Bats in your home: the answer isn't a stick

Bats in the roller shutter: pest or natural mosquito repellent?

The drum of a roller shutter is not the kind of habitat you would imagine for a flying mammal. But it happens: a homeowner opens the window and discovers they share their house with a colony of bats that has chosen the shutter box as its roost. The first reaction is to reach for a stick; the second, more sensible one, is to ask how to get rid of them without harming a single animal.

Between the stick and the LED light

There are two schools of thought when it comes to dealing with the invasion. One is the eviction approach: placing an LED light in the gap, creating indirect smoke or making noise so the tenants leave on their own. The other is coexistence: bats cause no trouble, eat the local mosquitoes and flies, and, as a bonus, give the potted plants below a first-class fertilizer in the form of guano. Some even envy those with a roost and ask for advice on how to attract them to their country house.

Guano and myths: the flip side of having critters at home

Amid the practical discussion, a linguistic note: some insist on calling them by an older name. The form has tradition, but the animal sees no better or worse because of it. What is beyond dispute is that they are not blind, as the urban legend keeps repeating. And the guano, far from being a problem, is a fertilizer gardeners would pay for.

The practical sarracena: before resorting to clubbing them -a terrible idea, and also illegal if they are protected species- it is worth trying harmless home remedies. And if you don't mind the guano, perhaps the best thing is to let them live. The mosquitoes, those do disappear.