Bat Season

As winter comes to an end and the warm weather becomes more consistent, bats start to wake up from their dormant state. Bats are true hibernators, and here in the northeast they enter hibernation in mid October and emerge in mid April. Massachusetts is home to 9 species of bats, but we deal with only 2 on a regular basis. The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) and Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) are the two most common species we deal with as they commonly roost in colonies in building structures. Naturally, they use caves as their roosting and hibernation sites, but structures provide excellent locations as well. As rooflines start to warm up under the spring sun, attics warm up and bats start moving around and getting ready to start their season. This is a common time to start hearing the gentle scratching of bats moving around and the high pitched vocalizations. Often times the south side of a house that gets the most sun is a desirable location and you can even hear them by standing outside if there is a gable vent, soffit overhang, fascia gap, or any type of entry on that side of the home.

The Little brown bat was decimated by white nose syndrome, a fungal infection, in the northeast. What used to be the most prolific bat species in the country was wiped out by greater than 99% in Massachusetts. Because of this, even when dealing with big brown bats in your home, we use protocols that allow for safe eviction of bats from structures, only at the right times of year. We encourage the use of bat houses on your property, which we will happily help mount in a suitable location, so that bats that are evicted have an alternate location to use during the warm months. We provide bat evictions during the months of May, August, September, and parts of October, per state guidelines. June and July are the breeding and birthing season, and as they are protected, we cannot perform evictions during these months. If you install one-way devices during these months, the adults will be forced out and the pups will die.

Bats are an extremely important part of the ecosystem, and even though many people think they look scary, they provide excellent insect control which most people enjoy. Many species of bats are known as important pollinators as well. They are considered a keystone species in many territories, as the roles they play have a dramatic effect on the surrounding ecosystem and overall ecosystem health. Although they can provide health risks being in homes by leaving harmful guano piles in areas such as attics and carrying bat bugs, these things have known benefits in their natural situations.

For more information on how we evict bats, visit out bat page here. Bats

For information on bat houses, Mass.gov provides a list of suppliers or do-it-yourself steps. Bat houses

Big brown bat in defensive posture