Bats driving me batty!

[Pilot]

I keep my plane in a 50 year old hangar with a metal roof. There are 10 hangars in a row. There are rafters, about 2X6 or 2X8 and they overlap about 2 ft. and at some of the joints there is a gap, which the bats like to call home.

I have nothing against the little guys, except they poop all over the place. So I want to evict them. Don't want to kill them.

Hangars are impossible to seal against them; there are gaps everywhere, and they would just come in thru adjacent hangars.

Was thinking about waiting until they were gone after dark and spraying spray foam into the gaps. Challenges are it's about 12-14 feet up there; I have an 8 ft. step ladder. Lighting is lousy, one bulb. Lighting problem may be solved if they are migratory & I could wait until they go, but I don't know exactly what species they are.

Any good ideas out there?

 

[Don87]

I don't have any real good ides, but look here: How to Get Rid of Bats - howtogetridofstuff.com

I will post updates to this post as I find them.

EDIT: Ok, after doing a lot of searching, and finding ouit that the 'old noise emitters don't work.............here is what I would do if I were in your place.

Either call a 'bat removal expert'(as bats are very beneficial, and need to be protected), Or I would wait til just before daybreak, move my plane outside, then start a fire in the middle of the hanger, and use pine branches to create smoke to keep the bats from coming in.

To seal your hanger, is going to take covering every hole that is 1/4 inch in diameter. you ain't doing that in a hanger. Another solution is mothballs.............500 bucks and 50 hours labor...........I dunno.

I applaud any way you come up with to 'save' the bats(don't kill them).

Electronic devices are said not to work.

 

[kco]

Would it be possible to line the inside of the roof with plastic and plywood so the bat poop doesn't come down?

It is almost impossible to seal against bats. We had a shake roof and with piles of bats (but nothing in the house). They can crawl in between the shakes to between the joists. When we replaced the roof with asphalt shingles two years ago we purchased a bat house which I mounted on a tree.

We don't have near as many flying around the yard at night and I miss them. Bats are protected here in BC.

We get one in the house a couple of times a year (through open doors) and can usually get them out simply by opening a door or window (after removing the screen).

The last one was a couple of weeks ago and we could not get him to leave. He finally wore himself out and rested on a window ledge. My wife gently caught him (used gloves) and let him go outside. I rescued one out of the garage the same way.

Anyhow, perhaps lining part of the roof would solve the problem.

 

[Pete Judd]

I have a half a dozen bat houses around the place, maybe you could hang some up in the area, and attract them over to them. Good luck, I know how much poop is under some of mine, but for me it makes good fertilizer.

 

[Welsarth@msn.com]

You may not want to hear this, but learn to live with the bats if a few bat droppings are all you have to contend with. I made the mistake of trying to evict them from the side of my house and ended up with them occassionally in the house.
How many insect carcases do you have at the present time? Your eviction may lead to some kind of native insect infesting your hanger, hence not solving the problem. Are you going to evict them today only to have them colonize in your neighbors hangers? If you evict them, how long before they come back?
Where are they nesting? Unless you have all males (a possibility) you have a fairly narrow area where the females and there young spend the day. the males prefer these areas too but might hang or roost. Should be an area opposed to the mid day sun! Once located? Well do your bats go to caves (and probably do to hybernate over the winter)? You don't want to trap there young inside the nest you could try wiring there exit shut, the exit I have read if properly wired will allow the bats to leave, but not re enter.
The females though nest! Have their young in (probably your hanger).
THE LIKELYHOOD OF YOU ELIMINATING ALL POSSIBLE NESTING AREAS IS PERHAPS SOMETHING ON THE ORDER OF ZERO TO NUN!
You just store your plane in the structure, it has been the summer home for your bats for generations and the little ***** are going to insist on keeping it that way!:laughing::confused2:

 

[silverdollar6]

Just post a " No Bat " sign,

 

[forgeblast]

Around here we have been loosing a lot of bats.
White-Nose Syndrome - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Would not hurt to hang a few bat boxes outside the structure, and then if they move seal it, or when they are out seal it and then they will (hopefully) move in to the bat boxes.

 

[Pilot]

Rereading, I see I wasn't clear. The bats sleep between the rafters where they overlap but aren't tight together so there are these nice cozy spaces between the rafters. As I see it, if I can seal just these gaps, they will find somewhere else to go--other peoples hangars, I suppose, but there are bats in a lot of them. I just want to solve my own problem.

Too much bat poop to tolerate. The plane is an antique, restored to original condition and has won some awards. Overnight they drop about 20 little stools in 3 areas of about 4 X 4 ft each and when you only fly once each week or two, a lot of poop piles up. Plus they seem to poop as they fly, leaving stools scattered all over the place.

 

[ragkar]

Regarding light in the hangar, fetch a led headlamp from hf.
And pray for white-nose syndrome to wipe them out.

By the way, I have bats in my attic which is about 4 inches tall.

 

[Beltzington]

Unfortunately nature might take of this for you. Watched an interesting documentary on ETV which indicated a new fungus is killing tens-of-thousands of bats yearly. Called the White Nose Fungus, it attacks the bats during hibernation and there is no known cure. If it continues at the present rate bats may be a fond memory in a few years.

Dated news - missed the earlier post.