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esveer
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 01:45 am |
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| I recently discovered that the attic of the house I moved into last December has apparently been home of hundreds of bats. I discovered them because of a smell that slowly permeated the house to the point that, at its peak, I could barely take a breath in the house. I have been forced to stay in a hotel the last two weeks while my landlord had lights installed in the attic, the guano bagged and removed, and the insulation removed. He also installed spotlights in the yard. Most of the bats appeared to have moved on after the lights were installed; however, there were a few that lingered. As of 4 days ago I was assured all my "roommates" had moved out so I moved back in last night. Last night the house was relatively free of odor - just a little lingering in the sun room where the attic crawl space is- but today I walked in and the smell hit me like a brick! It seems to be building to another crescendo. I am assuming that means that my roommates have returned. My question is this: how does one cope with and/or eradicate the odor of a bat infestation. To tell the truth, I have done so much research that I have gotten over any fear of the bats, but I can't live with the smell.
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Terry Lobdell
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 03:20 am |
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The first thing I would try is get a bunch of boxes of baking soda open them and set them up in your attic. Spraying with white vinegar should also help. Where are you located?
Bat Conservation International has very good info on safely excluding bats from an attic.......But keep in mind, right now bats are having their young.........So they can't be excluded this time of the year......
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esveer
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 03:44 am |
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| I am located in a small town in rural South Carolina. The people who did the clean up of piles and piles of guano replaced the insulation and sprayed bleach on the exposed wood. I don't think they tried vinegar. I did put baking soda around.
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kerbat
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 12:17 pm |
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I would guess that the smell goes up with the temp in the attic. When it gets hot up there, it starts cooking.
Have you considered a bat box to see if they like it better than the attic?
Terry, do you think he might still have pups in the attic after the guys put in bright lights and removed the guano etc? I would think the moms did not return to feed in suffient time to save pups.
Where in SC are you located, I will be in Charlotte area over 4th weekend and would consider building you a bat house for cost of material.
Bernie
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esveer
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 02:31 pm |
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I live in a town named "Ninety-Six" which is close to Greenwood. It is in what is referred to as the Lakelands region of South Carolina (aptly names for a group of beautiful lakes). It is about 2 hours from Charlotte.
Wow Bernie that is a very generous offer. It is not my house and I am not sure how much more my landlord is going to be willing to invest in the problem. I am not sure humane exclusion is his top priority at this point. Can you give me a ballpark idea of what it might cost? I wouldn't mind keeping them in the neighborhood.
My other general questions is: if they were to relocate to a bat house will the smell eventually go away?
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kerbat
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Posted: Sat Jun 21st, 2008 09:24 pm |
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No Experience with smell in attic. I think if you had brazilian free tails , their body oder, very musky will persist for a long time. I've had them out of small house for a several months now and you can still smell it from a considerable distance outside if the winds are light and coming at you.
I would think BCI would have experience with smell after exclusion.
The cost of a bat house material is of course very dependant on how large a house we build. Sounds like you had a good size colony in attic, any idea of number.
It would not be convenient for me to come by this trip. We will be driving up nonstop from Stuart area to N of charlotte. This is a long day, Thought if you were 30 minutes south of charlotte or so that I would drive down on day over 4th holiday and we could mount it.
back to NC in oct, we will see if your landlord is interested in getting a bat house. Probably not after this episode, but I bet if he did not get the house sealed, that they will be back. Older homes are sometimes very difficult to keep them out.
Good luck with smell,
bernie
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Terry Lobdell
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Posted: Sun Jun 22nd, 2008 12:30 am |
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Esveer, when was the cleanup done? This is just not a good time of year to exclude because you will end up with baby bat carcasses rotting in your attic........
There is never a reason not to have a humane exclusion..........a correctly timed exclusion done the right way will be efficient and humane.........
as far as the odor...........given the fact that there were hundreds of bats in there for who knows how long, that is a lot of urine soaked into the wood.........It will take a lot of baking soda, maybe charcoal.........and I wonder if a bin of wood ashes would absorb some of the odor? I will probably just take a long time of repeated treatment to get rid of the smell.
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esveer
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Posted: Sun Jun 22nd, 2008 03:53 pm |
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| Thanks for the reply. I certainly am supportive of doing whatever is the most humane - I certainly don't want anything to jeopardize any of the pups. My prevailing concern is addressing the odor because it is a small house and believe me - at this point it is impossible to live there. If it were in my hands I would contact the nearest bat expert to do what is best for both me and the bat colony; however, since it is not my house I am afraid my landlord will just continue to "wing-it" (no pun intended). So far he has had local people install lights, clean up the guano, spray bleach, and set off some kind of bombs. Yesterday I sent him several web addresses in hopes that he take the time to educate himself about the issues and not just think in terms of extermination.
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kerbat
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Posted: Sun Jun 22nd, 2008 09:02 pm |
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| extermination is illegal in most states I believe these days. If you google up south carolina bat extermination I bet you will get that answer quick.
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Terry Lobdell
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Posted: Sun Jun 22nd, 2008 09:57 pm |
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| Esveer, thank you for your consideration and patience on having the bat problem resolved the right way...........hopefully more people will begin to think as you are.........
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