How to Get Rid of Bats in a Garage

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Things You'll Need

  • Ladder

  • Plastic sheeting

  • Scissors

  • Staples

  • Staple gun

  • Spray foam

  • Caulk

  • Wire or cloth mesh

  • Safety goggles

  • Gloves

  • Respirator mask

Protect your family and pets from diseases by removing bats from your living spaces.

Bats often find their way into open attic spaces, barns and open garages seeking safe places to sleep through the day before returning to the night air to feed. While a few bats are not a huge concern, if you do not like bats and often keep your garage door shut, you do not want bats flying around your garage. They will leave droppings on your car and may attract other bats to nest in the garage and cause serious health problems and bio-hazards. You will need to seek out bat-friendly methods of removing the animals from your garage.

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Step 1

Speak with local authorities and obtain a bat removal permit if you seek to remove the bats during their mating season. Not all states require that you have this permit, but many states have bat-protection laws that require you obtain a permit to remove the bats using methods that will not kill them.

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Step 2

Examine your garage during the daytime for holes that the bats use to enter and leave your garage. The bats may only enter from the car entrance; however, most garages have vents, located high on the walls, that the bats may also use.

Step 3

Close your garage door and use daylight hours when the bats are sleeping to cover any other entrance and exit holes with one-way doors, to allow the bats to exit but not return. To do this, staple plastic sheeting over the holes or vents, leaving the bottom edge and the bottom half of each side unstapled.

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Step 4

Wait until dusk and watch the covered entrances for the bats to emerge. If you see movement under the plastic sheeting, continue to watch and you should see the bats begin emerging from the bottom side of the plastic sheeting. If no bats emerge, you may need to wait until the following day and remove some of the staples along the side of the one-way door you created.

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Step 5

Watch the entrance until after dark then cautiously walk inside the garage to see if you notice any bats flying around inside. Leave any remaining bats alone and check again the next morning to see if any bats remain in the garage. Bats that made it out the night before will not come back into the garage, thanks to the plastic sheeting covering their entrance.

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Step 6

Wait the process out a few days while all the bats make it out of your garage. Then use daylight hours to remove the plastic sheeting from the entrance holes. Fill any unnecessary holes with spray foam or caulk and cover any vent holes with a sheet of wire or cloth mesh to allow humid air to escape the garage.

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Step 7

Check your garage again for any bats that have not moved at all during your evacuation process. To remove these dead bats, you will need to wear a respirator, eye protection and gloves. Climb up a ladder and simply grab these bats with your hand. Dispose of dead bats by burning them or sending them away to a facility that will test them to determine if they have any diseases that threaten your family or the bat population.

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