Twenty common questions Macon-area homeowners ask about bats, answered from Georgia DNR guidance, CDC information and national cost data. If yours is not here, call (478) 812-7346.
HomeAdvisor's national average ranges put typical bat removal at $232 to $755, averaging $490, with large colonies at $1,608 and up. Exclusion and sealing run up to $8,000 and guano cleanup from $500 to $8,000. Those are national numbers; a Macon quote depends on the building, and the pricing page shows every range.
Because the young cannot fly yet. Georgia DNR asks that exclusions be avoided from April 1 to July 31, since pups left behind in a sealed roost are trapped and die. DNR allows one in that window only for a human health risk, and then a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator has to do it and check for young first.
Yes. Georgia DNR's guidance for wildlife control operators states that bats are protected under state law (Official Code of Georgia 27-1-28), and the state public health rabies manual calls them a protected species that should not be harmed or killed when there has been no exposure. Humane eviction is the accepted method.
A one-way exit is netting or a tube fitted over an opening bats use. Bats leave at night to feed, slip out through the device and cannot find their way back in. Georgia DNR's handout has netting hang 18 to 24 inches below the opening with the bottom left open, and tubes 2 inches wide by 10 inches long.
At least five, including three nights in a row with temperatures above 50 degrees, wind under 10 mph and no heavy rain, according to Georgia DNR's exclusion handout. Cold or stormy weather stretches the wait, and a device that comes loose starts the five-night count over.
Yes, and a narrow one. Georgia DNR guidance says bats can use any crevice a quarter inch or wider, and openings into the living space can be as small as 5/8 inch round. Many of these gaps sit high on a roofline where nobody standing in the yard would notice them.
No. Georgia DNR guidance notes that bats do not nest, chew or claw their way into a building. They take advantage of openings that already exist and areas of disrepair, which is why sealing focuses on gaps, loose trim and rotted wood.
Georgia DNR's identification guide rates the big brown bat as very common in buildings statewide and the Brazilian free-tailed bat as very common in the southern half of the state, increasing statewide, and lists the evening bat as another building species. The National Park Service records six bat species at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Macon, including all three.
There is a small one. Georgia DNR says very few bats carry rabies but the disease is fatal without prompt care, and DNR guidance puts the infection rate in common building-dwelling species at about 1 percent or less. Never handle a bat, and talk to a doctor after any possible contact.
Treat it as a possible exposure, even without a bite. Georgia's public health rabies manual lists waking to find a bat in the room as a situation where medical advice should be sought. If it can be done safely, keep the bat contained rather than releasing it, and call your doctor or the local health department.
Often, yes. Georgia DNR says most bat situations can be handled by the homeowner, and its guidance says a bat in the living space can be released outdoors if nobody may have touched it and the night is above 50 degrees without rain or high wind. Close interior doors, open a window or outside door, and let it find the way out.
Because of a fungus. The CDC says Histoplasma, which causes the lung infection histoplasmosis, grows especially well in material with large amounts of bird or bat droppings, and that bats can carry the fungus themselves. Disturbing a large pile without protection is one of the activities CDC and NIOSH link to exposure.
After. Cleaning while a colony is still roosting just starts a new pile and puts people in contact with fresh droppings. The usual order is one-way exits, sealing, then cleanup, all outside Georgia DNR's April 1 to July 31 maternity window.
Sometimes, but carefully. Georgia DNR guidance advises against evictions and exclusions in the coldest part of winter when there is evidence of bats wintering in the building, because those bats rarely leave and may die inside or turn up in the living space. Bat-proofing the rooms you use is the safer winter step.
Outside the April 1 to July 31 maternity window, Georgia DNR's exclusion handout is written so homeowners can do a simple exclusion themselves. Inside the window, DNR allows an exclusion only for a human health risk, and only by a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator. DNR also suggests a licensed operator for large colonies or difficult exclusions.
Ask for proof of a current Georgia nuisance wildlife control permit, then check it against Georgia DNR's list of operators, which DNR keeps by county along with a searchable county map. DNR also suggests getting more than one estimate before choosing.
Yes. It should list every opening found, how many one-way exits will go up and for how long, the sealing materials, any wood repairs, guano cleanup if needed, and the price of each line. Ask for warranty terms on the sealing in the same document.
Not if the job is finished properly. Bats can return through gaps that were missed, so the sealing has to cover every secondary opening, not just the main exit. DNR's exclusion handout also notes bats sometimes roost on the outside of screened vents afterward; those spots can be excluded and screened on the outside too.
Not by themselves, but they give bats somewhere else to go. Georgia DNR notes that bat houses offer bats a new place to roost, which suits people who like having bats around for insect control without sharing the attic with them. A bat house does not replace sealing the building.
Yes. Besides Macon-Bibb County, requests come from Warner Robins, Centerville, Perry, Byron, Fort Valley, Forsyth, Gray and Milledgeville, plus smaller communities nearby. Each town has its own page under service areas, with local housing, roads and bat records.