The Battle of the Bats

We are just over a month into our adventure living here in Marloth Park and it's been a busy month making the house a home. We've been slowly working on converting the upstairs bedroom—the one with the fabulous views into Kruger National Park—into an office and private retreat. This has entailed selling some of the furniture that was there when we moved in and getting some new pieces. (Side note: why are couches outside the US so hard and uncomfortable?)

The first night that our beautiful and ultra-comfy couch was delivered and a swivel TV mount was installed, we relaxed into our new space for some binge watching (hello, new season of Solar Opposites). There we were, shortly after dining with the bushbabies in the backyard, when we heard faint high-pitched squeaking noises and scratching in the ceiling.

Now, in Colorado, our house was set in a rural area on two wooded acres of land. We were in a perpetual war with the field mice who wanted to settle in our crawlspace and raise hordes of young. Eventually, I gave up on keeping them out and settled for using poison and once or twice a year dealing with the smell of death permeating from the crawlspace. However, in this case, I thought it unlikely that mice would climb into a second story attic to settle. I’m sure it’s possible, but I suspect there are many easier places for them to make a nest. So I figured it was most likely bats.

Initially, I wasn’t 100% convinced that it was in the house and thought it would be a good idea to take a few days before sounding the alarm and calling someone out to deal with it. Of course, the sounds repeated each of the next two nights.

Don’t get me wrong: Carrie and I love pretty much all kinds of wildlife and we both have a particular fondness for bats. A mammal that can fly… how awesome is that?!? In fact, while in Bali with my brother a few years ago we were able to hold a gigantic bat by the legs at a wildlife rescue and it was a fantastic experience. As much as we think bats are the cat’s pajamas, we’re not fans of them (or any other critter) setting up residence in our home. (One small exception is that we don’t really mind the little house geckos, as they eat the bugs and are kinda cute.)

One benefit to living in the bush is that there is no shortage of professional pest removal services. Most homes around here have thatch roofs which are excellent homes for lizards, bats, mice, rats, snakes, bushbabies…the list goes on and on. So with a recommendation from our Airbnb host from last November (thanks Estelle!), Chichi contacted Sarel to scope out who was trying to establish squatter rights in the attic. We definitely weren’t interested in killing them. We just thought they (and we) would be happier in the long term if they weren’t living in our attic. Lucky for us, Sarel knew all about bats and the best way to evict them without doing them harm.

One thing we learned is that they only feed for about forty minutes at a time before returning home. We also found out that you can put up a batbox so that when you evict them they stick around in the new home you put up for them… but the catch is that you have to know the exact type of bat you have so they can make the right batbox. (Apparently bats are particular about their homes.) To identify the bats you have, you have to catch one. Bats are caught using a special net that you have to cut to free the bat. This means the net can only be used once. These specialty nets are expensive and the process can be very time consuming! So we opted not to set up new digs for them and let them find their own new homes.

The process of evicting bats was much more involved than I expected, but was thorough and logically very sound.

After coming to our house during the day to meet us, discuss the situation, and see where they were nesting for himself, Sarel returned the next afternoon shortly before dusk with a camp chair and literally just waited and watched to see where the bats were going in and out of the attic.

Once their entrance was located, he returned early the next morning with a small crew and a big ladder. They spent the whole day painstakingly going around every eave of the house sealing any hole that a bat could possibly fit through with a concrete mixture. However, they did not seal the holes the bats were using to access the attic—otherwise the bats would be locked in and die of starvation!

After the attic was sealed, yet another waiting game ensued. We all sat outside at dusk watching the bats leave one by one from the attic—thirteen total. Once we were confident they had all left to feed, Sarel’s crew climbed up and sealed the last access holes to keep them out. Problem solved!

Of course, next morning we got a WhatsApp message from our neighbor… apparently overnight a homeless bat population set up a camp in his front yard!

You would think that would be the end of the story. We had bats, we had them removed, they moved into our neighbor’s trees. Oh, but the bats did not like being evicted! Indeed, Sarel warned us that for several nights they would likely spend some time flying around the house trying to remember how they used to get inside. He advised us to keep doors and windows closed tight starting shortly before dusk.

The next night, after Carrie had gone to bed I was upstairs watching a little TV before I turned in for the night. As I’m winding down, a bat begins flying back and forth across the room! Yes, inside the room, not the attic… so I open the wide sliding glass door and watch and wait for a bit until he’s no longer flying around. I didn’t actually see him fly out the sliding door but he wasn’t flying around anymore so I figured he must have left. I closed up and went to bed.

Opening the door to let the bat out

Once again, the following evening, Carrie and I are upstairs when we both notice a bat flying around the room once again. Now we’re starting to get a little concerned about where the bats are going and how they’re getting into the room! Carrie goes downstairs to get a broom. Now, understand that our house has quite unusual architecture—the upstairs room is on top of the master suite but is only accessible through the courtyard in the front of the house. That is, you go outside, downstairs, and cross a small courtyard to re-enter the house via the front door. As Carrie returns with the broom, I watch as a second bat flies through the doorway with her.

Now we’re watching two bats fly around the room and debating how to get them out. We’re a bit afraid to open the sliding door again as we might end up with three (or more) bats inside! Ultimately we decide that’s the only practical way to get them out. So we proceed to use the broom to try to “shoo” them outside. They are, let’s say, less than cooperative.

After a bit of flying, they take turns landing on our dark brick walls where they almost perfectly blend in. Aha, I think, now I know where the bat actually went the night before. He probably never left! However, this does afford us an opportunity. We’re able to gently swat one of the bats with the broom straws and throw a sweatshirt over him, scoop him up, and release him outside. The second bat we eventually convince to fly out the door of his own accord—yes, we actually saw him leave!

Since then, we have been blissfully bat free.

Every day is a new adventure around here!