Preventing Conflicts With Bats

For some people bats don't present a problem. For others, bats can be a worry, especially when they become unwanted guests in an attic, inside a wall of a home, or inside the home itself.

Unlike rodents, bats only have small teeth for eating insects, so they do not gnaw holes in walls, shred material for nests, chew electrical wiring, or cause structural damage to buildings. Damage caused by bats is usually minimal, but they can be noisy and alarming, and the smell of bats and their droppings can be offensive. It is possible to learn to coexist with bats, and to benefit from their presence.

If a conflict arises, first make sure bats are the cause by observing the following:

Bat droppings: Bats defecate before entering buildings and places where they roost. In buildings where there is an attic roost or a roost in a wall, an accumulation of droppings may fall through cracks and stain ceilings and walls. Insects associated with bat droppings rarely bother humans.

Droppings are usually the size of a grain of rice, crumble easily between the fingers, and contain shiny, undigested bits of insects. The droppings of mice are much harder and more fibrous.

This information was provided by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Russell Link and Michael Holmquist

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