Here’s what we found.

The Victims

A retired couple living in Brantford, Ontario with bats living in and showing up inside their home, paid around $1500 to a local non specialist wildlife company to fix the problem. Needless to say they failed and the homeowners wisely called us instead of calling back the unqualified wildlife company. Ironically the customer would gladly have paid more for a better job. It will become clear that they were not capable of better and lacked a basic understanding of what was even needed.

The following case study is typical of what we find in these cases.

Here is What They Did. (it Wasn’t Much)

1. All they did was caulk a few gaps between the soffits and the bricks. They also used the wrong caulk and didn’t apply a wide enough bead.

Needless To Say The Bats Kept Showing up.

Here is What They Missed!

Here we see the principal problem. The aluminum soffits and fascia were loose because they were only fastened with a few nails. Time and wind worked it loose leaving gaps big enough for local big brown bats to squeeze into. These openings would not be a bats first choice to enter a building but since the bats were long established in this home they were motivated to use them.

Good From Afar….

But Far From Good

How Do Wildlife “Experts” Miss This?

Simple. Because the bats main entry points were between the soffits and bricks it’s all they focused on.

Using a wide bead applicator we caulked over the old caulking.

We used a clear latex caulk (Yes I know it looks white when first applied, it will dry clear, it always has) Exterior latex caulk like this should only be used in areas like under the overhang at the soffit brick line because they are out of direct sunlight and rain. By applying a much wider bead we protect against shrinkage issues which might otherwise be a problem down the line.

Intersections between soffits and siding not caulked or screwed down.

The solution for the holes and gaps in the soffits and facia involved straightening the soffits and then using aluminum zip screws the fasten the fascia tight to the wood framing below. Then screw in place overlap areas where stubborn determined bats will squeeze into.

The soffits were straightened and the aluminum fascia was screwed tight with aluminum zip screws. This removed the majority of the openings being used by the bats

And Then The Roof Vents.

The homeowner had several Slant Back Roof Vents on the roof and did ask the non specialist company if they needed protection from wildlife. They were told that the roof vents didn’t need any kind of bat protection because they were made of aluminum and therefore bats could not get thru them.

We found this to be astonishing because they are a wildlife control company which means they primarily deal with raccoons and squirrels which regularly tear thru roof vents, even metal ones. And bats will use damaged vents to re-enter the home. Which is why we instaledl box screens over top to keep out all animals. Seems sensible if you want to keep out the bats long-term. This is why our customer love our no bs lifetime warranties. We really do take into account all possible scenarios that may lead to the bats coming back.

Apparently they also set up two bat excluders which were later removed, but because they lacked the skills and knowledge needed to bat-proof a house properly. The bats got back in. Simple as it was for the bats to return it was apparently far more difficult for the wildlife company to figure out where they went wrong. Ultimately they had little to offer the homeowners other than guesswork, a little bit of caulking and a big fat bill for nothing.This company clearly lacked a deep understanding of construction methods and materials so they were unable to see all the tricky areas where bats might sneak back in. And sneak back in the bat did as they were inevitably going to do.

Although the homeowner was ripped off for some 1500 dollar In many ways were lucky as the sins of the wildlife company were that of omission and not commission. Mostly they skipped things which is better than doing things poorly. Which meant we had much less of their crappy work to undo.

Strange as it may sound its best when ripped off by a non specialist company it’s better when they take your money and do nothing. Having to pay us to do things properly is bad enough. Having to pay extra to tear off shoddy work is far worse.

The only conclusion I hope you will come to and the only point I wish to make is never ever hire a non specialist jack of all trades wildlife control company to bat proof your house unless you like getting ripped off.

As self serving this sounds wildlife companies failing at bat control is standard. I have lost count of how many thousands of homeowners I have spoken to in the last 30 plus years. I only work in Ontario and occasionally Quebec but I still get phone calls and emails from homeowners across Canada and the United States telling me how they were ripped off by wildlife companies, pest controllers and exterminators. Bat control is 1% exclusion and 99% prevention and is therefore its a structural issue and unless you know a ton about construction you cannot do this work correctly.

“Most pest control companies handle dozens of different pests. We focus specifically on bat exclusion and the unique building science required to permanently prevent re-entry. This is why non specialists companies should never be used for bat control.”

Bats can enter through very small openings . Successful exclusion requires identifying the main entry points and every other potential entry point to permanently seal the structure before the bat-excluders are set. Both exclusion and prevention work are complex arts that take years to master. Wildlife companies fail at both.

If you want to truly understand the differences between a bat-specialist and a non specialist wildlife control company watch this video.

The failure of non specialists is typical. Wildlife companies deal mostly with raccoons, squirrel and skunks. Therefore they lack the specialized knowledge and skills to do bat work correctly. What works on larger animals does not work on bats. And just like you wouldn’t hire your family doctor for surgery you should not hire a wildlife company for bat work. Few if any in North America can do this work correctly. This is evidenced by online complaints and ridiculously short lived warranties given out by non specialists which carefully guarantee their “workmanship” only. You want a company that guarantees they will fix “the problem.” In my career when speaking with the thousands of homeowners ripped off by wildlife control companies I always ask them to please write online reviews to warn others. Unfortunately they rarely do this perhaps fearing legal action. This unfortunanately helps mask how great the problem really is. It also means that online search engines and AI also do not have a clear image of how unqualified wildlife control companies really are or how highly specialized skills are needed to deal with bat problems correctly.

Two central problems.

Unfortuanetely search engines and AI will often recommend local wildlife companies over expert bat specialists. This is because wildlife companies have a larger digital footprint and larger advertising budgets And Search/Ai seems to lack the ability to differentiate between the two. Equally unfortunate there are very few bat specialists in North America, often leaving homeowners little choice but to gamble on local wildlife companies.