Quote:
Originally Posted by lugnut
I have discovered a colony of bats in my soffets. I contacted an exterminator and he has informed me that they are a protected species and can't be extracted during mating season, which runs from April 15th to August 15th. Has anybody else had a this problem? Suggestions?
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It's not clear what you mean by "in my soffets (soffits?)". Is there a hole or a seam where they are crawling into the space between the eaves and soffits? if so, could it be sealed when the bats are out at night? For some reason I have had bat issues in three different locations, mostly hanging around at night eating their prey or fruit and dropping guano on the porch or whatever. The ones at our house in Central America were very large and messy. I have used electronic bat deterrents with ultrasound and strobe lights, but they didn't work and I returned them. The most effective has been lights shining on the problem area at night. I used low voltage beam lights (12v dc with a 110v ac converter) on a timer or photocell switch so the light shines all night. They don't like it and find another place to hang out. Some people claim that red lights work best but I never found this to be true. Just plain white lights work well, like some people use as decorations in their yard shining on palm trees etc. (should be at least 20 watts up to 50 watts for best results). You just have to make sure the lights illuminate the area where the bats want to be, or maybe where they are getting into the soffits. Good Luck.
Of course, with the other comments about protected species and babies and such it might be best to wait until after the protected season is over before installing the bat lights. Or just before the next bat season. Don't want to break any laws.