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LITTLE BROWN BATS
What bats are in my building?
It's helpful to know what species has taken up residence in your house. Maryland has ten species of bats.
Bats that typically form colonies in and on buildings are Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus), Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus), Northern Long-eared Bats (Myotis septentrionalis), and Evening Bats (Nycticeius humeralis).
Indiana Bats (Myotis sodalis), a federally endangered species, has recently been documented as inhabiting buildings in Pennsylvania. Eastern Small-footed Bats (Myotis leibii), a species in need of conservation, and Eastern Pipistrelle Bats (Pipistrellus subflavus) may occasionally use buildings.
All of these species except Big Brown Bats will leave your building on their own in the fall to go to their hibernation or wintering sites.
Why are the bats in my building?
Historically, bats lived in old hollow trees, which unfortunately have been effectively removed from the landscape by humans. Bats have responded to habitat loss by adapting to other available habitats, including houses, barns, country churches, condominiums, townhouses and apartment buildings.
Bat colonies living in buildings during the summer are called nursery or maternity colonies because they consist of mothers and their young, known as pups. Bat pups need the high temperatures found in attics and buildings in order to grow fast and put on enough fat to survive hibernation. Female bats are exceptional parents and usually return with their female offspring to the same roost each year. Little Brown Bats are known to live thirty years or more.
In summer the little brown bat inhabits trees, bat houses, and buildings, usually choosing a hot attic, where nursery colonies of hundreds and even thousands form. Less frequently colonies form beneath tar paper, siding, shingles, or other similar sheltered spots,. In the west colonies have been found beneath bridges and in caves. Single males have been found in attics, behind shutters under bark, in rock crevices, behind siding and under shingles. Groups of males occasionally occur in caves.
In a summer colony the bats remain alert on warm days. In any large group a few are usually active, crawling about over the others and bickering. A colony can be heard as far away as 100 feet. Toward evening the bats become more active until a constant squeaking can be heard as they gather about the exits. They begin to emerge at late dusk. When there is water nearby, most of the bats head at once for the water where they begin feeding a few feet above the surface as they continue to disperse.
Little browns breed in the fall. They establish maternity colonies in the attics of buildings and in similar warm, dark retreats. Births occur from May to July, depending on the state. A single young is born each year.
Populations are stable in the Untied States at this point, but these bats are highly susceptible to pesticide poisoning and habitat destruction. Bat houses may be one important way to insure the bats survival.
It is illegal to kill these species in the state of Maryland. Bat exclusion work is preformed a certain way that is applied differently in each case, as to what needs to be done to handle them in a careful, humaine manor.
*Please visit our websites photo gallery for pictures of Bats we have successfully removed**
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