Previous Next

Bats in Your Belfry

TUESDAY, 30 MARCH 2010


Bats are a tremendously misunderstood group of wildlife. Consider some of the clichés often applied to them - "blind as a bat," "gone batty," "crazy as a bat," or "like a bat out of hell" - and you can likely think of several others. In reality, bats are not blind at all. Though they can carry rabies, just being around them does not cause craziness or stupidity. Nor should they be associated with evil or categorized as "bad" wildlife. Countless Hollywood horror films like Dracula, Nightwing and BATS!, as well as popular children's stories like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Beauty and the Beast, have often misrepresented these fascinating mammals - falsely presenting them as evil and aggressive, blind, dirty, bloodsucking and harboring excessive levels of rabies.

How about the cliché, "Do you have bats in your belfry?" a quote often meant to imply ignorance or stupidity. The quote actually refers to bats in manmade structures such as attics, barns and steeples (sometimes containing bells, hence "belfry"). These empty, airy upper domestic structures are an allegory for empty, airy human brains.

Some folks literally do have bats in their belfry - or more precisely, in their homes, eaves or attics. These structures can be the perfect habitat for some species of colonial bats. This is particularly true each spring when they are having their young. For about a two-week period, from birth to fledging, these young bats can’t fly and often are encountered crawling around in walls, attic, chimneys - even inside rooms.

This often results in frantic telephone calls to municipal animal control offices, wildlife agencies or commercial pest control companies. Regrettably, most pest control companies are very reluctant to deal with bats and often refer the caller to a wildlife agency. Wildlife agencies can suggest steps homeowners may take to control problem bats. Agency input often is limited to advising a homeowner how to deal with their problem. Usually the last resort is a commercial wildlife control business. Depending upon the homeowner's situation (number of bats, size of building, etc.), this can be an expensive option.

So, what else should do you do when faced with bats in your belfry? First, in almost all situations, the bats need not be killed or eradicated, but can simply be excluded from the building. Exclusion is always preferable to eradication. In rare instances when eradication is recommended, it is best to use a professional wildlife control business.

In most cases, bats are entering and exiting a building at a specific location. By preventing access at this location, you effectively and simply solve the problem. Proceed by waiting until the evening when all the bats have exited the building. Locate the entrance site, and then cover it with boards, wire or hardware cloth. If flightless young are present, it is best to wait until they are flying and have also left before covering the opening. It is extremely important to wait until all bats have left or you may trap bats in the building. If you have ever had the stink of a dead mouse in your house, then you appreciate the wisdom of not trapping bats and causing them to die within your house. If you have more than one opening, you may have to close off all of them. In addition, there are devices that can be installed that act as one-way doors - allowing bats out, but not back in. Sometimes the problem is not just the bats but also their guano (bat droppings) that has accumulated over a long period. For health and sanitation reasons, guano should be cleaned up.

In very rare instances where the bats are so numerous, the guano so extensive, and/or exclusion is impossible due to the nature of the structure, the entire building has to be razed or destroyed. This usually happens in abandoned buildings where the problem has developed over a long period.

Though bats can occasionally cause problems within buildings, they generally should not be viewed in a negative way. Alabama's bats are indeed highly beneficial creatures eating a prolific number of insects each night. Worldwide, bats provide notable health benefits by controlling some disease-causing insects. Some tropical bats disperse plants seeds in their droppings, which is very important for reseeding tropical forests. Some bats are pollinators and are critical to the very existence of some plants including mangoes, dates, breadfruit, figs, bananas, and organ pipe and Saguaro cacti.

Next time when you’re asked, "Do you have bats in your belfry?" perhaps you can say, "Not anymore. I've managed them very well - thank you very much!"

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama's natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.

Previous Next