How to Get Rid of Bats in Your Attic

Fruit bats belong on trees rather than in your attic.

Bats have no interest in being around you, unless they want a drink from your swimming pool or other outdoor drinking area. These gentle creatures are very shy in the wild. Bats do bite and they carry rabies. So it is not a great idea to let them live in your attic. You can encourage them to move somewhere else.

Things You'll Need

• Extension cord
• Floodlights
• Work lights
• Fans
• Pantyhose
• Mothballs

Instructions

1. Light up their night. If your attic has an electrical outlet, all the better. If not, run an extension cord upstairs to your attic and turn on floodlights or work lights, in an area away from flammable material. Or set up a battery-run lantern or two. Bats have to have a dark space, and lights drive them off.

2. Run a fan or two with or without the lights, as they cannot tolerate fast-moving air. The bats can be expected to depart in a couple of days.

3. Cut the legs off old pantyhose and add a handful of mothballs to the resulting bag, recommends NC State’s Cooperative Extension. Suspend a dozen of these bags in the attic, especially near where the bats are entering.

Tips & Warnings

• Bats provide a tremendous service. A colony of 200,000 bats will consume approximately three tons of insects every night. They pollinate plants and help disperse seeds. They love mosquitoes and can consume about 4,000 of them in a night of flying around your neighborhood.

References

• Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences: Bats
• NC State Cooperative Extension: Bats