Bats in Your Belfry?

Indiana bat

You probably don't have bats in your belfry. The phrase has come to mean you're a bit crazy. You probably don't have a belfry (bell tower) either, but you my have bats in you attic, barn, garage, eaves or shed.

Now that we have some warm nights and flying insects, bats are out working on regaining weight lost during winter hibernation. They are looking for moths, mosquitoes, and beetles and returning to their summer roosts. 

If you find that bats are roosting in your attic, eaves, or other part of your home, please be advised that bats are protected by law in New Jersey, and there are proper methods to follow if you wish to exclude bats from a building. Bat exclusion cannot be done during the months of May, June, or July, when maternity colonies are present and young pups could become trapped inside the building.

Bats have long been misunderstood and unfairly persecuted by people as fearsome, rabid creatures, and their appearance around the home can cause a lot of panic. While bats actually have a very low likelihood of carrying disease, are quite timid of people, and are excellent to have around for backyard bug control, there is some risk associated with bats in buildings, particularly when they wind up in the living space.

All bats - like all of NJ's native nongame wildlife - are protected by law under the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Conservation Act of 1973, making it illegal to harm, harass, capture, or kill bats, or to attempt to do so (with the exception of Rabies testing as described above). Physically removing bats or poisoning bats is NOT legal and NOT effective. Fly traps and glue traps should NOT be used in places where bats may encounter them.

From the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife's page about "Bats in Buildings" gives this advice on bat encounters:

If a bat is flying around in your living area and there's no chance that someone was bitten, the easiest way to get it back outdoors is to shut yourself in the same room as the bat, leave a light on so you can see, open a window or door to the outside, and crouch down low away from the opening, staying still and quiet so the bat can calm down, too. Watch until the bat flies out. It should only take a few minutes for the bat to sense the air flow and detect the exit through echolocation. It will not land on you or "attack" you.

If the bat lands in a reachable place, you can put leather work gloves on, cover the bat with a small container or bowl, and carefully slide a piece of cardboard over the opening to enclose the bat inside the container. If it's nighttime, go outside and hold the container up high in front of you (facing away from you), then remove the cardboard and tip the container slightly forward so the bat can crawl to the edge and swoop out. If it's daytime, walk to a nearby tree or forested area and release the bat at the base of a tree so it has a place to climb and seek shelter until dusk. Bats need to swoop from an elevated position to gain flight, so they have a hard time taking off from the ground.

If a bat appears injured or needs care, and there's no chance that someone was bitten, please contact a NJ Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator near you that handles bats. Check njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/rehab_list.pdf

If direct contact may have occurred between a bat and a person or pet, NJ residents should call their local health department  Check nj.gov/health/lh/community

If you're concerned about a colony of bats roosting in your attic, eaves, or other part of your home or building, that's a different process altogether, and a Nuisance Wildlife Control specialist should be called out for an inspection. You can contact mackenzie.hall@dep.nj.gov and report your bat colony to help track the population.