Like any other animal, once bats find food sources, they tend to remain in the area. This leads them to invade the cracks and crevices around your house looking for a roosting spot in the attic, under the house, or inside the walls.
Once a colony is established in your house, evicting them can be extremely difficult. You need to take immediate action as soon as you discover bats living in your house. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get bats out of your attic or home.
However, because bats are beneficial and often protected by state law, killing them is rarely an option. Instead, you need to get rid of them by repelling them or excluding them from your house. This is why you need repellents for bats.
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What Are The Different Types of Repellents For Bats?
A repellent, broadly defined, is any method that repels a creature from certain areas where it is not wanted. There are three main types of repellents for bats.
Bats generally have a wide wingspan compared to the thickness of their body. This enables them to enter buildings through long, narrow cracks. Placing a net with a 1/2″ mesh over the crack will act as an excellent repellent.
A hanging net, 1-2 feet wider and longer than the crack, and connected only at the top, will allow bats to exit the building (flying down when they encounter the net) but will prevent them from re-entering the building when they return.
This video explains in greater detail how to connect the netting and how it works.
Since bats rely heavily on their hearing to track their prey, anything that emits constant sounds will interfere with and muffle the sounds they use for hunting. Ordinary white noise is the best method of sound repellents but ultrasonic sounds will also work.
Offensive odors are also known to repel insects and animals. Some essential oils will work but mothballs are most effective.
How Do Repellents For Bats Work?
Repellents typically cause irritation in the target creature, prompting them to move away from the source. You can think of it as the “fingernails on a chalkboard” method.
Exclusion, using netting, repels bats by physically preventing them from re-entering your house after they leave to go hunting. This is, by far, the most effective method of repelling bats.
Are Repellents For Bats Dangerous To Pets or Children?
Nets and noise machines aren’t dangerous to children or pets. The same can’t be said for mothballs.
Mothballs use naphthalene (in older mothballs) or paradichlorobenzene (in new ones) to create toxic fumes in enclosed areas to kill moths that are eating people’s clothes. They cause irritation and harm to the lungs of mammals that breathe the fumes in the open air.
Pets and children should be kept away from areas where mothballs are being used, particularly in enclosed areas where the fumes can build up.
Top 5 Best Bat Repellents
- Tenax Hardware Net, 3 by 15-Feet
- Yogasleep Dohm White Noise Machine
- CLEANRTH CB006 Advanced Ultrasonic Bat Repelling System
- ET Pest Control – Bat Targeting System
- Enoz Original Moth Balls
Tenax Hardware Net, 3 by 15-Feet
This plastic 1/2″ mesh net is made from a dense polypropylene derivative. You can easily cut it to fit over the crack or crevice bats are using to gain entrance to your home.
Once it is installed correctly, attached only at the top, bats can leave but never return.
Think of it as the Hotel California, but in reverse. It’s the best bat repellent available, highly recommended by bat biologists, and extremely low cost compared to other methods.
For added effectiveness, give the bats somewhere else to live by putting up a bat house for them. This gives you the benefit of bats eating the mosquitoes around your house and yard without having to share your home with them.
Pros
- Recommended by bat biologists
- Exclusion is highly effective
- Made in the USA
Cons
- You’ll need a ladder and tools to install it
Yogasleep Dohm White Noise Machine
Bats depend on their sense of hearing to hunt and track down their prey. When you install a white noise machine in or near their nest, it disorients them.
They’re unable to “see” where they’re going and they’ll want to move away from it.
This white noise machine has an internal fan that continually spins, creating a non-looping white noise sound. The outer shell rotates to enlarge or shrink the openings the sound escapes through so you can control exactly how much noise it makes.
The closer you can put it to their nest, the better the results will be because the range on it is quite limited. However, there aren’t any chemicals associated with using it and it works tirelessly 24/7.
Pros
- Interferes with bat’s hearing
- No chemicals
- Works 24/7
Cons
- You’ll have to run an extension cord to it
- The range is limited
CLEANRTH CB006 Advanced Ultrasonic Bat Repelling System
As a general rule, we’re not fond of ultrasonic repellers but this one was built specifically with bats in mind. The reviews from customers are mixed but overall there were more positive results than negative ones.
It incorporates the latest technology, including using dual speakers and multiple sound settings to confuse bats. The ultrasonic sounds are beyond the range of human hearing but bats can easily hear them.
Because the sounds created by this system are restricted to a narrow range of ultrasonic frequencies, they’re not as effective as a white noise machine but the aim is identical, to confuse their echolocation abilities by swamping them with extraneous sounds.
Pros
- Latest technology
- Dual speakers
- Multiple settings for different bats
Cons
- Ultrasonic repellers aren’t always effective
ET Pest Control – Bat Targeting System
This is another, somewhat cheaper ultrasonic system designed to target bats, but this one has an extra feature we really appreciate, something the manufacturer calls “Electromagnetic High Impact Repelling” to reach inside wall voids.
Bats often nest inside walls where ordinary ultrasonic repellers can’t reach. The technology on this model is able to penetrate and deliver confusing sounds right into the nest where they’re hiding.
Conversely, in the open, it can cover up to 5,000 square feet.
It also tries to overcome the normal limitations of ultrasonic repellers by using alternating and variable siren effects to keep the bats off-balance and unable to adapt to the bombardment of sound.
Pros
- Covers 5,000 square feet
- Variable siren effect
- Designed for deep wall repelling
Cons
- Ultrasonic repellers aren’t always effective
Enoz Original Moth Balls
The active ingredient in these mothballs is paradichlorobenzene, sometimes known as p-Dichlorobenzene. It is similar to naphthalene but not as flammable.
It sublimates from a solid form directly into a gaseous state, filling the area with toxic fumes.
Paradichlorobenzene fumes cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness. It also irritates the nasal passages and eyes as well as potentially causing liver and kidney damage.
The effects are compounded when the fumes are trapped in enclosed areas.
In and of themselves, moth balls are easy to use but you need to take precautions to keep the fumes from spreading to the rest of your home. The fumes are extremely unpleasant and irritating for bats but it may take several weeks to drive them all out.
Pros
- Fumes irritate bat’s sensitive membranes
- Mothballs last for up to a month
- Easy to use
Cons
- Chemical fumes are hazardous to children and pets
Think you might need professional help with your bat problem? Use the form below to connect with local pest control pros:
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