding Eco-system. Their high metabolic needs and diverse diets significantly impact our ecological communities by playing a vital role in pollination, seed dispersion, crop fertilization, insect control, protozoan hosting, ecotourism industries, and more. But where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. If you have spotted bats around your property on a nightly basis, it is essential to better understand their behaviors so that you can better protect your home or business from bat damages and associated risks.
Continue reading to learn what you need to know about bats if you have them around your property.
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Nuisance Bats
Bats are common nuisances for home and business owners. They are attracted to dark, warm shelters to raise their young and hibernate through winter, including attics, crawl spaces, garages, sheds, roofs, and walls. They can enter through a crevice as tiny as 3/8th inch, so it is easy for them to get inside a vulnerable structure. You can tell if you have bats in the house or around your property by looking for the signs. This includes hearing strange noises in the walls or attic at night, spotting animal droppings around windows or doors, smelling foul odors from attic or crawl space areas, and more.
Bat Damages
Bats can cause a long list of structural damages to a home, and the accumulation of their droppings can create an unsanitary, biohazardous environment. Furthermore, they pose a wide range of health risks since their guano can cause respiratory illnesses, and they may carry diseases and parasites like rabies, lice, mites, and more. Fortunately, several professional wildlife control companies offer restoration and decontamination services for damages caused by bats. They will remove the bats from the space using safe and humane methods, clean up the mess they made, sanitize the entire area, and restore any structural damages they caused from their stay.
Bats and Rabies
Many people wrongly assume that all bats have rabies. The truth is that bats are common carriers of the rabies virus, but that does not mean all bats are carriers, nor does it mean that carriers are infected. If a bat is rabid, you will be able to tell by a blood test, which can only be done correctly by a state’s Department of Health. A rabid bat is not likely to be a threat since they generally seek out isolation to die. In fact, bats that are not sick are not likely to attack either. They are more afraid of us than we are of them. It is very rare for one to bite or attack unless provoked. This is why regular vaccinations are so vital for pets.
Bat Removal and Control
To properly eliminate a bat problem, bats must first be removed, and then specific precautions must be taken to ensure they cannot reenter your home or building. There are many things you can do yourself to reduce the level of wildlife activity around your property, such as removing all food and water sources, including bird baths, squirrel feeders, pet food, gardens, and more. You can also install automatic motion lighting or ultrasonic sound machines, as well as, spread predatory urine or other non-toxic repellents around your yard. Just use water, ground hot pepper, and menthol oil to make a homemadebat repellent.
Are you dealing with a nuisance bat problem in or around your property? Contact Virginia Bat Pros at 804-729-9097 for prompt and professional bat removal and control you can afford. We serve residential and commercial clients.
Although it can be argued that all bats have big ears relative to their body size, there are a few bat species that really set the bar high. Here in Virginia, three big-eared bat species in particular are native to the region, and with great luck, spotted out in nature from time to time. What are these bats? Why are they special? Great questions!
Continue reading to learn some interesting and important facts about the Northern Long-Eared Bat, Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bat, and our state bat, the Virginia Big-Eared bat!
Northern Long-Eared BatRafinesque’s Big-Eared BatVirginia Big-Eared BatThe Virginia Big-Eared Bat
Big Ears No Tears
The bigger the ears the better; right? For Microchiroptera bats across the world, it is! Microbat species have an enlarged tragus in their ears that help them focus sound (some bats have this growth on their nose, like the Leaf-Nose bat). They have excellent hearing, as they are able to hear vocalizations of other bats from far away and at extremely high frequencies, between 14,000 and 100,000 hertz. Humans have a general hearing range of 20,000 hertz, just for reference.
So, all in all, bats are not apologetic for their big, old ears! They need them to communicate with other bats, hunt for prey, and much more! The most famous bats with large ears are the Northern Long-Eared Bat, Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bat, and Virginia Big-Eared bat. Below you will find the most interesting facts about each species, including their scientific name and classification, diet, habitat, range, and endangerment status.
🦇 Northern Long-Eared Bat
The Northern Long-Eared bat is scientifically called Myotisseptentrionalis.
As a microbat species, the Northern Long-Eared bat maintains an insectivorous diet consisting mostly of moths, flies, caddisflies, beetles, and even spiders. Unlike many other microbats, rather than preying on their meals mid-flight, the Northern Long-Eared bat uses a unique hunting method known as gleaning. Basically, they stick close to the tree lines and snatch up their prey directly from twigs, branches, and leaves.
You can usually find colonies of Northern Long-Eared bats in most regions of Virginia. Here in the state, they have taken liking to dams and mines for shelter. They also roost in caves and rocky crevices. They are not solitary, and often roost with other bat species, like Indiana bats and Little Brown bats.
Northern Long-Eared bats look much like Little Brown bats, in fact. But they have long ears that look like a rabbit that measure an average of a half an inch to 0.7 inches in length. They weigh an average of 3 ounces, which is similar to other regional bat species.
Northern Long-Eared bats are not endangered, but they are unfortunately a species that has been affected by White-Nose Syndrome. This fungal disease is one of the biggest and most impactful threats to this species.
🦇 Rafinesque’s Big-Eared Bat
The Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat is scientifically referred to as Corynorhinus rafinesquii.
The Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat is a microbat species found mostly in the bottomland hardwoods and swamps in the Coastal Plain regions of Virginia. They are typically found roosting in hollow trees or in caves but will also take up shelter in rock crevices and old buildings. Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat colonies in the appellation Mountains prefer roosting in caves, but it really just depends on the geographic location of the colony.
When it comes to diet, Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bats our insectivores like most other microbats. Their preferred meal is moths, but they also like to eat beetles and other flying insects.
The Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat has bigger ears than the Northern Long-Eared bat, coming in at 1.25 inches in length. They also have long, soft, bi-colored fur, making them quite the stunning bat. In fact, they look so similar to our state bat, that they are often confused for one another.
Unfortunately, Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bats are a state endangered bat and currently on the conservation list. The loss and degradation of their natural habitats is a top cause of the declining Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat population.
🦇 Virginia Big-Eared Bat
The Virginia Big-Eared bat is scientifically named Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus.
As our beloved state bat, the Virginia Big-Eared bat is an important bat species. They are not native to the entirety of the state, but rather in short ranges within West Virginia. They do not commonly travel outside of 20 mile radius from their roosts, although some have been found to travel 40 miles outside of their primary colony location when traveling between winter and summer roosts.
Virginia Big-Eared bats mostly roost in caves or along bodies of water in large rock crevices. It really just depends on the level of access and the season.
The Virginia Big-Eared bat has a very similar insectivorous diet to their pseudo-twin, the Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat, eating mostly moths. Virginia Big-Eared bats will also eat other insects, like flies, beetles, grasshoppers, and even wasps.
As for their ears, they maintain their status as the pseudo-twin to the Rafinesque’s Big-Eared bat, with their large ears measuring in at 1.25 inches just the same.
Unfortunately, not only is the Virginia Big-Eared bat state-endangered, but they are also federally endangered. One of the top threats to the decline of their populations is
Well, there you have it; the top bat species in Virginia with big, long ears! Do your part to support bat conservation efforts by sealing your home properly against bat intrusions, plus protecting local bat populations by vaccinating your pets and even setting up some bat houses on your property!
Never, under any circumstances, attempt to touch, trap, catch, harm, or kill a bat. If you have a bat in the house, in the yard, or bats in the attic, contact a local and trusted wildlife critter control company for emergency bat removal services. They have the proper licensing, permits, training, and resources to remove bats and control their activity in and around your property.
Looking for a bat removal company in the Virginia areas?Contact Virginia Bat Pros at 804-729-9097 for safe and humane critter control for bats in Richmond and all surrounding counties and locations. We serve both residential and commercial clients.
Bats use echolocation, a built-in sonar ability, to precisely navigate their surroundings. So, if you disrupt their sonar abilities, will this keep them away? If you have a nuisance bat population around your property, abatement awaits you. One such device used to keep bats away is a sonar jamming machine, which is a professional-grade ultrasonic bat deterrent.
Continue below to learn how sonar jammers work against bats, plus where to get a top-rated bat abatement sonar jamming device near you.
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Safe and Humane Bat Control
Although there are several methods of getting rid of bats, it is important to choose the ones that are perfectly safe and humane, not only to the bats, but also to the surrounding environment and nearby wildlife. A sonar jamming machine is one such method, and one that seems to be working for many property owners around the Mid-West.
You see, bats in the Mid-west are equipped with the natural ability of echolocation. This is basically a bio-sonar ability that allows bats to better map out their surroundings. It works by emitting high-frequency ultrasonic pulses into the air that bounce back and outline the surrounding environment. Most bats emit these frequencies through vocalizations produced by the larynx and released through the mouth and nostrils, while others produce them by clicking their tongues. Although bats are not blind, echolocation helps them fine tune their navigation and predatory skills.
Sonar Jammers for Nuisance Bat Control and Removal
The ability of bat echolocation is exactly what a sonar jamming device relies on. The device basically uses a bat’s echolocating abilities against them. And just like the name suggests, a sonar jammer is designed to do just that: jam up a bat’s sonar power. A sonar jammer interrupts the frequencies emitting by bats, which confuse them and aggravate them. Overtime, but not much time at all, bats begin to steer clear of the area. In fact, they were originally developed and effectively used to protect bats from flying into wind turbines!
How to Use a Sonar Jamming Machine
It is important to note that long-term exposure to ultrasonic frequencies can impact human health, so it is recommended to use sonar jammers on a temporary basis. Never use a sonar jammer in the living quarters of a house. Use a sonar jammer in the attic, barn, shed, garage, or exterior space to drive bats out.
It is important to also understand that a sonar jammer is just step one to bat removal and control. Once bats are gone, implement safer abatement strategies, like vent covers, non-toxic repellents, and mesh screening. A licensed and insured bat removal and control company in Richmond can help you develop the best bat abatement plan for your property.
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Are you trying to manage a nuisance bat problem in or around your property? Contact Virginia Bat Pros at 804-729-9097 for prompt and professional bat removal and control you can afford. We serve residential and commercial clients.
When it comes to doing things around the house, there are some things you can do yourself and there are other tasks that are best left to a professional. Then there are those things that can only be performed by certified authority because of local and federal regulation. So, if you suspect that you may have bats in the attic, you are safe to assume that it is not a do-it-yourself kind of job.
Continue reading to learn why you need to hire professional wildlife control services to get rid of bats in the attic or in other areas of your property, and what your first step should be after learning of a bat infestation in your home.
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The Only Way to Get Rid of Bats in the Attic
There is only one true and effective method of getting rid of bats in the attic, and that is bat exclusion. Bat exclusion is a technical process that can only be performed by licensed and insured professionals who are properly equipped with the necessary industry equipment, gear, and resources.
You see, the process of bat exclusion involves setting up a system of cutting-edge cameras, sensors, mesh screens, netting, and tubes over all entry points used by bats. This abatement system allows bats to leave the edifice but does not allow them to return. In order to locate bat entry points, you must first know how to identify them; knowledge a professional and experienced bat control expert will have.
After Bat Exclusion
Once bats have been excluded from a property, there is still more work that needs to be done. Not only do bats make a huge mess and damage property, but they will come back if nothing is done to keep them out in the future.
Following bat exclusion, all structural damages and unsanitary messes will need to be addressed, as bat infestations generate a massive amount of destruction. This includes drywall work, insulation replacement, and pest fumigation to remove parasites and bat-related bugs, like lice and mites.
Along with bat damage repair and cleanup, a property will need to be protected against future bat infestations. This service is known as bat proofing, which is a form of bat control. Some elements of bat-proofing work include installing attic vent covers and sealing up all exterior entry holes and openings.
A licensed and certified bat removal and control company in Richmond, VA can provide professional-grade restorations and cleanup for bat damages, as well as bat proofing and bat control assistance.
There are many problems associated with having bats in the house. Not only do bats carry infectious diseases that can potentially be transmitted to humans and pets, but their droppings also pose several health risks, including a serious upper respiratory disease known as Histoplasmosis. If you suspect that you might have a bat infestation on your hands, there are some things you need to know right away.
First, bats are not solitary mammals. They live in large colonies, so where there’s one or two bats, there are likely many more. And since bats are nocturnal, they sleep quietly for most of the day, so they can go undetected for a long time. Second, the signs of a bat infestation are visible or apparent, you just have to know what to look for.
Continue reading to learn the common signs of a bat infestation and what to do if you find one in your house.
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Bat Infestation Damages and Risks
The longer bats roost in your house, the more damage they cause, which ends up costing you money, time, and frustration that could have been avoided with proper nuisance wildlife prevention. Furthermore, bats are known carriers of several diseases that can be transmitted to people and pets, like Rabies, mites, lice, ticks, and other parasites. Needless to say, it is not safe to have bats in the attic or other area of your home.
Fortunately, most Richmond VA bat removal professionals also provide full-service decontamination and restoration work for bat damages. This includes disinfecting, sanitizing, and fumigating the area to eliminate waste and pests like bat mites and lice. It also includes replacing or renovating damaged areas like attic insulation, drywall, floorboards, siding, roof shingles, and more.
Lastly, you will need your trusted Virginia bat removal and control company to implement the proper measures of wildlife proofing and prevention to stop future bat infestations.
Here are the Common Signs of Bats in the House:
Bats flying around your property at dusk and dawn.
▷ Chirping, scratching, or screeching sounds in the walls or ceilings.▷ Unexplained stains on walls and ceilings.
▷ Foul odors lingering in the living quarters of the home.
▷ Flutter noises in the attic or walls.
▷ Bat droppings around doors and window sills.
▷ Greasy spots or stains on siding, doors, walls, or roofs.
Contact an Emergency Bat Removal Service
If you notice any of these signs in your home, be sure to contact a professional Richmond bat removal service as soon as possible. You will need the bats extracted from your home, safely and humanely. Once extracted, they will be relocated to a faraway habitat where they can live out their significant lives in peace. As for your home, the job does not stop with bat removal. After bats are extracted, you will need further remediation to eliminate the mess, destruction, and health risks left behind.
Have you ever used the adage, “blind as a bat?” If so, you may be disappointed to learn that you were incorrect. That is because bats are not actually blind. But don’t be ashamed if you always thought this; many people share the same misconception. The truth is that there are more than 1,400 bat species in the world, and not one of those species is blind. What’s even more interesting is that they actually have quite good vision, especially Megachiroptera species (fruit and old-world). This makes sense, as they are night-hunters. So, vision is important for darting and dashing for prey.
Continue reading to learn more interesting facts about bat vision, echolocation, and more.
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Megabats and Microbats
There are two main categories of bat species: Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera, also known as megabats and microbats. Megachiroptera, or megabats, are large bats that live in tropical and subtropical climates. They maintain a diet of fruits and nectar, but some species are also known to consume small amphibians and fish.
As for vision, Megachiroptera have large eyes and a pronounced visual cortex that allow them to see very well. They also have a good sense of smell. Some species, like Flying Foxes, actually see well during the day, and are dependent on their daytime vision to fly around on moonless nights. They can also see in color!
Microchiroptera, or microbats, are different from megabats in many ways, however, their vision is just as good. Despite their poorly developed small eyes, scientists have confirmed that microbats have both rods and cone photo-receptor cells in the retinas, giving them the ability to see in the day, in color, and at night.
Furthermore, Microchiroptera (not all species, but most) have a built-in sonar system called echolocation, which emits high-frequency ultrasonic pulses into the air that bounce back and outline the surrounding environment.
Bat echolocation is why many people believe these mammals are blind. But echolocation is simply a bonus attribute that allows microbats to hunt faster and with more precision.
How to Manage Nuisance Bat Problems in Virginia
You will know you have a bat problem when you begin to identify the signs. Common indications include strange noises coming from walls and ceilings, yellow or brown stains on walls or ceilings, foul odors in concentrated areas of the home, bat guano or bird-like droppings, and seeing bats fly around your home at night.
If you are concerned about bats in the attic or around your property in Virginia, there are many safe and affordable options for animal proofing, inspection, and extraction. If you find a bat in the house, never attempt to catch, trap, touch, harm, or kill a wild bat. Instead, contact a 24 hour Virginia wildlife removal company for licensed bat removal and control you can trust.
Landlords have a lot of responsibility, from property and tenant management to facility maintenance, building code compliancy, insurance coverage, business expenses, record keeping, tax planning and preparation, and more. So, it is not a surprise that many landlords tend to fall short when it comes to critter control. A few animals scurrying around here and there can be harmless, but when an infestation occurs, it’s a whole other ballgame. As a landlord, it is important to fully understand the consequences you can suffer if you neglect to resolve a critter infestation, especially if that infestation is bats.
Continue below to learn why landlords should never ignore a bat infestation or nuisance bat problem, plus where property owners can get reliable critter control and animal-proofing services in Richmond, Virginia.
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Landlord Liability and Bat Infestations
Landlords and property managers have a legal responsibility to make sure their premises are safe from reasonably-foreseeable dangers and hazards. This legal responsibility is known as duty of care, and the law takes this duty very seriously. There are many consequences you can face as a landlord or property manager if you fail to address a bat infestation anywhere on your commercial premises. Top consequences include premises liability lawsuits, building damages, and expensive repair work.
Premises Liability Lawsuits
If a landlord fails to take care of a bat infestation within a reasonable timeline, and as a result a tenant is seriously injured and suffers damages and losses, that tenant can take legal action against the landlord. Such claims, which can turn into lawsuits if no settlement can be negotiated, are known as premises liability lawsuits, and they tend to cost landlords tens of thousands of dollars. Not only will legal fees add up and potentially devastate the business but losing a premises liability lawsuit can lead to a large settlement payout. Keep in mind that bats are carriers of the Rabies virus, and if a tenant or pet is exposed from a bat bite, it could quickly lead to a lawsuit.
Building Damages
Bats are not great housemates. They are highly destructive in a short amount of time. Bat droppings accumulate at a massive rate, plus pose several health and safety hazards. Everything from roofing and siding to electrical wiring, insulation, window screens, vents, floorboards, ceilings, and walls will be damaged by a long-term bat infestation. If the bat infestation remains for too long, a building can suffer severe structural damages, possibly even leading to it being condemned until renovations are completed and approved by the city.
Renovation Expenses
Resolving a bat infestation does not stop at removing the bats. There will be a lot of cleanup and repairs needed to bring the environment back to a healthy condition that is up to code. Bat infestations that are neglected over a long period of time tend to require the most invasive renovation work, and therefore, very expensive. And in many cases, insurance policies will not cover repairs that are required as a result of facility negligence. After all structural repairs are made, animal-proofing strategies must be incorporated, which adds to the overall cost. The last step is hygienic cleanup, which sanitizes the area and mitigates any lingering pest infestation, like lice, ticks, fleas, bat mites, and similar parasites.
Do you want to make sure your business and tenants are protected against bat intrusions?Contact Virginia Bat Pros at 804-729-9097 for comprehensive bat removal and control services in Richmond and all surrounding Virginia counties. We serve commercial and residential clients.
The attic is the most common location of a bat infestation. Even residences without attics have voids and spaces between the ceiling and roofline that can be accessed by roosting bats. If you suspect that you have bats in the attic in Virginia, then you will need to contact a local critter control company to schedule a bat inspection. If the inspection determines bats in the house or attic, then you will need to move forward with bat exclusion.
Continue reading to learn pertinent information about bat inspections, bats in the attic, and bat exclusion in Virginia, including who to trust for honest and dependable service.
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Bat Inspections are the First Step to Getting Rid of Bats
In order to determine your need for bat exclusion, you must first confirm that you actually have bats in the house. Bat inspection services are the first step of the process, but they must be implemented by licensed and well-equipped professionals in the wildlife removal and control industry.
It is critical to choose a dependable and experienced Virginia critter control company to ensure quality, safety, and efficacy. A critter control company will begin their bat inspection by examining the outside of your house, predominantly focusing on the roofing, siding, and gutter system.
You see, bats in Virginia are very tiny, and can squeeze through gaps and openings in the exterior of an edifice smaller than 3/8th of an inch. Trained professionals can spot such vulnerabilities and examine them for signs of bats. Oily spots, bat guano, and tampered structural material are common indications of roosting bats.
Bat Exclusion Services
If it has been determined that you indeed have bats in the attic, or perhaps in the wall voids or crawl space areas of your home, the next step is to remove them. This is known as bat exclusion. Bat exclusion services involve structural modifications and installations that direct the bats out of the residence through one-way devices, and then disables them from returning through strategic obstruction.
Bat Control
Once all the bats have left their roost, the wildlife control professionals can finish the process by sealing up all the open and vulnerable areas of your home that bats can access. This will prevent future bat infestations. Sealing and structural repair are a critical part of the bat control process, and may include wire mesh screening, vent protectors, roof repair, siding repair, and more. Additional bat control strategies include automatic or motion-sense lighting, ultrasonic repelling devices, predator radio, and more.
In comparison to bat exclusion, bat removal more specifically describes live bat trapping and relocation.
Again, it is imperative to have a trained professional remove bats in the attic because they have the proper knowledge, experience, and equipment to do so safely, and humanely. Accordingly, you should never attempt to harm, kill, trap, or touch a bat under any circumstances.
Attic Restoration for Bat Damages
Bats cause a lot of damage to the environment they occupy. They also generate a highly unsanitary and health-hazardous environment with their urine and dropping accumulations. Since attics are warmer and therefore, have more moisture in the air, wood rot can be exponential, and odors can become intolerably putrid.
Floorboards and ceilings can become saturated and warp, crack, or stain. Insulation is often destroyed by bat roosting activities and urine. For these reasons, the last step of the bat exclusion process is an important one. A trained and reputable bat removal company can provide cleanup and attic restorations for bat damages. They may even be able to perform homeowners’ insurance claim work.
