Evicting bats

We thought that perhaps banging on the ceiling with a broomstick several times a day and unsettling them with noise and light would give them the hint that someone else was living in this house and they were welcome to leave.  Nope.  These bats just wouldn’t take a hint.  We were having no success finding where they were coming in and out of the roof.  Finally, after a week of constantly cleaning bat droppings out of our kitchen and dealing with the noise and the awful smell, it was time to evict our resident bats.

Phil and David spent some time on a ladder on both sides of the house examining the area just under the roof for any signs of where the bats were finding entrance and exit.  Then they gingerly climbed onto our very, very hot roof (which is simply metal sheets) in the blazing mid-day sun and using sticks and hammers, began prying the metal sheets up so that they could look underneath and find the bats.  They couldn’t find them at first, because as soon as the bats were disturbed they moved to a different corner.  After a while they chased them down and Phil, who was lying on his stomach on the hot roof with his head stuck down under the metal sheet, was able to see the bats huddled in the corner alongside the central beam of the house, over the kitchen ceiling.

They sprayed the area liberally with Raid, just to annoy the bats really because it wouldn’t actually affect them, and then replaced the metal sheet because it was getting too hot to do anything just then.  They came back just at dark planning to lift the roof again, remove the bats and block all the cracks and crevices so that they wouldn’t be able to get back in. However, that night when they came back, they discovered the bats had already left.  Apparently having their “cave” broken into was finally the last straw for them.  Thankfully, they haven’t come back.

I have a few photos of Operation Bat Removal, which I would love to post for you.  Hopefully one of these days the internet will be functioning unbelievably well and I will be able to share photos!

UPDATE: (four days later)  The bats did come back.  So Operation Bat Removal was underway again.  This time several of the students and someone from town were hired to remove large portions of the roof, and the bats were forcibly removed.  Then all the cracks and crevices between the roof and the ceiling were filled in with concrete to prevent them from returning.

UPDATE: (one week later)  Today (the day I am posting this) I had a surprise waiting for me when I was running the washing machine this morning.  I suddenly saw a bat crawling -- I don't know where it came from -- and it crawled into the bottom of the washing machine!  I could hear it rattling around inside, and I didn't know what to do.  So I waited, and in a few minutes (because the washing machine was on, so I'm sure it didn't like being below all the noise and vibrations) it came back out, and then it climbed on top of my laundry basket.  It was looking for a place to roost.  It was very interesting to see it climbing up and down on things, all while upside down!  Eventually it made its way across the floor to the door, where it tried to roost behind the door, and that is where it met its demise.  It was sad to kill it, but I don't like having live bats in the house.