Little Brown Bat
Big Brown
Bat
Indiana Bat
Big Brown Bat
No
two jobs are the same. Each is different. Bats enter house's in
various ways.
Sometime through a spot so small,
you can hardly see it. Other times it
can be so
obvious its not funny. Some times
its only a few bats living with you
in your
home, other times its a colony.
How
do the bats get into your living quaters?
Once
they gain
basic access to your home, they sometimes get confused on how
to get back out. They can wonder down
your walls, finding
entrenches into your
main living quarters. Once they go down your
walls, they have access to
your
entire house pretty much. There are basically 3
types of bats in Iowa.
The big brown
bat, the little brown bat, and the Indiana Bat.
Bat. Rabies is always a
concern I
get asked about. The percentage of bats that
carry rabies is less then
.5%. The
chance is still there, but your more likely to
catch it from being
bitten by another
animal. If you feel that you may have been
bitten, please inform me,
and I will give
you the proper address to send the bat off to
be tested.
Why
do I suggest that you don't kill bats?
Bats
are very
misunderstood mammals. They are
not out to get you personally and we have no
Blood suckers in Iowa, or
near here.
They look like clumsy flyers, but they
are actually
pretty good flyers. Bats eat 1/4 of their body
weight a night in
insects. Including
mosquitoes they eat mayflies, junebugs and
other night time flying
insects that are
considered pests.
What
to do if you have a bat flying around your house?
1st thing
you should try to do is to confine the bat to one room. If it
is flying around
your
bedroom, shut your door. Calmly walk to your window, and open it,
remove the
screen, and
go stand by a wall, or in a corner. Simply wait for it to
leave. Generally if
you only
see 1-2 bats a year in your home, you do not really have a
problem. They
probably
got in by accident and will leave shortly. However, 1-2
a month, they most likely
are using
your home for a roost. If you feel you must call me to remove the bat,
confining
it to one
room and then calling me, makes my work much easier.
The
Rabies Factor
Less
then .05% (as of 2001) of bats found in Iowa and turned in tested
positive
for rabies. The threat is still there, but the chances are pretty slim.
It is up to you if
you want to send the bat off for testing, and I can provide the address
for you
to do so.