Bat Removal & Exclusion in Locust Grove, GA

Bats in your Locust Grove home

Bats feed on night-flying insects, and Locust Grove still has plenty of the open ground that produces them — farm ponds, pasture and wooded creek bottoms right next to the newest streets, with older yards and gardens around downtown. The bats that hunt there need somewhere to spend the day. In homes here it's usually big brown or little brown bats, and they use whatever narrow space is available: behind a gable vent, in a chimney top, or in a gap where the roof meets the wall.

You almost never hear them. The first clue is usually droppings on the ground directly below the spot — on a porch, a deck, a window ledge or a car. Bats are protected, so they're excluded rather than killed, and for part of every summer the colony is raising pups that can't fly yet. A licensed Henry County pro plans around that calendar before anything else.

Where bats get into Locust Grove houses

Bats don't chew. They use gaps that are already there, and they fit through openings about the width of a finger. On the older houses near the railroad core, that's often a loose gable vent, a chimney without a cap, or wood trim that has pulled away. On new homes it's a seam where siding meets the soffit or a vent with no screen behind it. The pro inspects the whole roof and usually watches the bats leave at dusk to see which openings they're actually using, because missing one means the colony simply moves to it.

April 1 to July 31: the pup season

From April 1 through July 31, female bats are nursing pups that can't fly. Sealing the exits in those months lets the adults out and leaves the young inside to die, which is both a health problem and a violation involving a protected animal. If the bats aren't causing a health risk, pros recommend leaving them until August unless they can confirm there are no pups. Georgia DNR does allow exclusion inside that window when a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator does it, for cases that can't wait. The inspection can be done any time of year.

Droppings, histoplasmosis and a bat in the house

Bat droppings, called guano, pile up under the roost and can carry the fungus that causes histoplasmosis, a lung infection you can get by breathing in dust from disturbed droppings. Cleanup should be done with protection, not a shop vac. Removing the guano is usually worth it, but full insulation replacement often isn't needed, so ask why if it's quoted. A single bat inside the living space is a different matter: bats can carry rabies, so don't handle it, and if it was near someone sleeping or a child, call your health department.

How exclusion works

A bat job usually takes two or three visits. The pro seals every gap the bats aren't using, then hangs a bat valve — a one-way tube or screen — over the main exit. Bats fly out at night to feed and can't get back in. After enough nights, the pro checks that the roost is empty, removes the valve and seals that opening too. Small jobs, like a few bats behind one gable vent, can sometimes be done in a day. Big colonies take longer.

Why caulk and gadgets backfire

The most common mistake is sealing the gap the moment you spot it. If it's pup season, or if the whole colony hasn't left, you trap bats inside the wall, where they die and smell, and you've harmed a protected species. Ultrasonic devices and sprays sold for bats don't make a colony leave. The order that works is the same on a hundred-year-old house as on a new one: inspect, wait for the right window, exclude, then seal.