Bats can be very destructive if they find a way into your attic. While they won’t chew and scratch at everything the way that squirrels or raccoons will, roosting bats will create an ever-growing pile of guano, which will destroy anything it lands on. Unfortunately, you probably won’t realize that you have a bat infestation in the attic of your Raleigh-Durham metro home until they’ve been there for awhile. Here are a few signs that you have bats living in your attic:
- You hear squeaking and fluttering noises coming from your attic. While squeaking sounds are made by a number of household pests, the flapping of wings in combination with high-pitched squeaks indicates that bats have invaded your attic. You’ll likely hear these noises most frequently at twilight and in early morning, when bats are flying in and out of your attic in the Research Triangle area.
- You begin to smell an overwhelming ammonia odor coming from your attic. This is the smell of bat urine and guano, the highly corrosive droppings produced by bats. If there are multiple bats roosting in your attic, you’ll probably smell them more quickly and the stench will be more potent.
- You see bats flying around your roof. It’s one thing to see bats swooping over your property as they hunt for bugs but if they actually seem to be congregating around your roof, it means they’re probably living in your attic. If you’ve noticed other signs of a bat infestation, watch your roofline around sunset or sunrise to see if bats are flying in and out.
NCSU Alumni