There are two particular animals in Charlotte, North Carolina, that make it hard to live here in peace. They’re not big animals. They don’t prey on human beings when they come home at night. They’re small animals whose collective effect can just plain make it hard to live in peace. These two animals are squirrels and bats, and according to Allen Eckman, the owner of A-1 Wildlife Control, Inc., “ squirrels and bats are what can make it hard to live here.”
Eckman says that the big fear with squirrels is that they cause bad wire damage—damage that can result in house fires. But there’s another animal that makes life a lot harder if it makes your home its home: the bat.
With bats, there are “several problems,” says Eckman. Bats will certainly carry rabies. Homeowners can assume that if they have bats, then the bats also have rabies. The two simply go together, from the perspective of a Charlotte wildlife control expert like Eckman. And if you think that bats will just stay far away nesting in the attic, Eckman would say that you’re wrong. In fact, he says, they can easily make contact with you and possibly spread rabies to you. If they get access to the interior of your living space, they could come in at night and bite you in your sleep. A homeowner might not notice this until it’s too late.
The other big issue with having bats, says Eckman, is their guano—their droppings. “Bat guano carries several diseases,” Eckman explains. These include diseases that can lead to fatal lung infections, and diseases that cause dysentery in humans. You can see how bats can be a huge menace if they start to get comfortable inside your home.
The list of problems associated with bats doesn’t stop there though. Eckman explains how bat droppings can threaten a home’s structure. “Bat guano is very high in nitrogen, which means it is extremely acidic,” says Eckman. Therefore, when bats leave guano in the attic, it can eat through insulation and drywall, ultimately ending up eating through the ceiling in the kitchen! Bat guano can eventually land right on the kitchen floor—or directly below wherever the bats happen to be nesting. Then, of course, the guano is right in your home, with all its diseases attached.
Eckman has therefore cited three serious side effects of bats living in an attic: They carry rabies, their guano carries disease, and their guano is acidic enough to eat through a home’s structures. Surprisingly though, “a lot of people like having bats because they are beneficial to the environment, and they think they control a home’s insect numbers,” Eckman relates. But Eckman maintains that it’s a misconception that because bats live in an attic, they are controlling the insect population in the house. “There’s no benefit to having bats living in your house,” he insists.
According to Eckman, only humans should live in a house. There is no benefit to homeowners when bats live in a house, so anyone who discovers bats would be wise to immediately call for help.