BATS!!!!!!!

[TeachyTeacher]

Hope it's the right topic to post on! We have bats in a part of our roof that we can't access and they're driving us nuts!
Last year we heard a couple but it seems that this year there's more and it's awful! We can't access the roof internally, possibly could externally but it's very high up so I think it'll cost a lot for someone to come out and we just can't afford it. Any cheap ideas or experiences that may help us? Also waking kids throughout the night 😭

We contacted the bat society who sent out a volunteer. They did a free survey. If youre stuck for what to do, it might be worth contacting them and asking for advice in the first instance. We have also recently had ecologists come and do a full survey (dawn and dusk). This was expensive but necessary for applying for licences for works to our roof. Slightly disconcerting when they said it was the most bats they'd ever seen... pretty cool though

Thanks all 🙏 and just to reiterate, we won't hurt the rascals!

We had bats in our loft until a couple of years ago, I am surprised at people saying they are quiet and no trouble as they were bloody loud and keeping us awake all night, and the last straw was when one flew into the open bathroom window one night and crashed into the shower door while I was having a shower. It was horrendous when we got a box of Christmas decorations down from the loft and there was a dead bat inside. Awful as I didn't want them dead.

Anyway we got rid of them by having a floodlight on in the loft constantly for a week. They left, we sealed up the gaps where they were getting in, and nothing since. Others have told me you can also play music or radio into the loft for a week for the same effect but we are too close proximity to neighbours to try this.

We had bats in my parents' house. No noise at all. Some droppings where they went in and out, but easily swilled away, and they get rid of insects so I like having them about.
No doubt there are bats around if you've seen them (we see tham a lot here but they aren't living in our house, not that I'd mind if they were).
I think there may be two things going on here. Perhaps get in someone licenced to see if you have bats to have a look.

IIRC, these days that would be breaking the law.

If you want them to move along without harming them, would constant music or talkback radio work? They navigate via sound and have very sensitive hearing. I imagine a few Bluetooth speakers put where they hang out might dissuade them from roosting.

Totally illegal, and you can get fined an amount per bat disturbed (I think its 2k a bat) if you had been caught. I get that they were causing you a nuisance but they are protected for a reason.

Incorrect they can carry a form of the rabies virus, if you were bitten by a bat in the UK you would need post exposure treatment to prevent rabies infection, you can read all about it on Public Health England.

Exactly. Embrace it. Flying mammals!

Please don't harm them.

"Anyway we got rid of them by having a floodlight on in the loft constantly for a week. They left, we sealed up the gaps where they were getting in, and nothing since. Others have told me you can also play music or radio into the loft for a week for the same effect but we are too close proximity to neighbours to try this."

This is completely illegal, as others have said. Bright lights used to be licensed as an exclusion technique but what actually happens is some bats will stay in the roost because they avoid lights, and die there instead.

I'm appalled at some of the attitudes on this thread, like humans are somehow superior to everything else on earth. Thank you OP for trying to do right by your bats (if that's what they are!).

All of those people saying it's illegal - I would have paid a £2k fine to get them out of the house. They were getting stuck in our storage boxes and dying which was the last thing we wanted.

I've got a disabled child, two others at school and a DH who works shifts. Life is tough enough without adding in everyone being kept awake all night by bats.

They are very prevalent for an endangered species.

I have to be honest mine don’t shuffle, in fact if you look at bats they don’t shuffle, honestly I think you’ve something else up there with the bats op if it’s shuffling noises loud enough to wake you. This shouldn’t be the case. It should be scratching, And I say that as someone who has hundreds, we think about 600-700 living in our eaves as their permanent roost.

think Of the size of them, they are tiny, when they move the noise is very very quiet scratching. Even with hundreds of them.

run your finger nails gently down the wall, that’s what we hear.

And if everyone does this? Where do they go then?

@Damnautocorrect to the houses of people who are happy to accommodate them and look at them as a blessing to have around. People who don't realise they actually make a lot of scratching noises, squeak like mice and leave everything in your loft stinking like ammonia

We have bats and the noise they make is unbelievable really. It sounds like they are moving and shuffling the whole time. Like an army on the march. Totally different to rats, mice or squirrels. Ours is a nursery roost so we only get the noise for a few weeks in summer. And soon get used to the noise. They are right above our bed head and I do keep expecting them to drop in one night! I miss them when they go.

ive Tried putting a sign up, but they just won’t move in

Put lids on your boxes, then.
As others have said, the noise is not likely to have been bats if it was as bad as that.

Us too. Massive roost the roof. Can't open the windows in summer or there'll be half a dozen flying round the house. Absolutely hate them.

We have a massive maternity roost for both pipestrel and brown long earred bats above our bedroom and beyond our bedroom. The only person who can hear them is the cat who spends opening every wardrobe door in the room ( there are a stupidly large number) all the time to try and get to the bats. She is never successful! We are never disturbed by them.

My parents had rats in their roof and my goodness were they noise and then put poison up there and one night heard a rat drop a block of poison down part of the mansard.

@BlueMongoose I can assure you that in my 1930s house the noise from bats was extremely loud. They make scratching and scuffling noises and have high pitched squeaks like mice. They leave everything in the loft stinking of ammonia. It's awful not being able to leave the back windows open when it gets dark as they fly into your house. I lost count of the times I had to pick a bat up off the bedroom carpet and take it outside, we actually had a designated old plastic container just for this purpose.

I appreciate that they are protected creatures but so are badgers and I wouldn't want one of those living in my house either.

Yes it is illegal. The fine is up to £5k per offence and if more than one is involved, up to £5k PER BAT.