9 Smart Ways to Keep Bats Away From Your Porch

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Have you stepped outside recently and discovered bats roosting on your porch? Many people are going to be understandably scared by this since bats look a bit intimidating.

For the most part, bats aren’t really dangerous, but this doesn’t mean that you want to have them around. Your porch is an area that you usually want to use on a regular basis, too.

Having bats roosting on the porch ceiling will wind up being a nuisance in all likelihood. You’re probably going to want to figure out a reliable way to keep the bats at bay.

How can you keep bats from wanting to come around your porch, though? Are there things that you can do that will deter the bats from wanting to come around?

Keep reading to get all of the information about how you can keep bats away from your porch. This should help you to get the best results so that you’ll be able to sit on your porch without having to worry about encountering bats any longer.

Why Do Bats Like Porches?

You might be wondering what seems to be drawing bats to your porch. Well, some porches are just very convenient roosting spots for bats because of how they’re set up.

It’s possible that your porch might have an overhang where the bats are able to hang upside down and roost. This gives the bats a spot where they’ll have some shelter and it’s also usually a pretty convenient spot for bugs.

As you likely know, bats are going to feed on various bugs in the area. People often have lots of bugs near their porches because bugs are attracted to porch lights.

The good thing about having the bats around is that you’ll have far fewer mosquitoes to worry about near your home. The downside is that you’ll have spooky bats hanging out in an area that you likely need to pass through fairly often.

Your porch might just be a very convenient spot for bats to roost and that’s why they’re occupying it. This doesn’t mean that you can’t change things up and make the porch area less appealing to the local bat population.

1 – Keep the Porch Lights on

Bats really don’t seem to like light, and you can use this fact to your advantage. It might be possible to deter bats from wanting to come around by using your porch light.

Some people have had great success with keeping bats away by simply keeping the porch lights on during the night. This is going to disturb the bats and it’ll make it so that they can’t sleep.

The porch isn’t going to be a convenient spot for them to roost any longer. As long as you have the porch lights on, it’s going to be less likely that the bats will stick around.

Of course, this could wind up not making a big difference depending on where the bats are roosting. Sometimes bats will roost on the porch inside of cracks or things such as that.

If the bats are able to hide from the light inside the cracks, then your porch light won’t make a difference. This means that you might need to address the cracks before you do anything else.

2 – Fix Cracks

Fixing cracks will be a good idea since bats are very good at making homes for themselves inside of cracks. You might have some cracks on top of your porch or in areas near your porch that will need to be addressed.

Bats are really just looking for dark spots where they can find shelter from predators. If they can’t roost at the top of your porch, then they might be able to do so inside of cracks near the porch.

You can make it so that the cracks aren’t an issue any longer by sealing them up. It’ll take a bit of work, but you should be able to seal any cracks or holes that you find on the porch or near your house.

It’s going to be best to try to make sure that the bats aren’t in the cracks or holes before you seal them up, though. You wouldn’t want to trap a bat inside and kill it since that could lead to various problems.

Luckily, sealing a hole or crack isn’t going to be all that difficult to do. You could also call in professionals to get the job done if you don’t have the time to do things yourself.

A local company that does repairs such as this will be able to get things done quickly. It’s just up to you to decide whether you’d like to go the DIY route or if you want to call for help.

3 – Try Spraying Bat Repellent

One of the best ideas is to consider using something such as a special bat repellent spray. There are actually various bat repellents on the market that you can look into.

Some of the bat repellents that you can buy will be made out of natural ingredients that bats find to be unpleasant. Others will be chemical-based sprays that are designed to deter bats from coming around.

Of course, the repellents that use natural ingredients are going to be better to use in many ways. You won’t have to worry much about them being harmful to any plants that you might have near your porch area.

Some of the best and most popular bat repellent sprays contain things such as peppermint essential oils and spearmint essential oils. These two essential oils give off powerful smells that deter bats from coming too close and they work very well overall.

It’s also good to know that the bat repellents that use natural ingredients like this don’t actually harm the bats. This is a good, humane way to try to keep bats away from your home.

People will often simply spray bat repellents such as these near areas where the bats have been seen. It’ll do a good job of telling the bats that they should find somewhere else to roost and you won’t have to be so concerned moving forward.

If you know that bats are a common problem in your area, then it might be beneficial to continue to spray your porch and other portions of your home. This should keep bats from suddenly becoming a problem later on.

4 – Bat Nets

Bat nets can also work very well to keep bats from being able to use your porch as a roosting spot. Essentially, the net is going to cover the area where bats would enter your porch so that they won’t have access to it.

The holes in the nets will be small enough that bats will get hung up when they try to fly through. This confuses and scares the bats and they’re going to want to get away.

You can pretty easily just place these bat nets in spots where you want to prevent bats from roosting. They generally help homeowners to keep bats from having easy access to many common spots where they will try to go.

When installing a bat net, you’re supposed to hang it a few inches above the entry point. You want the bats to be able to get out at the bottom.

The bats aren’t really smart enough to realize that they can get back in by flying under the bottom of the net. They get too confused by it and they will simply go find a more convenient spot to roost.

Most of the popular bat nets on the market are made out of polyethylene and they will last for quite a while. They’re designed to be UV-resistant and should do a good job of helping you to keep the bat situation under control.

The only negative to using nets will have to do with them altering the aesthetic appeal of your home. Some people find the nets to be a bit unsightly, but it’s up to you to decide whether they’re worth using or not.

These nets can also be useful for helping you to keep birds off of your porch, though. If you’re also worried about annoying birds such as pigeons, then using nets will likely be a good idea.

5 – Place Bat Houses on Your Property

If you have some room on your property, then you could keep the bats off of your porch by giving them another place to go. The basic idea is that they’ll be more likely to use a bat house that you placed on your property than they will your porch.

Bat houses are perfect little roosting spots for bats where they can hide and sleep. They’re able to stay safe from predators in the houses and it’s very dark, just how they like things to be.

Some people might consider this to be a bit of an odd idea when the goal is to get rid of the bats. However, it does make sense that using a bat house will at least keep the bats away from the parts of your property that you actually use.

You see, some people recognize that bats can actually be quite beneficial to the environment. They keep mosquito numbers in check and generally don’t bother humans.

Building a bat house is actually going to be fairly simple as well. You can buy kits that come with all of the pieces that you need to make a basic bat house.

Once you’ve learned how to build the bat house, it’s just necessary to place it at an appropriate spot on your property. Generally, you should try to find a spot that is away from your porch and your house.

If you have a big property, then the bat house shouldn’t really be a nuisance. Those with smaller yards might not find this to be an ideal choice since it’ll take up space that they might want to utilize in other ways.

6 – Try to Eliminate Food Sources

Bats are going to be less likely to want to stick around near your home if you don’t have as many food sources nearby. For the most part, bats are going to feed on both insects and various types of fruit.

There are many different things that bats can feed on, but some might be specific to certain bat types. It might be good to identify what type of bat you have on your porch so that you can do a little bit of research.

In all likelihood, the type of bat that you’re seeing around your property will be feeding on both insects and fuirts. If you can reduce the amount of food that is available to the bats in the area, then they might leave to try to find a better spot.

You might want to stop growing certain types of bushes or trees if bats are feeding on the fruit that they drop. At the very least, you could try to harvest the fruit and clean up any fruit that drops onto the ground to try to limit food access.

You could also take steps to try to keep insects such as mosquitoes away from your yard. Things such as citronella candles have been known to keep mosquitoes away and it might be good to try some other repellents, too.

Other insects that seem to attract bats include moths and beetles. If you can do something to reduce the number of bugs in the yard, then the bats won’t have nearly as much to eat.

7 – Use Ultrasonic Repellent Devices

One of the most practical ways to help solve a bat problem is to go out and buy an ultrasonic repellent device. There are ultrasonic repellent devices on the market that will emit sounds that can’t be heard by human ears.

These sounds will do a good job of annoying the bats and even scaring them. They’re emitted in the same frequency that bats use to communicate and navigate.

There are different types of devices that will work in different ways as well. Some bat repellent sound devices will have different settings while others will only have one setting.

If you’re going to use this indoors, then you can find one that will plug directly into a power outlet. Many people prefer to use the outdoor ones when they’re trying to keep bats away from their porches, though.

Thankfully, the outdoor ultrasonic repellent devices are often going to be solar in nature. You can just stake them into the ground and they will remain powered by the sunlight.

It’s very easy to utilize devices this way and they do seem to get good results. The devices won’t kill the bats or anything such as that, but they will make it so that they won’t want to stick around.

8 – Call Pest Control Specialists

It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that many people will just choose to call in professionals to get things taken care of. You could call a local pest control company that has experience when it comes to dealing with bats.

Companies such as this will often come out to help people get bats out of attics. They can also help you to remove bats from porch areas, barns, and any other structures on your property.

It’s good to consider calling for help if you’re worried or if you feel as if you’re in over your head. Some people will not want to get too close to the bats because they’re afraid of them, but professional pest control specialists will not have that problem.

They can find good ways to humanely get rid of the bats that are occupying your porch. Experts will also be able to suggest things that you can do to keep bats from wanting to come back.

The only real problem with this idea is that it’s going to cost money. Not everyone is going to want to spend the cash to hire professionals to take care of their bat woes.

If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, then this might be the best option. Sometimes it’s good to call specialists when your normal deterrent methods aren’t 100% keeping the bats away, too.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know more about bats and why they want to come around your porch, it’ll be easier to take the right steps to keep them away. There are a large number of different things that can help you to keep bats away from your home, and it’s going to be good to read all of the advice above before deciding how to move forward.

If you can make your porch less appealing to the bats, then they might simply fly away and find a more convenient location. You can keep the porch lights on, seal up cracks, eliminate food sources, and do so many other things that the bats won’t like.

Just remember that bats aren’t necessarily inherently dangerous. They’re likely harmless and can even help to keep annoying insects such as mosquitoes in check.

If you like the benefits of having bats near your property, then installing bat houses somewhere might be the best thing that you can do. Those who just find bats to be scary might want to do everything to try to keep them away instead of giving them their own special areas.

Decide the course of action that makes the most sense for your situation. If you still feel uncomfortable about the bats and don’t want to do things yourself, then you can always call in the local pest control experts.

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