Have you started noticing bats on your porch? Are they causing problems with their droppings, urine, and foul odor? Or maybe you’re scared they might fly into your house and start sucking your blood? Well, bats are a common nuisance that likes to take shelter on your porch.
And though the movie industry has made people believe that all bats suck blood, only 1 of the mover than 1,000 bat species can drink the blood of mammals. The common vampire bat, as it’s called, is typically found in the tropics of Mexico, South America, and Central America.
If you’re wondering how to keep bats away from your porch, you’ve come to the right place. Here is a detailed guide on how to keep bats away from your porch effectively and safely.
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What Attracts Bats to Your Porch?
Seeing a colony of bats hanging on your porch doesn’t necessarily mean that they have made shelter in your attic. Bats can roost on your porch if it offers stable temperatures and protection from predators and the weather.
Bats are nocturnal mammals, meaning they carry out their activities at night and rest during the day. An overhang on your porch makes it the best place for bats to hang upside down and rest at night or during the day. Normally, bats will feed for 1-2 hours, land on an overhang to rest and digest their food, and then forage again before daybreak. By daybreak, they've returned to their roosts to sleep out the day hanging upside down.
Additionally, bats are predators of most night-flying insects, including mosquitoes, beetles, moths, and other insects attracted to light. This makes your porch the perfect place for bats to feed and rest. Though they do an excellent job at keeping the insect population on your porch at bay, bats can become a real nuisance.
Waking up to piles of black bat droppings every morning is enough to drive you crazy. Besides, the musty, ammonia-type odor released by bats and their urine can make it almost impossible to enjoy the great outdoors from the front of your home. So, how can you keep bats away from porch? Read on to find out.
How to Keep Bats Away from Porch?
Here are smart tips and tricks to prevent bats from roosting under your porch:
Install Yellow Porch Lights and Leave Them On
Bats are temporary invaders and will probably leave on their own when the season changes and the weather becomes cooler. But most homeowners are eager to get rid of bats as soon as they discover them in their porches.
Luckily, bats are nocturnal, and they don’t like bright light. You can use this to your advantage by leaving your porch lights on at night. But regular lights on your porch can attract insects, offering ample food for bats.
Installing a bright yellow light significantly reduces the number of insects on your porch. Leaving the bright lights on at night disturbs bats and makes your porch an unattractive spot for them to roost.
Inspect Your Porch Fix All Cracks
Did you know that while some bats are as big as a small dog, others can be as small as a bee? Now you know. Bats’ small size makes it easy for these invaders to squeeze themselves into even the smallest cracks. They have been shown to tuck themselves into holes barely 6mm, about the size of a dime. Once inside, bats will make a home for themselves.
Hence, you should thoroughly inspect your porch and the areas around it while taking note of any cracks that need to be addressed. Bats are actively looking for a dark area to hide from predators. If your porch is not a suitable place to roost, they’ll probably find shelter in the cracks near your porch.
Repair all cracks and seal holes to ensure bats won’t find a dark spot to make a home in or around your porch. Ensure there are no bats in the cracks before repairing.
Install Bat Nets
Bat nets are pretty popular. They are heavy-duty nets that prevent bats from invading unwanted areas without harming or killing them. You can buy bat netting from your local pest control store and hang them as an effective barrier to prevent bats from entering your porch and surrounding areas.
Bat nettings are designed with small holes that block any bats trying to enter or fly through them. However, you must ensure that all the areas that bats use to enter your porch are covered completely.
Also, hang the net just a few inches above bat entry points, especially if they have already invaded. This allows the nuisance invaders to get out at the bottom of the net. Bats may have a very good memory, but these flying mammals are not as smart as birds who find their way back into an area by flying at the bottom of the net.
Eliminate Possible Food Sources
Like other common invaders, bats prefer to live near their food source. Normally, you won’t find bats making shelter where they can’t get a good food source. Bats are omnivores. They have a varied diet, including fruits like bananas, mangoes, avocados, and insects like leafhoppers, mosquitoes, and crickets.
Generally, different bat species enjoy different types of food. So you should research and find out what type of bats are causing trouble on your porch. Once you remove their source of food, bats will immediately move out of your porch in search of a better place where they can feed and roost.
Spray Bat Repellents
Fortunately, you can use natural ingredients to keep bats away from the porch. Even better, you don’t have to worry about preparing these repellents at home because they are readily available on the market.
Bat repellents are typically made with a smell that bats find unbearable. They are designed to deter bats from invading your property, making them ideal for areas that are constantly having bat problems. While at the market, you will find chemical-based sprays and natural sprays. Hence, you should be keen to ensure you buy natural repellents that won’t hurt non-target organisms and the plants near your porch.
Consider buying repellents that contain peppermint essential oils or spearmint essential oils, as they exude very pungent smells that repel bats from coming close to your property. Natural repellents are highly recommended as they are a humane way of keeping bats away from the porch.
Ultrasonic Bat repellents
Ultrasonic sound devices are a modern and effective way of keeping bats away from the porch. The devices are usually plugged into an electric outlet to emit a sound at a frequency undetectable to humans and pets. Although humans cannot hear the ultrasonic sound, it's loud enough to drive bats crazy and away from your porch.
Ultrasonic sound devices effectively keep bats away from your property by scaring them. You can buy an ultrasonic bat repellent on the stock market to keep bats from porch.
Final Thoughts: How to Keep Bats from Porch
Bats do an excellent job at keeping the population of nuisance pests on your porch at bay. However, bats are not the best guests on your porch. They can become a real nuisance by constantly leaving unsightly droppings on your front porch. On top of that, bats can get really noisy, and their urine can exude a strong ammonia odor on your porch. Fortunately, with this comprehensive guide on how to keep bats away from porch, you can be sure to have a bat-free porch all year round!