Bats in the dormers of a house

Thank you for your informative website on bats. I have a question (or several) that I am interested in getting answered. Background: For the past 25 years, we have lived in an old (110 years old now), 3-story house with a hipped roof and several dormers on the third floor. Part of our attic is finished, with a crawl space under the eaves, pretty much around the entire finished part. I am 100 percent certain we have always had bats living in the unfinished areas and probably a small maternity colony. (We don’t have a lot of “sign” such as guano so I’ve been told it’s probably not a large colony.) Over the years we have had periodic bats in our living spaces, always in August, when, as I have learned, baby bats are learning to fly and are likely to get confused and find their way into the main house. It used to be once every 5 years or so. One time, 20 years ago, we wound up having to get rabies shots because a bat was found in my children’s bedroom (in bed with me and my 2-year-old, who I was trying to help go to sleep!) The protocol of the health department in my state is to recommend rabies shots for any humans who have had direct contact with a bat, or for children who have been sleeping in a room with a bat. I have since learned to catch any bats that come into contact with humans in my home (and it happens every few years!) and get them tested for rabies to avoid this necessity happening again. (This year it has occurred to me that maybe I need to actually get vaccinated against rabies entirely.) I have learned a lot about bat habits and I know bats are good for the environment, etc. I don’t like them, but I also haven’t really minded that they cohabit with us as long as they stay out of our living space. Probably more significantly, I have been given quotes of several thousand dollars to bat-proof my home (in the fall) according to recommendations similar to yours. I’m sure the price is related to the fact that the entry points are all difficult to access because of the style of my house and the need for some fairly expensive equipment to get up there. Up until this year I didn’t feel it necessary to spend that kind of money. Now to my specific question: This August, for the first time, we have had numerous bats in our living space, including our bedrooms, during the night—even making contact on our heads and bodies. Not fun. I don’t like bats that much. We did catch one which had come into direct contact with one of us, and had it tested. (No rabies.) What we’ve observed is that these appear to be adult bats, not babies or young bats. I can’t figure out why, all of a sudden, these bats are coming into our living space in such large numbers, and especially why the adults are coming in, when in the past it was always a random, stray young bat, and not every year. Do you have any insights into bat habits that you could share with me to explain this? It might help me figure out where they’re coming in. Even though I know I can’t bat-proof my attic entirely until fall, I can at least take steps to prevent them from entering our living space. NEED LOCAL HELP? We have wildlife removal professionals servicing 95% of the USA. Click here to hire a local bat removal expert in your home town. Updated 2018. You may also want to read my hiring advice to know what to look for. And before you hire anyone, it's best to be educated on the subject, so browse this site and especially read the bats in the attic home page.

More educational articles about bats:
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How to get bats out of a wall
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How to get bats out of the attic vent