Bats in my loft!!

Mrs_Bear

What can I do?

I saw them tonight - half ten or so - coming out from the roof, between the soffit and the wall. There were quite a lot. I know they are a protected species, but is there any way I can persuade them to leave?

Would leaving a light on up there and some of those sonic devices make them want to find somewhere else? All my stuff is up there and the thought of bats doing their droppings all over everything is not a good one!

Has anyone any experience of dealing with this? I've counted at least twenty leaving tonight. Please don't say that as they are protected they should stay! It's my roof and my belongings!! I don't want to kill them, just make them find somewhere else.

robby-01

I am getting in quick before the tree huggers get in.
They may be protected but so what its your house.Leave it and it will get worse .Try smoking em out ,get some smoke pellets from plumbers merchants.
Dont invole council,if they are protected they will have some rule in place that says you have to move out before they do.
If all else fails .KILL THEM NOW NOWONE WILL EVER KNOW

EasilyAggravated

you're right they are protected. id think about having the soffits repaired.
i wouldnt touch their droppings as theres a risk of histoplasmosis.
get the most powerful but economical to run light you can and put it up there along with a fan to reduce the temperature of the loft space and make it unsuitable for roosting. mothballs also work at repelling them but it depends on what quantity you use,

ollyk

robby-01 wrote:

KILL THEM NOW NOWONE WILL EVER KNOW

Fantastic advice :rolleyes:

twink

not a tree hugger, just a law abiding citizen, bats are a protected species and if you kill them you will incur a hefty fine
www.bats.org.uk for help and advice, someone will come to the house to advise you

Kinnairdy

Mrs Bear,
You DO NOT have Bat's, you only 'thought' you saw them but 'on reflection' it was probably the House Martins returning to their nests. No one should ever 'have Bat's'...It is an offence to ...Intentionally or recklessly damage, destroy or obstruct access to any place that a bat uses for shelter or protection. This is taken to mean all bat roosts whether bats are present or not. There is a defence that this is not illegal in a dwelling house, but the defence can only be relied on (other than in the living area of a dwelling house) if the Statutory Nature Conservation Organisation (SNCO), i.e. English Nature, the Countryside Council for Wales, or Scottish Natural Heritage was notified about the proposed action and allowed reasonable time to advise as to whether it should be carried out, and if so, how. Under the Habitats Regulations it is an offence to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place of any bat. This is an absolute offence - in other words, intent or recklessness does not have to be proved...The fine is £5000 per Bat killed... therefore I repeat You DO NOT have Bat's... It must have been a trick of the light, your eyesight is not what it was, it was birds, large moths, low flying aircraft or whatever but most definitely NOT Bat's. :-D

Mrs_Bear

Well, as a law abiding citizen myself, (and one without the requisite £100,000 to pay the fines for killing them) let's all be assured I won't be up in the loft taking pot shots at them!

Did some research last night on the web and apparently it is OK to use sonic devices to deter them from staying. See, no killing, no blocking holes or destroying their roosting site. (That would be pretty daft, seeing as the roosting site is my rafters). Has anyone any experience of these?

twink

yes my dd has bats and we called the " batman " lol, and he went into the loft and there was no sign of them in the actual loft, they are only there for a short time in summer then they go to a winter roost usually a hole in a tree or wall but above website should give more info

Kinnairdy

Ahhhhh, and I had this vision of you in the loft with .44 Magnum in hand yelling 'Do ya feel lucky Bat?' oh well illusion shattered!.
Sonic devices work very well in getting rid of mice, that's a bat without wings essentially,no Bat's here either remember, so I could'nt possibly comment on their effectiveness upon the Bat population.
The one we had plugged into a socket and had high and low settings, the high one worked best but was slightly audible to us too, this was on the ground floor of course, in the loft you probably won't hear a thing. Happy Bat dispersal.

mehefin

Had a summer roost of bats for years - they arent hanging off the rafters though - seems as though they are in the bit that overhangs at the end of the roof ( dont know what you call it) and can't get into the house at all. Other than the odd squeak now and again they dont bother us, and the bat poo is so fine it is not a problem (it falls down from the gap in the soffit!) Supposedly very good for the garden... but isn't all poo?

Mrs_Bear

I could agree with that - except for the fact that the poo will not be dropping into the garden, doing some good, but rather onto the things I have stored up there. There have been two in the house recently and despite what they say about bats having good radar systems, they were circling about my head. And I do remember reading about bats infesting a church and the congregation was told they couldn't do anything, depsite the fact that as bats fly they pee and everything smelled and the altar cloths etc were getting ruined! Unfair behaviour from uninvited guests!