Never Ignore Chirping in the Attic
Ah, the sounds of summer: sprinklers spraying by day, crickets chirping by night. Most noises you hear during the summer months are pleasant and harmless. However, some noises – especially screeching and chirping coming from up in the attic – are a big sonic red flag.
That’s because, this time of year, baby bats are starting to get big enough to make audible sounds that could be an early warning sign that you’ve got a bat problem. Bats are typically very quiet creatures and can go unnoticed for months at a time if the attic isn’t someplace people in your home go very often.
Bats in the Belfry
Whether you know you’ve got bats or not, bats can pose a very real threat to your safety and health as well as that of your family. Bats carry a variety of diseases, including rabies and histoplasmosis, many of which can be transmitted to humans if we get too close.
Bats can damage your property, too. Their droppings, or guano, can cause structural damage, and the resulting fungus can potentially cause respiratory problems for humans in the house.
If you do discover bats living in your attic, it’s crucial that only a certified wildlife control professional is called to remove them, for both your safety as well as for the bats themselves. Because they are so beneficial to the environment, it is important to have an exclusion plan in place to safely encourage them back outdoors; however, moving them can be dangerous if you’re not properly trained and certified.
Bats Are Beneficial
Although harmful to humans, bats are tremendously helpful to the environment. They eat a ton of insects – almost literally. In fact, on a good night, bats can eat up to 500 mosquito-sized insects per hour. Not only that, but bats are pollinators, helping fertilize plants and crops just like the bees do.
Unfortunately, bats are under threat from human development. Populations have been plummeting around the world as construction and other environmental damage destroys more and more of their natural habitat.
Better Bat Control Methods
Because bats are so critical to the earth’s biosphere (not to mention your backyard), and because so many species are either threatened or endangered, it’s important to never harm them when removing them from a building or home.
To ensure their safety and survival, pest control professionals use specialized exclusion methods to allow them to continue safely exiting the attic (as they already do nightly to feed), without permitting them to re-enter in the morning. This naturally encourages them to find a more suitable natural habitat in the wild.
Hearing things when the sun goes down? Don’t wait and wonder. Click here to schedule a free inspection and get a free quote to have bats humanely excluded from your home today.
