There is not always a perfect answer for what to do in unexpected encounters with wildlife. There are very handy guides available online for step-by-step instructions to follow if you find a bat indoors or outdoors. However, I still receive a lot of questions about different scenarios and when bats need our help, or need to be left alone.
That said, here is a list of frequently asked questions (by no means exhaustive, but I will update as a I receive more).
*Disclaimer: I am not a bat removal expert. I have formed the following answers based on available research and personal experience working with bats professionally for 6 years. Always follow the guidelines of your state wildlife managers and CDC recommendations regarding health and safety.
- I found a bat roosting outside/on a building/on a tree in daylight! Should I rescue it?
A lot of people seem to have heard somewhere that bats are never outside in daylight unless they are sick, but that is not necessarily true. Not all bats are crevice-dwelling to begin with–some bats roost on tree limbs or trunks, or in piles of leaves. Juveniles often seem to get confused and roost out in the open on buildings. As long as the bat is roosting out of the reach of predators (and it’s not inside your house), leave roosting bats alone.
If a bat is seen during daylight hours on the ground or easily within reach of predators, you may want to relocate it to a tree or safer place up high. Never handle bats with bare hands. The best option is to use thick gloves, or give the bat the end of a stick to grab onto before you relocate it. Grounded bats can have difficulty taking off from the ground. A higher roost will give a healthy bat an opportunity to fly away later when it gets dark.
A grounded bat that seems unable to fly, or that does not fly away later when it gets dark, could be injured or ill. Never try rehabilitating a bat on your own. Contact your regional nongame biologist or game warden for advice.
2. I found a bat that looks dead. Can I keep it/taxidermy it?
Bats have an incredible physiology that allows them to lower their body temperature to nearly freezing. This is called torpor in the short-term and hibernation over the winter. A bat in torpor will be stiff and unresponsive with closed eyes. It can seem a lot like they are dead, but they are not. Although it might seem cold outside to you, they are perfectly fine as long as the place they are roosting is not below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the bat actually is dead, the bat will remain unresponsive even at warm temperatures. But if you are not certain, the best action is always just to leave the bat alone. Keep an eye on it and wait until nighttime to see if the bat flies away. I do not recommend keeping the bat or trying to taxidermy it because a) you don’t know whether the cause of death was a human-transferrable illness such as rabies and b) it could be a protected species and therefore illegal to keep. Read more on what to do if you find a dead bat at this link.
3. I have a bat inside my house! What do I do?
A single bat inside your house is probably lost and confused. For the exact steps on safely removing the bat, read detailed steps at batworld.org. If this is a common occurrence, however, you will want to identify when and where the bats are entering your house. They can fit in tiny gaps of 1/2 or even 1/4 inch; remember that they will be accessing this gap on the wing. It is more likely to be somewhere in the attic or second story of the house.
4. I have multiple bats/a colony living in my attic!
Even if you absolutely adore bats, it is not a good idea to let a bat colony roost in your attic. They produce a lot of poop over the years which will eventually become a problem. It’s not ideal for either party to share a living space.
The best time to take action is when the bats have left for the season. Bats in North America typically do not overwinter in houses, barns, or bat houses. Houses are kept too warm in the winter when bats need to enter torpor, and unheated barns and bat houses become too cold for bats to survive. They will leave sometime in the fall. This is the perfect time to work to exclude bats from returning to your house next season (excluding bats in the summer may leave vulnerable pups to starve in your attic when their mothers can’t return to them).
Again, seek advice from your local wildlife agency or a reputable exclusion service. Do not use any service that excludes bats while they are raising young in the summer, and especially any service that poisons or seals bats in. Poisoned bats will die inside your home, which is bad for both of you. Additinally, any service that traps and removes bats will have to euthanize the entire colony for liability reasons. Sometimes removal is necessary for human safety.
5. I regularly encounter bats at work as a roofer/builder/bridge inspector. How can I work safely?
It’s startling to have a bat suddenly dive toward your face when you aren’t expecting it. Unfortunately, both the bat and the human (potentially standing on a precarious ladder) are terrified by these sudden encounters. It helps to know when you might encounter one and prepare yourself mentally first.
Snug vertical cracks are ideal for bats. That can be unintentionally warped or loose siding, roof tiles, or other human structures that we don’t generally think of as bat habitat. If you hear bats squeaking inside a structure and suspect they may come flying out at a disturbance, you may choose to 1) delay the work until the bats are gone, 2) install a bat exclusion mesh (when outside of the maternity roost season June-Aug) and wait to complete the work in a few days when the bats are gone, or 3) consult your local game and fish office.
It may help to know that bats are not aggressive and will try to get away from you if possible. However, if you do unknowingly reach in to a crevice with bare hands and receive a bite, seek medical attention for a post-exposure rabies vaccination immediately.
FAQ was last updated October 2019. If your question wasn’t answered, post it below!