What to do about bats in the chimney?

When in need of a habitat it is not uncommon that bats will inhabit the very roofs of our houses, or more precisely, our very own chimneys. This can become a more serious issue than it might appear at first sight, because of the possible consequences it is important to deal with such a case accordingly and in the safest manner possible that will provide the best option for both people and the animals. Although many solutions may come to one’s mind when faced with such a problem, it is imperative that the bats are removed in a most humane way possible.



Bats probably chose the chimney as their habitat because it offered protection from the elements and cold climate outside; in addition they might be in the middle of the mating season and are in need of a safe habitat. Probably the greatest mistake people could make in an attempt to remove the bats from their chimney would be to light a fire. This might seem as a logical step, with an assumption that the smoke and heat will drive the bats to fly away through the top of the chimney, but it can backfire disastrously, causing flaming bats to come wreaking havoc through your fireplace. This is extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all cost.

Instead, the best proven method for bat removal is to completely exclude them with a clever use of some traps and timing. To do this, it is important to identify the entrance points which bats use to get inside the chimney; these would be mostly horizontal crevices in the sides of the chimney, since they usually don’t enter from the very top. Once these have been identified, the next step would be to properly seal the off and prevent any bats from using them in the future. This should be done during nighttime since that is their feeding time.

The next step is to install an exclusion device such as a funnel, pipe or some netting. This will allow any bats that have remained in the chimney to use the exit of the funnel, pipe or netting and get out eventually, but they won’t be able to come back. Therefore, it is recommended to leave the devices in place for the duration of several days, usually 5 or more just in case. Once you’ve made sure that all the bats are gone, you can start cleaning your fireplace which will probably be full of guano, and the quantities can reach such levels that you wouldn’t be even able to light a fire in the first place. Once bats realize that there is no coming back to the chimney, they will simply move on and look for another place to make their home and no one will be harmed in the process.

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What to Do About Bat in the Chimney - Peradventure you have bat infestation only on the chimney and not in any other part of your house, you are still lucky as the situation can still be arrested without much problem. You can actually handle the problem without wasting much of your time when you know what you are doing. However, you must ensure you do not target at killing bats for any reason as that is prohibited in most countries of the world and can result to serious fine. Another thing you should do in order to ensure the bats are confined in a small area of the chimney is to shut the damper.

Examine the House and Find the Exit Point of the Bats
Since you are already sure that the bats in your house are only confined in the chimney the next thing you need to do is to examine your house to confirm the exit point. You will not also find it difficult knowing the exit point of the bats inside the chimney as it must surely be the big hole right on top of the chimney. It can also be between the gaps where the roof meets with the chimney. Another thing you need to know is that bats do not generally like going into a house through big vertical hole as they prefer small but horizontal hole.

Install One-Way Exclusion Device to Allow Them to Go Out
You are going to stand chance of getting bats out of the chimney easily without them coming back to cause similar problem to you with installation of one-way exclusion device. That will help you to make it easy for them to move out of your house without being able to enter back to the house through the same space.

Cover the Chimney with Chimney Cap
After driving the bats out of your chimney you can prevent them from coming back by installing chimney cover. But the problem is that bats do not all go out at the same time and there may still be some of them inside while you cover the chimney cap which can make them to starve to death and cause serious stench.

Hire Professional Bat Removal Company for the Service
In case, you do not have enough time to start chasing bats around out of your chimney another thing you can do is to hire a professional bat removal company. You can easily find one near you without spending huge amount of money or passing through stress removing bat from chimney.