When the bats awake from hibernation in the spring, they will be entrapped and may die or attempt to enter the living space to escape. Additionally, roost closure during the maternity season has been documented to result in lower reproductive success.īat exclusions and evictions should not be performed during the winter because big brown bats often hibernate in homes and attics. Waiting to evict the colony allows time for any young bats to mature and leave the house on their own. Attempts to evict or exclude bats during the maternity season (June and July) may result in the death of flightless young from being trapped inside and may also lead to an increase in the number of adult bats and orphaned pups that enter the living space. August through mid-October is when the pups have learned to fly and can leave the roost, but this is before the bats enter hibernation. During the month of May, temperatures are warm enough for bats to leave roost sites via one-way doors to hunt at night, but this is before the maternity season when mothers have their pups. Since bats are protected in Massachusetts, attempts to evict a colony of bats can only be made during the early spring ( during the month of May), or late summer ( from August 1st to mid-October). For information on bat houses, including installation recommendations, please see MassWildlife's Guide to Bat Houses. It may also be helpful to put up a bat house nearby to provide an alternate site for the bats. If weather conditions are not conducive to bat flight, the one-way doors should be left in place longer. Since not all bats will exit every night, one-way doors should be left in place for a minimum of five nights, including at least three consecutive nights of good weather (above 50 degrees F, winds below 10 mph, and no heavy rains) before the one-way doors are removed and the holes are sealed. One-way doors allow bats to leave the structure, but not re-enter. Massachusetts requires non-lethal approaches through the use of one-way doors. The only long-term solution to keep the bats out is to bat-proof your entire house by blocking all possible entrances that are 1/2 inch or larger using a good sealing material, leaving the one primary entrance open with a one-way door. Where there is a large colony of bats in house walls, homeowners may consider removing and relocating the bats. In some cases, with small numbers of bats, people don't mind their presence and concentrate on blocking holes and cracks leading into the human living quarters. It’s important to note that bats can squeeze through a hole as small as 1/2 inch. The presence of any wild animal, including bats, in a home is an obvious indication that the house is not weather-tight. During warmer months, most bats found in buildings (like homes) are either little brown bats or big brown bats.
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