The Bat in My House Disappeared!

The Bat in My House Disappeared!

My name is Benjamin Vaughan and I am a residential bat control specialist. If you haven’t already I recommend that everyone watch my video on residential bat problems first. That video explains how and why bats get into our houses & living spaces.
BTW What I am about to tell you mostly applies to residential bat problems in Ontario.

Many of my customers tell me they encountered a bat inside their home and then it disappeared and they cannot find it. Many have spent days turning over furniture and cleaning out closets in a desperate attempt to find the missing bat. And they naturally wonder where the heck did it disappear too? Fortunately there is a simple explanation for what happened to all the missing bats.

In Ontario more than 95% of all the bats that show up inside houses and then disappear are big brown bats. And I believe that probably 100% of my jobs involve big browns. The big brown bat is the most abundant species of bat in North America and they live quietly in millions of Ontario houses, in fact most homeowners will not even know they have bats.

Big browns typically enter and exit buildings high up and only need a tiny gap to squeeze into your roof. They are quiet, nocturnal and most of their colonies are small which makes its easy for homeowners to completely miss them.
Most of my customers discover the problem when one suddenly shows up

inside and if you are reading this you may know that the bat can disappear just as quickly.

Most of my customers assume incorrectly that the missing bat came in a door or window, however bats actually show up inside because they live in the walls of houses and not attics, which are too hot in summer and too cold in winter. After entering the roof they use gaps beside plumbing pipes and chimneys to get into the walls and in some houses can travel all the way down to an unfinished space like a basement or furnace room where most of them make their first appearance, once inside they easily move from room to room by crawling under doors.

What my customers also don’t realize is that bats will disappear or go missing because some can crawl back up into the walls they came out of and if they did all the searching in the world for that missing bat will not turn it up.

If you look at the unfinished basement ceiling of a typical homeowner who can’t find the bat you can see the gaps beside pipes and ducts that bats use to get out of the walls and into the basement. In many of my clients basements where the bats disappeared they can easily crawl back up into the walls.

Also bats vanish from my clients homes sometimes because they disappear down heat registers into the duct work especially if they are frightened or if they have been isolated in a room with no other way out. Sometimes they can get out of the ducts or will come out another heat register but many end up dying in ductwork.The corpses of vanished bats are frequently found by professional duct cleaners especially by the furnace filter.

Many of bats that come inside are genuinely lost and after disappearing for a while they usually turn up again as they must find a way out or will soon be dead from dehydration.

In winter hibernating bats may vanish after coming inside to clean themselves, mate or move to a better hibernation spot. Most of those bats will disappear if left alone because they will go back inside the walls and into hibernation.

bat removal guide.

When your missing bat shows up again you have a few options.

If you are certain that there has been no contact with the bat, here are the steps to follow to get it out of your home.

Step 1 : Isolate the bat. I always recommend that my customers close doors and the other parts of the house to stop the bat vanishing again. Put a towel under any doors to prevent the bat from crawling under it and place heavy book over any heat register as many bat go missing when they disappear down the heat register and end up dead in your duct work.

Step 2: Open a door or window as close to the bat as possible. The bat is lost and wants to get out of your home where it can find food and water. I always tell my customers the the bat wants to get away from all the scary humans, the bat will not miss us. It will eventually (could take up to an hour sometimes) sense the fresh air movement and disappear into the night.

Step 3: Turn off anything that makes noise. I also tell my clients that loud noises often confuse bats’ echolocation systems. Many bats go missing because they are attempting to escape the unpleasant noises. Turning off anything that makes noise will go a long way in helping the bat to find its way out.

Step 4: Keep an eye on the bat. Don’t let it disappear or go missing again. Many of our customer spend hours searching in the house/room for the bat if it vanishes. When it does fly out, it will be sudden – and quiet. It may circle the room from time to time before it discovers the open window and disappears into the night.

Step 5. Removing the bat. If the bat does not seem to be exiting the room on its own or you are feeling impatient, you can attempt to capture the bat and release it outside.When we are at work on a job we always wear gloves and long pants when attempting to capture the bat. Here are a few methods.

Throw a towel over the bat. Once the bat is under the towel, scoop it up, making sure to wrap the bat inside. Be sure not to crush it!

Whenever we remove a bat for our clients we usually place an empty laundry basket or wastepaper basket over the bat. Then take a newspaper, magazine or other similar object and slide it between the wall/floor and the bat. Make sure not to pinch the bat.

Use a small-meshed net to capture the bat. ( A large-meshed net may capture the bat as well but it may injure it as the bat will likely become entangled in the net and require you to use a more hands on approach.

Attention! to all my clients. Please Do Not: Swing at the bat with a tennis racket or a baseball bat. I know you are worried it will disappear again if you don’t get it now but that is unlikely.

Step 6: I warn all my clients that if you hear a clicking noise it’s probably your missing bat but it also means that the bat is scared and may actually attempt to bite. Once you have found the missing bat and have it inside a towel or a container, bring it outside, some distance from the house. Make sure that any doors or windows are now closed. Remove the towel or newspaper and turn the container on its side. The bat should be able to get out and disappear into the night (or day). I remind all my customers that it is not easy for the bat to take off from the ground, so if possible, push the container or towel as close to a tree as possible.

Finally, I ask all my clients, please do not to harm or kill the bat. I know you worry t the bat will vanish again if you don’t.  The bat wasn’t missing it just got lost. It is probably missing its family and it will not go after you. However as I tell all my customers. We will need to bat-proof your home and exclude any other bats or this will happen again.