Are There Bats in Your Houston, TX Home or Business?
Bats are one of the worst infestations you can get in your home or business. They’re gentle, and will never attack you, but they’re still problematic.
Continue readingA Whole Colony of Bats takes Over a Corpus Christi Parking Garage
Imagine trying to park your car only to see thousands of bats crowded up in the rafters. They swarm like a big black mass in every corner they can find.
If you go to Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi, you won't have to imagine it. That's exactly what's happened.
While these bats aren't likely to attack they are no doubt an unsettling sight. The real danger has little to do with attack anyway. It has everything to do with guano and rabies that are a threat to the health of business owners and customers alike. Nobody's using Sunrise Mall right now, according to news sources, but not every business is lucky enough to be so deserted before bats move in.
And yes, when a colony moves in, there tend to be hundreds, even thousands of bats to contend with.
The last thing your customers want is to have to scrape bat guano off their cars! The strong ammonia smell and piles of poo in your garage aren't going to endear you to your clientele, either. Keep in mind that inhaling minute spores found in bat guano causes histoplasmosis as well, so if you've got bats you've got a serious liability problem on your hands.
There's a reason why we strap on respirators when we decide to start dealing with bats.
Why are bats attracted to parking garages?
Because they're just like caves in the wild. They're dark. They're cool. They have lots of places for bats to get into and out of. They block out the light during the day. They're full of crevices. Water even tends to pool and puddle in them after rainstorms, which means they're a good source for two things bats need: the water itself, and the insects that are attracted to the water.
Bats - An Endangered Species
Bats are an endangered species and are protected under Texas law. They may not be hunted, poisoned, killed, possessed, purchased, or sold. However, they may be moved or trapped, and that's where we come in.
Our Bat Removal Process
This is anything but a small job when dealing with a parking garage. We have to seal up every point of egress, save one. We use nets at first so we can get rid of the bats fast; later we'll get in there and seal up those little openings permanently.
We then find the main roosting point and install a valve above it. That's a one way door. Bats can get out to hunt, but they can't get back in.
Once they realize they can't get back in they fly off, and because all of the other openings are sealed they eventually disappear. It's humane and it's easy; they are perfectly capable of finding more suitable lodgings on their own.
Then you can get on with the business of hiring a commercial cleaning company to get in there after them.
It's a tough job, but it's gotta get done. Don't let bats ruin your Houston, TX business. Contact Elite Wildlife to get help today.
Bat Removal in The Woodlands
There are ten species of bats inhabiting the Woodlands area:
- The Eastern Red Bat
- The Seminole Bat
- The Hoary Bat
- The Northern Yellow Bat
- The Big Brown Bat
- The Evening Bat
- The Eastern Pipistrelle
- The Silver-Haired Bat
- The Free-tailed Bat
On certain nights in the area you can see hundreds of them taking flight, off to look for food. With so many flitting about it's little wonder that they eventually end up in our homes and businesses.
When they get into buildings they are not harmless. Instead, they cause disease and a great deal of damage to almost any structure they get into. It's important to protect your investments by handling bats the right way.
Here's what you need to know.
Bat Houses Don't Help Prevent Bats
Sorry: you can't keep bats out of your home by building them a more attractive habitat.
Bat houses are certainly a good idea if you want to help threatened bat populations. Bats just can't exercise any discernment that might make them say: oh, that house is for me, so I'll stay out of this person's attic.
Instead, some bats will roost in the bat house and then other bats will arrive. If your home is accessible, some of them will go roost in your attic.
In fact, you should be very careful about putting up a bat house or encouraging bats in any other way if you have not yet taken steps to make your home inaccessible to them.
They Are Gentle and Beneficial When They Stay Outside
You don't want to go the other extreme wherein you start murdering bats with traps and lures and poisons. Bats have a lot going for them.
They eat insects, including mosquitos. They are seed-dispensers and pollinators, which means they're vital to our food-bearing ecosystems. They are gentle little animals and are about as clean as any wild animal ever is.
They're also endangered because a lot of people kill bats thanks to old superstitions that say they're dangerous, aggressive, or evil animals.
We don't want to contribute to their endangerment. We just want to prevent them from doing damage to your home.
Humane Bat Removal Solves the Problem
Here at Elite Wildlife Services, we help the home and business owners in the Woodlands seal off the areas that bats might use to access their homes. We then trap and remove bats safely, putting them somewhere they can do some good while preventing them from doing any more damage.
If you think you might have bats in your home, don't panic, don't reach for poison, and don't waste your money on "bat deterrents" that don't work.
Call us to take them out of your home or office so that you can get back to living a happy, bat-free lifestyle.
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Wildlife Removal in The Woodlands
Many people enjoy living in The Woodlands because it puts them right next door to the 1800-acre George Mitchell Nature Preserve. While you might enjoy being able to spot various creatures when you visit the Preserve, the last place you want them is in your home or business.
It's not unusual for bats, raccoons, grey squirrels, rats, opossums, snakes, bees, and armadillos to become major issues for property owners in The Woodlands area. Each of these creatures threatens your investment in a variety of ways.
They Spread Disease
Every one of these animals carries some form of disease. Bats carry deadly upper respiratory fungal infections. Raccoons carry rabies. Rats carry just about every plague you can think of.
Wildlife in a building poses a severe health and safety risk that you need to address right away.
They Ruin Your Property
Properties in the Woodlands are often beautifully built and appointed. Yet you stand to lose all that if you let wildlife run rampant in your home.
First, there's just no getting around it: animals leave urine and feces everywhere. Bats and rats don't politely go outside or in litter boxes. That means stains, smells, and other damage that can be difficult and expensive to clean up.
Second, many of these creatures like to chew on wires, walls, roofs, soffits, and insulation. It just so happens that our homes and businesses are filled with ideal nesting materials.
Third, pests sometimes attract other pests.
Got rats? Snakes are right behind them, because the snakes feed on the rats. Got bees? Rats and roaches are ready to eat their honey.
They Threaten Your Safety
Sure, most of the snakes that might be found in your Woodlands home are unlikely to be venomous, but snake bites still hurt. Rats will bite, scratch, and spread disease when they feel threatened, and so will any other animal.
Honeybees? Swarms and stings can be deadly if you or anyone on your property is allergic.
The longer you leave these creatures on your property the more likely it is that you're going to have some kind of an encounter with them that could result in someone getting hurt. As they grow more invasive they push further and further into the spaces where humans live and work.
Humane Wildlife Removal Services
There are no DIY solutions that work well for chasing these animals away. The only ways to handle the problem are to find out how they're getting in. Then we have to seal those spaces and remove the animals that are already there.
Killing those animals comes with its own set of problems, including the fact that corpses can become trapped in walls or hard-to-reach attic spaces, creating their own smells, health, and safety issues.
Instead, we trap them and take them off to a place where they can live their little lives in peace while leaving you to yours.
If you know you have a problem, don't delay and don't wait. You've worked too long and too hard to secure your Woodlands property to lose it to these representatives from the great outdoors.
Bat Removal Services for High Rises and Parking Garages in Houston
Bats love to roost in high rises and parking garages across Houston. While they aren't aggressive or prone to biting, they can infect your visitors, customers, vendors, tenants, or employees with upper respiratory diseases. They can also fill wall spaces with guano, creating a smell strong enough to drive profits away. Here are some of the questions we often get about commercial bat removal in Houston.
How do you get rid of a bat colony?
When we get rid of a bat colony we do it in a humane, gentle way that allows bats to remove themselves naturally. First, we find all the areas where bats are entering your high rise, parking garage, or commercial building. We place one-way eviction valves that will not allow them to return as they leave to hunt for the night.
Once all the bats have left we seal all the potential entry points. Once they've left they will go seek out a new home. They'll look for a high structure near where they were removed.
Some of our bat removal customers have opted to add alternative housing for them. We can also consult with customers on strategies to help drive them to a new location where alternative housing is already available.
Finally, we engage in a heavy-duty clean-up process to make sure we get rid of all the guano, which can attract other pests, carry disease, and continue to smell long after the bats have gone if not treated properly.
Will bright lights keep bats away?
Bright lights can indeed be an effective deterrent against bats. They don't like bright, artificial lighting.
If you know where they like to enter and leave your building you can place bright spotlights there to shine 24/7. This could help discourage them from taking roost in the future.
Bright lights will not necessarily get rid of a colony that's already taken roost. They're just as likely to find another spot in your building that isn't all lit up. Getting them removed first ensures your bat-deterrent won't turn into little more than a frustrating drain on your power bill.
Are bats federally protected?
A few bat species are indeed federally protected, which is why identifying the species of bat is one of the first steps we have to take when we start a job for your company. The protected bats are:
- Florida Bonneted Bats
- Grey Bats
- Indiana Bats
- Ozark Big-Eared Bats
- Virginia Big-Eared Bats
- Mexican Free-tailed Bats
Of these you'll generally only find the Mexican Free-Tailed Bats here in Houston. Texas is also home to dozens of other types of bats which are not protected by federal law. Yet on this count, Texas laws are stronger than federal laws.
Texas law protects all bats. They may not be "hunted, killed, possessed, purchased, or sold." They may be "moved, trapped, or killed if inside or on a building occupied by people." It's also legal to transport bats to a laboratory for the purposes of testing for rabies.
How much does it cost to get rid of bats?
It depends on the size of your building and the size of your colony. For high rises and parking garages bat removal costs can range from $5000 and up. Yet we give every business owner in Houston their own, free estimate.
You don't have to engage in guesswork. Once we give you an estimate, we stick by it. Contact us to get started today.
