Bat Shit

Hi Everyone,

We bought this 150 year old homestead a couple of years ago and have discovered there is a bat infestation in the attic -- the smell is coming into the house. We have seen hundreds of bats flying out of the attic. My partner put a trap that enables them to leave but not come back in one spot but god knows how many more entry points there are. Question: is the bat shit dangerous to our health as I read online the spores cause an airborne lung disease. Anyone with experience about this - please share!

Also how to best deal with this situation -- we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you


Julia

I too love old houses, but getting them sealed tight can often be a tough job.  If you guys are not able to do it I'm sure you can find a contractor to do the work.

As for material in the attic, that may indeed require the services of a specialized company.  I'm not sure about health risks, it would make a great base for a really hot compost pile!

Please keep us posted as to what you find out and what you end up having done.

Peace

Personally, I am worried this could be a significant health concern. Bats -- for all their immense worth in the ecosystem -- can also carry a wide range of zoonotic diseases. Not good company in close quarters with humans.

To repel? There are some pretty serious (i.e., giant loudspeaker) units that deter mice and squirrels in a hearing range above that of humans and dogs/cats. I wonder, would these annoy the bats enough to send them off to better accommodations?

Sometimes it takes a full bore ozone treatment to clean/sterilize an enclosed space.

If you're getting up close and personal with batshit, a P100 respirator, rubber gloves and aggressive cleaning of coveralls is the absolute minimum. You cannot improvise the necessary protection with old t-shirts. My 2c.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote: I wonder, would these annoy the bats enough to send them off to better accommodations?

There are plans on the web for bat houses, and if you've got a fair sized colony in the attic, I'd go for several large ones far enough from the house that you don't have to worry about future shit.

I agree with what Deane and Douglas have said: yes, bat shit can make humans deadly ill. Many can carry rabies. Do your research and have quality gear before tackling the "deposits" they've left behind.

Yes, we need them - they're awesome mosquito harvesters, and mosquitos can hurt us also. I still feel that solving this problem requires not just evicting them from where you don't want them, but genuinely helping them find alternatives.

I am sooo jealous of your attic Julia!
Ok, manure can smell, which can be an issue. If I were you, I would not seal the entrances of the bats, but I would seal the bottom of the attic, so it doesn't smell downstairs.

Then I would use the manure in the garden, and enjoy the pest control they provide: They reduce the mosquito population to a point where malaria was eliminated from Texas (see link below).
Some studies have also found that having bat colonies around maize fields could provide enough pest control to avoid insecticides.
Moth species which are pests in maize are not only eaten by the bats, the ultrasounds bats make are also pushing them to hide, and starve instead of infesting new plants.
For this reason, many ecological farmers would be very envious of your bat colony in the attic, and are even building homes to try to attract them.

Did you know that bats around the world are threatened by a new fungal disease? In addition to that, their populations decline due to habitat loss, less and less hollow trees, attics are shut, etc.


https://www.notechmagazine.com/2018/02/biological-pest-control-bat-towers.html

Now about the health issue: Bats can be hosts of some diseases. This is due to their temperature being higher, so they survive diseases which are dangerous for humans. However, not all bats carry these diseases.
It would be the same as killing all beavers in Britain because they could get a certain disease. Or killing all chicken and cows because we could get bird flu.

To avoid these diseases, you can wear a face mask when working in the attic, change and wash your clothes and shower after working upstairs.

Which country/region are you located in? There might be some bat protection group supporting you with your struggles.

if you're in North America, the big concern is rabies. If you're in other regions, there are emerging viruses involving bats (henipa, marburg, and of course coronaviruses) alongside rabies that are best avoided. That's not even considering the salmonella, shigella, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, fungal stuff.... (more reading here if you like https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7122164/ )

I personally would not put that manure in my compost pile or garden, I would bury it somewhere away from food sources and digging animals, and I would definitely use a respirator and hazmat suit when cleaning it up. I'd also consider calling your state Fish and Game and local animal control departments, maybe anonymously, to see if they offer any sort of help or resources getting rid of the bats. I don't think I'd tackle bat removal myself. (and I'm mentioning anonymously because where I live, if you report bats the town animal control comes out to poison them-- it's the local law-- and i don't like that option. your local options may vary)

Bat guano is sold here in every store here that carries fertilizers.  I wouldn't have any issue at all using it in my gardens.

I disagree with the responder that said its okay to leave them up there.  Eventually their guano may destroy the ceiling between you and the bats and then you'd have an even bigger problem.  I think they need to be evicted, but not killed because bats are important ecologically.  I like the idea of bat houses, and using the guano as fertilizer, people have done that forever.  But yeah, you need personal protective equipment, because that shit's dangerous to touch.

Bizarre sidenote.  When people film bat documentaries in caves, they have to wear a respirator etc. because the amonia in the guano is so unsafe in an enclosed space.  I have these friends who don't clean out the litterbox enough for all their cats and the house smells so badly of amonia that no one likes going over there anymore haha.  I've told her its getting dangerous, but I don't think she takes me seriously.