If you have a bat in your home, we recommend that you have us capture it so you can submit it to your local health department for rabies testing. My Critter Pro cannot provide medical advice. Please call your local health department or doctor for further information. 

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About Bats - Life History

The most common bat that homeowners experience in Ohio is the big brown bat. They have a wingspan of up to 16 inches, which accounts for their large appearance in flight. With their wings closed, they are only about 3-5 inches long. Big brown bats are active dusk to dawn. Throughout the night, they feed on up to half their body weight in insects and roost periodically to digest their food. Big brown bats return to their roost during the day. They are social animals, with females usually roosting together during the summer. Males are sometimes solitary but will roost with females depending on the time of year. Females prefer to use the same roost in subsequent years which can result in colony sizes of 20-300 bats. Big brown bats mate in the fall before entering torpor and give birth in the spring. Mothers leave their pups in the roost while they feed and return to nurse them. Sometimes bats choose to use homes as their roost, which can lead to unwanted interactions with people.

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Why Protect Bats?

Bats are extremely valuable to agriculture. Their ravenous consumption of insects and large populations mitigate crop feeding pests. Bats are worth at least $3 billion annually to United States agriculture. However, diseases like white-nose syndrome are putting bat populations at risk. Since bats are vulnerable and have immense value to humans, it is important to have professional help you while dealing with a bat problem. My Critter Pro can remove bats from your home in a manner that is safe for the homeowner and the animals. 

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Identify a Bat Colony in Your Home

We recommend that you call us to perform an inspection to determine whether bats are present in your home. While performing an inspection, we look for the following evidence of bats:

• Guano

• Staining

• Odor

• Potential Entry Points

...and more! We use the evidence we find in your home combined with sightings, sounds, and other things to determine whether you have a bat colony. 

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Solving a Bat Problem

To prevent bats from entering your home we will perform an exclusion, sealing potential entry points 3/8 inch and larger. Bats may be entering the home in multiple locations. During the exclusion, valves are installed to allow bats to exit your home but prevent them from re-entering. After the bats have exited, valves must be removed so that final repairs can be made. There are many different areas on a home that a bat can exploit. Bat removal requires us to go over the exterior of your home to make sure all potential entries have been addressed. Following inspection, we will provide a detailed plan and quote to bat-proof your home. Furthermore, there are restricted times in which bats can be excluded in Ohio. From May 16 through July 31, bats may not be excluded while they nurse their pups. During this time, we can do preventative work and add the valves at a later date.