House Bat Management
Batproofing
Batproofing in the United States was first described by Silver (1935). Silver wrote, "THE MOST SATISFACTORY and the only permanent way of obtaining freedom from the batroost nuisance . . . is to shut the bats out. This may be called 'batproofing' the building." Forty-five years later it is still the only effective long-term solution. It was also advocated by the FWS in 1944 (Silver and Jones 1951).
Usually there are only a few openings to a house bat roost, and batproofing is relatively simple because visible bat accesses can be easily located and blocked. However, some very old homes having large attics with dormers may have many small, obscure holes and be more difficult to batproof.
Previous Section -- Bat Toxicants
Return to Contents
Next Section -- Bat Removal
