The maternity season of bats ends this month, which means if you find yourself dealing with a few uninvited visitors in your home or attic, the ideal time to remove them is coming up soon.
Maternity season runs April 15 to Aug. 15, making fall the best time to remove bats from your home or other structures.
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During maternity season, it is illegal to install exclusion devices, which allow bats to exit, but block them from returning to their roosts. After mid-August, the young are no longer present, making it the ideal time to evict any bats that may be occupying a structure on your property and to bat-proof your home.
In order to legally exclude bats from your home, you must follow the state rules and regulations regarding bats and how to properly install exclusion devices. Any exclusion device must follow the legal guidelines and be left up for a minimum of four nights and must be conducted when the overnight temperature is forecast to be at least 50 degrees.
There are 13 native bat species in Florida, along with seven “accidental” species that only have a few recorded sightings in the northern or southern extremes of the state, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission.
The FWC states that bats are ecologically and economically beneficial, serving important roles as insect pest controllers, pollinators, seed-dispersers and fertilizers. They also pose very little threat to humans, as only one in every few hundred bats in Florida have rabies.
However, people should not handle bats, even if they are sick, injured or dead. For more information about bats and disease, including what to do if a person makes contact with a bat, contact your county health department, the Florida Department of Health, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Bats are particularly vulnerable to disturbance and harm when they are roosting in buildings and other man-made structures. It is illegal to kill, harm or attempt to deter bats in Florida, even on private property.
How you can help bats thrive in Florida, according to the FWC:
- Spread the word that bats help people by eating large amounts of mosquitoes and agricultural pests.
- Preserve natural roost sites such as trees with cavities and peeling bark, and dead fronds on palms.
- Put up a bat house.
- Do not enter Florida caves with shoes, clothing or equipment that has been used in caves outside of Florida.
To learn more about bats and how to coexist with them, visit FWC’s website.
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