Bats in the Attic

Bilberry

Dear Belinda502

As a person who works for Bat Conservation Ireland, I am sorry to hear of your experiences. Any calls that get through to me (and my apologies that you were not able to get through to me a couple of years back in previous queries), Bat Conservation Ireland would take such incidences very seriously.

The reason the 1890 number is listed first is because BCIreland is a charity and while we will provide as much advice over the phone, the NPWS is the primary source for wildlife queries. This service is a voluntary service on behalf of BCIreland while the 1890 number is a government department.

You are very correct to point out that bats should not be handled with bare hands, something that I do emphaise to anybody that rings me, and this is a standard precaution that should be taken when dealing with any wild animal.

Please ring me if you have any further queries.
Thanks

mosesposes

Hiya, I wonder if anyone can help me here. I'm a bit at my wits end. I live in a dormer bungalow and have currently thousands of bats. I'm not exaggerating. They use three separate entrances, so I don't know if I have more than one colony or not. The upstairs is almost unusable now as the stench is overpowering. Windows have to be left open day and night to try and diminish it, but to no avail. This is also a security risk for me as I have to go to work with windows open. One lot live in a cavity space beside the upstairs bath. They can be heard all over that area and the tapping, scratching and twittering they make all over the walls and roof sound like hailstones hopping off a tin roof. Another lot are in the front of the attic, another lot in the back. I can not use any of the water in the house at this stage except the cold kitchen tap. The rest of the water stinks of ...I don't know what? Dead bat or just their droppings. I tried to go into the attic the other day to check my tank (which has a cover). In that misadventure, several 'fell' out of the attic on top of me and I had to spend the evening frightening the life out of myself rescuing the feckers. I could powerhose my outside areas every night and by morning the whole place is littered with their droppings again. Some of the droppings is larger than others...so maybe I have two species...I don't know. I hear them swarming in the morning and the sky is literally black with them, so i'm not kidding when I say thousands. I'm at the stage where I want to sell my house rather than live another minute with them. I rang Bat Conservation Ireland who were not at all helpful in any kind of practical way. She suggested I leave them be and I did all summer and now I have had to leave my house and stay with a friend as I can't bear it a minute longer. The babies are now up and about as far as I can tell. So...My aim is to get them to leave and not return. I don't want to kill them. Will loud music hasten their departure for example? Before you guys go mad...remember they have turned my house into a stinking hovel, the water is a health and safety risk, they disturb my sleep and I'm terrified of the little feckers. Above all, living with thousands of them is just too much. Help.

Capercaille

mosesposes wrote: »

Hiya, I wonder if anyone can help me here. I'm a bit at my wits end. I live in a dormer bungalow and have currently thousands of bats. I'm not exaggerating. They use three separate entrances, so I don't know if I have more than one colony or not. The upstairs is almost unusable now as the stench is overpowering. Windows have to be left open day and night to try and diminish it, but to no avail. This is also a security risk for me as I have to go to work with windows open. One lot live in a cavity space beside the upstairs bath. They can be heard all over that area and the tapping, scratching and twittering they make all over the walls and roof sound like hailstones hopping off a tin roof. Another lot are in the front of the attic, another lot in the back. I can not use any of the water in the house at this stage except the cold kitchen tap. The rest of the water stinks of ...I don't know what? Dead bat or just their droppings. I tried to go into the attic the other day to check my tank (which has a cover). In that misadventure, several 'fell' out of the attic on top of me and I had to spend the evening frightening the life out of myself rescuing the feckers. I could powerhose my outside areas every night and by morning the whole place is littered with their droppings again. Some of the droppings is larger than others...so maybe I have two species...I don't know. I hear them swarming in the morning and the sky is literally black with them, so i'm not kidding when I say thousands. I'm at the stage where I want to sell my house rather than live another minute with them. I rang Bat Conservation Ireland who were not at all helpful in any kind of practical way. She suggested I leave them be and I did all summer and now I have had to leave my house and stay with a friend as I can't bear it a minute longer. The babies are now up and about as far as I can tell. So...My aim is to get them to leave and not return. I don't want to kill them. Will loud music hasten their departure for example? Before you guys go mad...remember they have turned my house into a stinking hovel, the water is a health and safety risk, they disturb my sleep and I'm terrified of the little feckers. Above all, living with thousands of them is just too much. Help.

Trying to remove them by any means is illegal. Using loud music to try and make them abandon their home is illegal. If you cause them to abdanon the house now, will probably mean all the babies will starve to death.

OpenYourEyes

Hopefully Swifts or Bilberry will be able to advise you better mosesposes - worth contacting your local ranger and telling them that you're going to do something to sort out your bat problem, and that you want them to call round and advise you

Dufferman2011

Hi , I've a similar problem, the stench is unbearable not to mention the noise and their excrement ( which causes flu like symptoms).

For an endangered species there are an awful lot of them around!

What will the ranger do ?

Will they remove the bats at this time?

If the bats are damaging a dwelling house , stinking it out and causing people to evacuate their homes then surely they have to be removed as a matter if course ???

Please advise

OpenYourEyes

Honestly its not something I have any experience in. As was said above, it is illegal to disturb them - but obviously if they're causing a significant problem then something has to be done. A ranger should be able to advise you as to how you can legally solve your bat problem - but I'd imagine it may involve waiting until a suitable time of year (i.e. when they aren't breeding and when they likely to be able to find an alternative roost).

Tell them roughly how many bats you have, the problems you're having, and that you are going to do something about it this year for sure but that you'd rather not inadvertently do the bats any harm, so you want them to tell you what you can/cant and should do

mosesposes

thanks for your advice guys. Re the illegal matter, like I said I don't want to kill them, but try and put yourself in my shoes. I paid a lot of money for my house, I've only had it a year, and put a lot of time and effort into making it nice. It is disgusting now. I couldn't invite anyone into it with the smell and I am finding it terrible living there myself. I've looked up my local rangers number, but I'm afraid they will be like the Bat Conservation people who suggested I climb into the 'bat cave' on a weekly basis and put down kitty litter to help with the smell and otherwise just live with them. I have a significant fear of the critters, and whether it's irrational or not is irrelevant, it is still there. You might as well invite me to crawl into a small dark space with a thousand rats. I simply can not do that, nor do I want to. One of the reasons I bought the house is that a significant portion of the upstairs is partitioned off into two storage areas which include the eaves. This I use for storage as I have a lot of work equipment. Currently I cannot use or enter these spaces as they are occupied by the bats. The Bat Conservation Woman suggested that this area should be left to the bats. So one third of my upstairs space is no longer available to me. If I talk to the ranger, I am pretty sure he will have the same attitude. Bats first, people second. If I ring him, will the severity of my problem be taken into account for example? Will he remove them and at what cost? As my house is also used as a winter roost, If I wait till September to attempt an exclusion, do I risk the feckers digging in for the winter as, from what I've read, the window available to exclude them is pretty small?

I think the bats that fell out of my attic were babies as they were considerably smaller than others I have rescued previously and they flew away when placed outside...so is it possible that they are already able to fly and it would be safe to exclude them now?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Contact the NPWS as suggested. Any action to disturb or remove them is illegal. The ranger should take action to relieve your situation - if he does not then just insist that he acts.

OpenYourEyes

Like Srameen said, explain your situation and if necessary demand that he helps you sort it out. Like I said, you might have to wait another couple of weeks for a suitable time to ensure the bats aren't turfed out and left to die, but otherwise there should be help and advice available to you.

fryup

people, just hold out till august/september...its a summer roost and they should be gone by then

then contact your local bat rangers they'll send someone out to double check they're all gone and give you the all clear to block up any gaps and holes in your roofs/attics

swifts need our help!

No one has to keep their bats. Don't contact rangers. Go straight to Bat Conservation Ireland, phone number above, and ask for advice. Here in N Ireland mid to late August is the time to move them on.

Is your house made of stone or just has badly fitting eaves?

Capercaille

mosesposes wrote: »

I think the bats that fell out of my attic were babies as they were considerably smaller than others I have rescued previously and they flew away when placed outside...so is it possible that they are already able to fly and it would be safe to exclude them now?

Young bats spend a lot of their time with their mothers much longer than similar small mammals like rats. If they are prevented from getting back to their mothers they will starve.

mecksimay

It is very important that you contact your NPWS conservation ranger or district conservation officer with this problem if you are living in the Republic of Ireland. Bats are protected by the Wildlife Act which is enforced by NPWS.

You can get the numbers for your local NPWS office from the following webpage http://www.npws.ie/contactus/ Click on the "contact us" link which follows "Local NPWS Contact numbers:"

I think that advising people not to contact their local conservation ranger is not good advice.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

mecksimay wrote: »

It is very important that you contact your NPWS conservation ranger or district conservation officer with this problem if you are living in the Republic of Ireland. Bats are protected by the Wildlife Act which is enforced by NPWS.

You can get the numbers for your local NPWS office from the following webpage http://www.npws.ie/contactus/ Click on the "contact us" link which follows "Local NPWS Contact numbers:"

I think that advising people not to contact their local conservation ranger is not good advice.

I would endorse this. Advice to contact the Bat Conservation group is misguided.

swifts need our help!

Why is it misguided? BCI aren't going to make people keep their bats and should have excellent advice

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Why is it misguided? BCI aren't going to make people keep their bats and should have excellent advice

38 years of experience tells me they need to contact NPWS. Advice on how to live with Bats or blocking up access at the correct time of year is all very well but if the OP must have them removed it is the NPWS they want.

OpenYourEyes

I'm sure, if necessary, the NPWS ranger will contact BCI. Otherwise the ranger can handle it. Don't forget some of the prevous posters have said they contacted BCI and got no helpful advice. If anyone was to ask me about a bat problem I would tell them to contact their local ranger and BCI until they get the advice they need. To recommend they don't contact their ranger is wrong.

swifts need our help!

I'm here

patgmail

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Why is it misguided? BCI aren't going to make people keep their bats and should have excellent advice

Maybe in the UK the bat conservation groups will actively remove bats for a householder but in this country it would Be the national parks and wildlife service. the bat conservation group will just tell you how to live with bats even if you have no intention of doing so. I can understand how some people just do not want to have bats in the house at all and want rid immediately - me I've had them in my house about twenty year with no problems and none ever in any of the rooms. any way best advice for ROI is call NPWS.

Bilberry

Hi Mosesposes,
ah I am sorry to hear that you are having such a problem with the bats in your attic - that many especially in this current fab weather sounds like it is not great situ at all. The advice given to you by BCIreland and indeed what has been reliterated by some of the posters here, is that BCIreland can only give advice over the phone about dealing with the bats for the summer until they leave. Anything in relation to removal which is so difficult to do, because of young bats that are not able to fly, can only be dealth with by the NPWS. It is a licenced procedure.

In relation to the water - if there is a smell off it - then it does sound like there is something dead in it. I see that you have a cover on the tank - it may have slipped off at some section of it and with young bats in the attic at present, falling into the tank can happen. This really needs to be checked - I know that this is a stressful undertaking.

Would you be willing to try the BCIreland number again and inform of the numbers of bats in the attic.

belinda502

Is it possible for bats to come through down lighters (that is lights that are recessed into the ceiling). We are still in the process of blocking off holes and have blocked off all the holes in the bathroom but there was one in the bathroom last night.

mecksimay

belinda502 wrote: »

Is it possible for bats to come through down lighters (that is lights that are recessed into the ceiling). We are still in the process of blocking off holes and have blocked off all the holes in the bathroom but there was one in the bathroom last night.

Did you have your bathroom window open by any chance? When bats are trying to return to their roost they can get confused when trying to enter the entrance to the attic, if that's where they are roosting.

With regards to the bats coming through the ceiling via the recessed lighting, if there is a gap in these recesses which creates a hole through the ceiling to the attic then bats would be able to crawl through, is this the case? Bats are not rodents so they won't gnaw through anything, they just make use of what gaps are available to them already.

It sounds like you have a major problem if bats are constantly accessing the living space in your home. You should contact your NPWS conservation ranger for advice. As it is illegal to disturb a bat roost, the ranger should be available to visit your home and give you advice and suggestions on how to deal with the problem. I posted a link earlier to find out the number of your local NPWS office, here is the link to the page again http://npws.ie/contactus/ and click "contact us" following "Local NPWS Contact numbers"

Alun

I've no direct experience of bats in the house myself, but my parents in law in England moved into an old house cum village shop/post office in a small village in Hampshire and lived there for nearly a year in blissful ignorance that they had a large bat colony in their attic until one year the local bat conservation group called round one evening to ask if they could do their regular annual survey. Up until that point they had no idea the bats were even there let alone have any hassle from them.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Alun wrote: »

I've no direct experience of bats in the house myself, but my parents in law in England moved into an old house cum village shop/post office in a small village in Hampshire and lived there for nearly a year in blissful ignorance that they had a large bat colony in their attic until one year the local bat conservation group called round one evening to ask if they could do their regular annual survey. Up until that point they had no idea the bats were even there let alone have any hassle from them.

This is the case in most homes with bat colonies. Usually people are completely unaware that the bats are there. Only I found droppings in my attic many years ago, I would have been none the wiser that they were there.

dingding

Sorry for dragging up an old thread anyone have a positive outcome where the rangers or the bat conservation people removed the bats.

swifts need our help!

You do not have to keep your bats!! Bats are protected under European laws so contact bat conservation Ireland for guidance.

blackis200

dingding wrote: »

Sorry for dragging up an old thread anyone have a positive outcome where the rangers or the bat conservation people removed the bats.

Apply for exclusion licence.

goulders

dingding wrote: »

Sorry for dragging up an old thread anyone have a positive outcome where the rangers or the bat conservation people removed the bats.

why do u ask have u got bats ??/

dingding

I was looking at purchasing a house, rather more of a renovation project. When viewing the house I noticed a couple of dead bats in the living space. As previous posters said they probably made their way from the attic and could not make their way back.

I was just wondering what would be involved. The auctioneer had not visited the house in over six months and there was a very strong smell which dissipated very quickly.

While the house could be lovely, it is a cottage over 200 years old and listed. I am just trying to assess whether the project would be worthwhile and trying to assess the risk involved.

I found this thread very informative and I am just trying to see what the options are. I would not wish to harm the bats in any way, and as the cottage is beside a river they sound very useful.

Thanks for all the help.

PS, I have added the link to the "Exclusion License" as mentioned above. https://www.npws.ie/licences/disturbance/bats-or-otters

Alun

TBH I'd feel honoured to have bats nesting in my house, although I can imagine circumstances in which they may be less than desirable.

I've seen setups where, when people have been renovating houses which have a history of bats occupying the attics, they've built in dedicated bat roosting spaces into the attic, isolated from the rest of the attic, and have put in entrances either in the eaves or using special bat tiles to encourage them just into that space, blocking up any other entrances.

I found this while googling which, although it's UK based regarding the legal side of things, has lots of handy info ...

https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/bats/