Had an interesting situation last summer with bats in our attic. We would hear some scratching in our ceiling at night when laying in bed. Luckily my wife was sound asleep and didn’t hear it or she would have been freaking out.
Initially I thought it was mice, so we had someone come out that knew something about pest control. After doing some searching in the attic and inspecting our roof, he came to the conclusion it was bats. He could see where they were coming in and leaving, through a small little gap in our roof line.
Unfortunately bats are somewhat protected (who would have figured). You can’t just exterminate the things. What you need to do is convince them to leave your house and not let them come back. Sounds easy enough, slap a one-way door in the spot they were using as an entrance, and problem solved.
But you can’t just do that. When the bats have their babies, who don’t yet know how to fly, you can’t really leave those little ones trapped in the attic. So you have to wait until the babies learn how to fly before you can install this trap door. With that door installed, the bats can get out, but they can’t get back in. Just be sure there’s not any other gaps in your roof line where they could find another entrance.
Problem Solved
While the process sounds easy enough, it isn’t cheap. You’re talking hundreds of dollars to install the one-way door and ensure there’s not any other areas that can be exploited for an entrance.
After we had received the estimate, we had to wait for the summer months before any work could be done. So we waited.
As luck would have it, or maybe it was bad luck, we needed a new roof. The roofers sealed up any and all gaps, and that solved the problem.
While we lucked out not having to pay for pest control, we ended up paying 20 times that cost for a new roof. So we’ve got that going for us.
Why Am I Telling You This?
See here in Michigan we have pests to deal with. Your typical mice, bats, spiders, wasps, ants and the like. Nothing too crazy that can’t be dealt with.
In fact, we recently hired a pest control company to handle a spider problem during the warmer months. We are lucky in that regard, as you typically don’t have a problem during the winter months. Too darn cold and everything dies.
Down south you don’t have that luxury, if you can call it that. It’s warm 365 days a year, and these little pests don’t die off so easily. In fact, there’s even more pests to deal with.
Something that’s been on our minds, as we’ve been contemplating a move to Florida in the near future. In fact, as I’m writing this, I just did a quick search on Pest Control in Volusia County, and you get quite a list.
Trust me when I say this… If we are moving to Florida, I will 100% be looking into a pest control company. There’s no way I’m dealing with some of the crazy pests that are found in the warmer climates.
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