f^y^v^ 





United 



States Department of the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service 



Wildlife Leaflet 333 



Interior 



Washington 2$^ 



D. 



C. 







January 1951 



"^CONTROL OF BATS^^ 



by James Silver and John C. Jones, Biologists 



When bats invade homes and occupied buildings to establish 

 their roosts they often become nuisances and make necessary some 

 measure of control. The Fish and Wildlife Service receives many 

 requests for information regarding control measures under these 

 circumstances. Since bats are harmless animals and may even be 

 ranked as beneficial through their control of insects, they should 

 not be destroyed; milder measures should be tried, directed toward 

 dispossessing them from the buildings they have invaded and perma- 

 nently excluding them. This leaflet gives directions for such 

 control. 



A few facts about the habits of bats should be stated 

 as background information. They are nocturnal animals, leaving 

 their roosting places -at dusk to fly about in pursuit of the night- 

 flying insects that provide the bulk of their food. By day they 

 roost in dark, sheltered places. A few species are solitary, but 

 most congregate in groups or in colonies, the largest of which may 

 number a million animals or more. Bats are mammals — not birds, as so 

 many people believe. Their "wings" are formed by thin leathery or 

 membranous skin that stretches between the greatly elongated bones 

 of the front legs and "fingers". They are the only mainmals thus 

 equipped to fly. The ones found in this country are small, averaging 

 3 to 5 inches in body length; the wingspread averages between 10 and 

 l5 inches. They do not attack humans, nor do they get themselves 

 tangled in peoples' hair. 



Some bats migrate with the change in seasons, following 

 a steady source of food supply. Others remain in their roosts if 

 well protected, hibernating only during the colder months. Origi- 

 nally bats roosted in natural shelters, such as caves and hollow 



l/This leaflet supersedes Wildlife Leaflet 260, issued September 19ijil . 



