Bat

There are two common types of bats that tend to get into homes and become a nuisance in New Jersey:

The Big Brown Bat and The Little Brown Bat.

Biologists will tell you that you can tell the difference between these two types of bats by counting the occipital rings in their ears, the big brown bat has more rings than the little brown bat.

Fischer Wildlife Control & Repairs, we’ll tell you that we can tell the difference because big brown bat’s poop is bigger than the little brown bat’s poop!

Both of these kinds of bats live in colonies. The location of their roost is dependent on weather, environment and biologic conditions.

We can also further separate colonies into matriarchal colonies which are colonies with mother bats, or bachelor colonies which are colonies with father bats.

In autumn, the mother bats and father bats get together, hanging out in one large colony to mate. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Birds and the Bees? Well, this is the story of the Bats and the Bees. When the mating season is complete the large colonies will break up and the bats tend to head to wherever they are going to roost for the winter.When the cold months come, bats will hibernate in attics that are warm enough.

It’s not uncommon for someone to call us at Fischer Wildlife Control & Repairs and tell us they were getting the luggage out of the attic for a winter vacation only to discover a bat in their house that very night, or a family whose home is under construction may find them in the wall. This is most common in the plumbing wall which is wider than other walls throughout the house and therefore the first choice for bats to take up residence.

In decades past, they would fly south to the Carolinas or Virginia and winter over in caves. That is because bats look for a constant temperature of approximately 55 degrees Fahrenheit for winter hibernation.

But back in the 1980s, when many rivers were dammed to provide hydroelectric power, many bats were killed and the general population dipped. These days we’re seeing an upswing of bats wintering over in the northeast, instead of migrating. This is similar to how, many years ago, we never saw Canadian geese in New Jersey during the summer months. Now we have resident geese year-round.

We can’t necessarily substantiate it, but in the pest control industry, we see more bats in people’s homes in the winter these days then there were 15 years ago.

To learn how Fischer Wildlife Animal Control & Damage Repair gets the bats out of your house for good click here.

If you have questions regarding Rabies and Rabies Testing click here.

Learn more about bat colonies here.