Bats in the belfrey
 

After having told my parents, repeatedly, that there are bats in their attic and having repeatedly been told that I'm just crazy (i.e.- bats in the belfrey), I finally got them up there with me and showed them two. That'll serve them right for not listening to a former Boy Scout.

Anyway, now my mom is really freaked out and upset, and my dad doesn't know what to do. Personally, I'd just leave them there. They probably took up there because they felt it worked for them in some way or another, and they're probably keeping the bug-count down up there, aside from the fact that bats are just amazing creatures. But mom would feel better if they were gone, no matter how much I insist that they are not vampire bats, and I'll admit that the thought of possible rabies crossed my mind. Is there any way to get them to leave humanely? Likewise, actually more important to me, are there any more arguments that I can tell mom to get her to leave them there?

MODS- I don't know if this is the right section to put this in, but couldn't think of another place that it would go. Feel free to move it if you feel it should be somewhere else.

Where do you live? Vampire bats live in warm climates only. If you're in New England or something, you don't have much to worry about.

It's in Raleigh, NC. Like I said, I know that they aren't vampire bats. It's my mom that just assumes every bat in existance means to suck every drop of blood out of your body. It doesn't matter to her where vampire bats do and don't live to her. To my mom, the idea of a bat is mutually inclusive with Dracula. To her they're just evil. If only I could think of a way to get her to think bats would be beneficial.

And now my dad is bringing up the idea of an attic full of guano... bet you can guess my mom's reaction to that. Saving these bats is just getting continually harder.

Not sure what you can do to get rid of them but I'd be careful. I read a while back that they were having problems with pets in Washington State getting rabies from catching bats, mostly cats. I think they estimated that about 10% of the bats were rabies carriers.

My suggestion is to build a couple bathouses under the eaves of your house. You can't go wrong having some bats around to eat mosquitoes and such. Lucky dog, you!

Try placing the houses near the entry that the bats are using, then put some heavy guage metal net material over the hole. You probably shouldn't block it with a solid material since it is probably there to vent moisture from your attic.

Check out the bat house project here: http://www.batcon.org/bhra/index.html

Bats in the attic!

The link above suggets a number of ways to rid yourself of bats, it also suggests a combination of these methods would be the most effective solution.

• Bird Netting
• Bat Proofing
• Use of Lights
• Bat Houses

This would also mean keeping the bats outside the house, ready to pick off mosquitos and nasty biting bugs... :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot you guys. I really appreciate it. This helps a lot and the bat houses seem like a really good idea; keeping them outside the actual house so mom can relax a little yet still having them around to help. I'm really glad I went with my first instinct to post here and ask for help. It seems like there is always somebody/some people on TFP who knows something about everything.

Now to go pitch the idea and start building...

Bats rock.