Was your house, office or even your church occupied by bats this summer? If so, there are things that you can do now to keep them away next year. The little brown bat and big brown bat are the species commonly found in buildings in this region. Female bats occupy nursery colonies in late spring or early summer when they give birth to young. Within a month, these young make feeding flights, but the colony may remain until fall dispersal to hibernation caves.

The good news is that bats rarely stay over winter in buildings and that's the salvation for persons bothered by these flying mammals. The only satisfactory method to prevent these bat roosts is to bat-proof the building. Do this by locating and blocking all entrances through which bats gain access. The best way to find their entry points to the building is by watching the outside of the building during the last half hour of daylight and noting the points from which the bats emerge. Especially look at places like attic louvers, where the chimney joins the house, and gable ends of your house structure itself.

After the entry way is located, plan the needed repairs like nail loose siding, caulk crevices, replace missing molding or trim, and cover larger openings with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Keep in mind that sealing the opening must be done after the bats leave the roost at twilight or after they disperse in the fall, like now. If the openings are blocked during the daylight hours, the bats will be sealed inside the building.

Keep in mind that in most cases, killing of bats is illegal but if you accomplish the above suggestions, bats shouldn't re-enter your structure and become a problem. Also, bats are our friends as they rid our outside environment of mosquitoes and many other pesky insects especially in the summer.