BatGuys Wildlife Update — January 24, 2007
The arrival of the cold weather has resulted in more traditional "Winter Nuisance Wildlife" complaints for us over the last month. We have been busy responding to calls for squirrels in attics, mice in walls and basements and believe it or not we're still getting calls for bats. Everything you read will tell you that bats in Massachusetts and Rhode Island go into a deep hibernation in November. We don't see that at all. We consistently find active bats throughout the winter regardless of how cold it gets. See our recent projects below for more details.
Hopkinton Bat Removal
During the first week of January I got a call from a guy in Hopkinton that told me he caught a bat on a glue-board in his attic that was set for mice. He asked me to come assess the situation. While inspecting the attic I found bat hibernating under the fiberglass insulation of the attic. Once on the roof I found 3 bats roosting inside a gable-vent on the exterior of the home. This makes 3 consecutive years that I have found active bats roosting on the exterior of homes in January.
I shot a quick video of these bats and then they flew away unharmed.
Melrose Bat Removal
On January 16th, on a night where the temperatures dipped into the teens we received a call for a bat in a living room in Melrose. The customer informed me that while watching TV she heard some noise in her chimney and then watched this bat drop into the fireplace. She lost track of the bat as she ran out of the room. Once I arrived I found the bat clinging to the back of a piece of furniture. Once on the roof I found that a very deteriorated (and un-capped) chimney is what allowed the bat to enter the house. A Chimney cap would have prevented this from happening.
Foxboro Squirrel Removal
We completed a squirrel removal service at a home in Foxboro that had a severe infestation of gray squirrels. The squirrels had managed to chew around some old work and made themselves comfortable in the attic. I observed several nests and even a dead squirrel lying in the middle of the attic. We removed 7 squirrels from this one attic.
Mass Flying Squirrel Removal
The calls for flying squirrels have been keeping us very busy over the last month. Every year we see more and more of these crafty nocturnal critters. This particular house only had one small hole that was about the size of a golf ball. This one small hole in the roof allowed over 15 flying squirrels to enter this attic.
Cohasset Bat Removal
Yet another case of active bats in January. Here we have a situation where a chimney has pulled away from a house. This created a small gap that some squirrels had chewed and made larger. A small group of bats also took up residence in this gap and I found one roosting in this void on a day that the temperature didn't break 40 degrees.
Short video of this bat.
Massachusetts Attic Cleanout
This project was a severe raccoon infestation at an old historic house in Massachusetts. What you see in the pictures below is a big pile of raccoon feces in the attic of the building. These animals had lived in this attic for at least 5 years. There were piles of feces like this throughout the attic. It took a 4-man crew two whole days to complete this attic cleanup service. This was one of the dirtiest, filthiest, most rancid-smelling attics I have ever seen. I feel dirty just writing about it.
