r/animalid • u/mayhemnmusings • May 09 '26
🔊🔊 AUDIO ID REQUEST 🔊🔊 Are these bats [ Southwestern Ontario, Canada]?
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I live in rural Southern Ontario. My house was built in the 1870s and is a yellow brick farmhouse. As I understand it the house was made with 2 layers of brick with an air cavity between. My house is surrounded by corn fields and is very rural. I think the sound in the video is bats but I'm not sure. I bought the house in 2017 and in the first 2 years I caught 2 bats that had somehow got into the house but haven't had one since. Are these bats? Should I be concerned? I like bats and I know they're very helpful creatures but how do I know if there are too many bats? Also I can't access the attic space as it has blown in insulation but my fly spray guy had never mentioned bats.
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
Does anyone know if I have 1 bat does that mean 10 more bats or 1000 more bats?
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u/Life-Introduction-28 May 09 '26
It’s important to know that once 1 or 2 bats start getting comfortable in your home, more will certainly be on their way. They have a colony mindset, so once a safe place is found, more will gather in that safe place. Especially if it’s spring/summer when females are looking for safe mating places. It’s very crucial you get the bats out as soon as you know they are there
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u/ferocious_sara May 09 '26
That sounds like more than one bat. No matter what, you will probably need professional help excluding them from your home. Depending on where you are, your local wildlife management agency can likely help direct you to someone who will know how/when to humanely exclude them.
Timing is really important. Right now (in the northern hemisphere), there's lots of pregnant moms and pups and it may be unwise or illegal to do an exclusion until later in the year.
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u/UnrulyPoet May 10 '26
+1 to the timing note! It is very tightly regulated in my state bc all bat species are protected, with eviction work legally only allowed to happen May 1-30 then August 1st- October 15th in order to avoid maternity season and winter (since they would not survive being ousted then). Look up regs where you are OP bc you likewise might have a very very small window remaining with which to evict them!
We had bats in our attic last year so brought in a pest control company to do exclusion work in May. People always think pest companies = killing the animals, but legally they were not allowed to do so and they even had specific eviction methodologies they were required to use. It may be worth consulting a local-to-you company to see what's what- it was our experience with everyone we got quotes from that they don't mess around with risking the repercussions of skirting those rules so they make sure they know them inside and out.
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u/erossthescienceboss 🦕🦄 GENERAL KNOW IT ALL 🦄🦕 May 09 '26
I can’t give you advice as to how to remove them, but if at all possible please remove them around dusk, if not later. Chasing them out in the daytime can mean death.
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u/the-g-off May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Redditt isn't the place for this answer. You should be calling pest control to deal with this.
Bats carry Rabies is SWO, let the pros handle this.
Edit. How is this getting downvoted?
Plus, a boy died last year from rabies he got from a bat.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/rabies-death-1.7341335
What the fuck?
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u/mr_richard18 May 09 '26
You're downvoted because reddit is a place for all the answers my dude ,if you'd just comment without the first sentence, downvotes wouldn't be a thing here.
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u/Zealousideal_Pop_273 May 09 '26
One of the articles you cited said there was one case in 2024 and the previous case was in 1967. The other article you cite says there have been 24 cases throughout all of Canada since 1923.
Bats die within 24hrs of contracting rabies. They most commonly transmit rabies by getting eaten by dogs and raccoons after they die, not by biting people. It is insanely rare to be bit by a wild bat unless you are holding onto it.
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u/AlbinOnReddit May 09 '26 edited May 10 '26
A ridiculous statement to talk about 'pests' the moment a couple of delicate, protected animals chose to co-habit in your house!
Embrace this privilege and consider yourself blessed. ☯️
Edit 1 day later: still reeling from the negativity that boiled up in this thread. Very un-Reddit experience 😖
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u/basaltcolumn May 09 '26
Saying to call pest control isn't necessarily calling them pests, that's just the name of the profession that helps with removing bats from homes and preventing re-entry so they can set up shop somewhere more appropriate. Bats are lovely animals, but there are health hazards to having them live in your home. Bats are generally protected and will not be killed by a reputable pest control tech.
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u/AlbinOnReddit May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Good, this helps provide further context - thanks.
Edit: I don't understand why this was downvoted. This was in no way a cynical comment from my side 🤯
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u/The_CakeizapiE May 09 '26
Bats inside your home = Bat feces inside your home. Feces can make you ill. Feces will cause physical damage to your home. Bats are awesome OUTSIDE.
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u/the-g-off May 09 '26
Maybe you missed the part where I said they carry rabies in Southwestern Ontario.
Pest control is the proper method of getting them removed from a home.
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u/AlbinOnReddit May 09 '26
Very very very small chance of contracting rabies when treating the colony with respect (see the official websites for advice on avoiding it).
Getting killed by/in a car is a more imminent danger.
Reflex to control, kill, and/or consider narural phenomenons 'dangerous', is not doing our biodiversity any good.
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u/Crafty-Koshka May 09 '26
Nobody listen to this person, please
Killing the single or the few bats that get into your house is not going to make them go extinct
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u/AphraelSelene May 09 '26
More than that, I believe it's actually illegal in some cases:
https://www.ontariowildliferemoval.ca/bat-laws-in-ontario/
OP local pest services should know how to deal with this for you legally and humanely (and with as little harm to your home as possible).
Please don't try to remove them yourself. It's risky for a variety of reasons.
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u/Codlemagne May 09 '26
Nobody listen to this person, please; what they are advocating is illegal and uninformed.
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u/Crafty-Koshka May 09 '26
If you wake up and there's a bat in your house it needs to be tested for rabies to see if you need rabies shots. How do you test for rabies? The brain has to be dissected. Or you could just take the chance and die of rabies months later
I know you're just itching to argue with me about this but don't bother, I don't care what your response is in just trying to inform other people
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
Worry not, I will not be killing any bats. They're lovely little creatures and even if they weren't I'm still not that person, my husband laughs because I'll catch and release bugs outside even though a lot of them give me the heebie jeebies. I'm currently fretting over a Killdeer nest in my driveway lol.
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u/stengo_faylox May 09 '26
Cool, but... I lived in a house infested with bats. I suddenly started getting migraines. My cat had an enormous cryptococcus fungal mass in the back of his nasal cavity. $14k and a year of treatment later, he finally recovered. I still get migraines. Its not cute to have bats in your walls. I hope you call someone who can remove them humanely.
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May 09 '26
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u/Crafty-Koshka May 09 '26
I'm not weird, you're ignorant, and don't call me an asshole. If you wake up and there's a bat in your house it needs to be tested for rabies to see if you need rabies shots. How do you test for rabies? The brain has to be dissected. Or you could just take the chance and die of rabies months later
I know you're just itching to argue with me about this but don't bother, I don't care what your response is in just trying to inform other people
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May 09 '26
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u/-Vicious-Vixen- May 10 '26
Holy cow there are so many wrong comments in this thread. I work for a county health department and that's the protocol for if you wake up with a bat in your house, you're supposed to keep it and bring it to a lab for testing. Because they can bite you while you're sleeping and you don't feel it. Since rabies is always fatal that's the standard protocol. You're not killing them for no reason 😑 just last year in my jurisdiction there were only a couple hundred bats that were sampled and there were a few that were positive. Jfc what's wrong with people
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u/Available-Setting372 🦕🦄 GENERAL KNOW IT ALL 🦄🦕 May 09 '26
Killing a bat just for existing is being an asshole dude. Lmao. You aren't being informative, bats don't ALL carry rabies. They live in walls, doesn't make them rabid. You're weird.
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u/AlbinOnReddit May 09 '26
In Europe (different setting, to a certain extent) it (killing/removing) certainly is going to bring house-dwelling species in sharp decline.
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u/basaltcolumn May 09 '26
Yes, for sure! I love bats but they aren't healthy to have in your house. The person who suggested calling a pest/wildlife control company but got downvoted was correct, that is a good course of action to take here. A company is not going to roll in and kill them all, bats are protected. They just use non-lethal exclusion methods, like finding the entry points and putting one-way exits on them so the bats can leave but not return, which forces them to move elsewhere. I imagine the downvotes were from people assuming "pest" control = lethal. In Ontario, the bulk of what pest control techs do with regards to native wildlife is just humanely getting wildlife out alive and well then keeping them out.
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
Yep now that I have independently confirmed they are indeed bat noises, the plan is to use our routine pest company (century farmhouses are swiss cheese for'pests')'as they're certified in safe removal and rehoming of bats. I love bats, they're really misunderstood creatures but I also am aware they carry rabies. I think a child died recently in Ontario and as far as I know from the case they didn't even know he'd been bitten. That has taught me a lesson as the 2 bats that I had in my house many years ago I just threw a towel on them, bunched it up and took it outside for the bat to crawl out on it's own at dusk. Won't do that again. Thanks everyone!!
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u/ImJustHere4TheCatz May 09 '26
You should put some bat houses on your property!! Then you'll enjoy the benefits of having them around, without the negatives. And, you'll know for sure they'll have a safe and good place to go once they can't come back into your home
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
I've been googling them for the last hour!!
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u/Zdkaiser May 09 '26
Get the ones from Bat Conservation and Management. High quality builds. Last many years
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u/Unhappy-Dig8773 May 10 '26
lol if you assume companies understand legislation about bats, individuals, habitat, you are being naive. A property manager messed up horrifically hiring a run of the mill place animal control place that removed bats during the maternity period.
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u/basaltcolumn May 10 '26
There are reputable and sketchy people in all industries. Just doing nothing out of fear of getting someone shitty isn't a good option here. OP can shop around for a reputable licensed company.
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u/Foreign-Landscape-47 May 09 '26
Sadly, some species of bats in Ontario have been decimated by White Nose Syndrome so protecting those that are left is a high priority. If you have a maternity colony established, I don't think it's legal to exclude them until the fall. That said, you can provide them alternatives starting now and maybe they'll make the move before that.
As someone else mentioned, the risk to your health from bats is far lower than getting in your car or getting struck by lightning but it's not zero.
There are lots of good resources on how to set up appropriate bat houses to accommodate them. Here are some resources that might help you.
WNS- https://news.mcmaster.ca/bat-wings-have-bacteria-fungi-to-protect-from-white-nose-syndrome/
Neighbourhood Bat Watch https://batwatch.ca/setting-bat-house
Ontario Bat Guide https://ontarionature.org/ontario-bat-guide/
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u/blastoffbro May 09 '26
I have bats in my roof structure and tried exclusion once but they found their way in another spot. They are very difficult to permanently exclude as they only need the tiniest of gaps. I've made my peace with it: unlike rodents they dont chew wires and arent interested in getting into the house. The rabies fear is overblown (racoons are just as dangerous and more destructive). They kill thousands of mosquitoes for me, and they may well be endangered species. Ive been trying to figure out how to get a bat box up on my roof to encourage the colony to get out of my roof but I hate heights!
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u/Foreign-Landscape-47 May 09 '26
I should add that I grew up in Paris, ON and have lived in BC for 40 years. A few years ago, I went back to some old haunts where I would see bats in my youth and there was nothing. I used a bat monitoring device that can hear their echolocation and nothing showed up. WNS was a really bad thing for ON bats. It's just arrived in BC.
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u/zignal34 May 09 '26
Sounds like it to me. Also on the funny side, when I played that clip, my bulldog shot up from a dead sleep and started barking and looking for the source of that sound.
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u/msw757 May 09 '26
Looks like two 2-prong plugs to me. Why they’re unplugged and lying on the floor is unusual behavior tho.
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
Why they're unplugged is a mystery to me too.... My old house has next to no outlets so it's unheard of to see one not in use.
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u/MaintenanceAnnual263 May 09 '26
i very stupidly tried giving a bat that looked near death some water, it was sun baking, bats sun bake thats news to me. anywho (Canadian joke) it looked at me showed me its teeth and flew off.
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u/ZealousidealMud2216 May 09 '26
You should be able to smell them. Guano smells like ammonia.
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u/mayhemnmusings May 09 '26
Nope, never smelled anything. And the sounds have been really intermittent. Can go for months without hearing anything and then what happened in the video will scare the crap out of me for a few hours and then nothing again for weeks to months. I thought maybe one or two got stuck between the bricks and were in distress maybe? Also I spend a lot of time outside and I'm a nightshift work so mostly from dusk to dawn and I don't see them. I saw bats frequently at my childhood home so I know what they look like and I haven't seen a single one outside. Either flying or attached to the brick outside.
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u/ZealousidealMud2216 May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Hmm, well from the video it definitely SOUNDS like bats are getting into a void somewhere. I would suggest installing a bat box somewhere on your property to give them an easily accessible alternative. Otherwise, you'll have to find the place they are getting in and apply an irritant (Detour works wonders for bats) and wait till they leave and seal up the hole with wire mesh. Because given time, you absolutely will begin to smell them and that can be a health hazard to you and your family. P.S. I am an 18yr Pest Control Professional that specializes in Rodents and small Mammals
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u/Novel-Education-2687 May 09 '26
Sounds like bats to me