I think there are bats living in my attic. I just went up there to store a few suitcases, and I think there are bats because 1) there are doppings that appear to be from bats, and 2) the droppings are under the highest point of the roof.
I love bats, I think they’re cute, I like to watch them fly around. But I do NOT want them living in my attic.
I know the general advice is to deter them by plugging up wherever they’re entering. But to find a hole as small as a bat in my attic, which looks like it’s from a haunted house, is not possible for me.
The various web sites I’ve found are dedicated to protecting bats as a species, and warn against trying to kill them.
Apparently I can try leaving lights and fans on all night, or maybe they’ll go away by themselves. So I’m not asking for general recommendations about deterring bats.
I just want to know whether they will actually eat mouse poison.
I would guess no, simply because mice are scavengers and herbivorous, while most bats you’re likely to have are insectivorous. There’d be no reason for them to eat random pellets they find laying around.
Bats don’t eat mice. Generally, they eat insects, fruit or plant nectar. And blood, of course, in the case of vampre bats.
So I agree with FH – I doubt they’d eat standard mouse baits, either.
I wouldn’t use poison there are lots of professional Bat removal services that make more sense than having sick bats crawling around your attic and yard which would likely happen even if they did eat “mouse poison” –
But I know this is SDGQ so I will say define the “mouse poison” you want to use and the type of bats you have and we can answer your question.
(subliminal use a professional service and note from this site :
“Exterminators know how to spray poison and kill - there’s no such thing as bat poison, not legal, and not registered.”
Just so you know, bat removal by professional means is fairly expensive (I just had this done in my new house). It cost about $4000, about half was removal, the other half was cleanup. The main reason we didn’t do it ourselves was that we had 3 roosts, we only knew where one was.
The pros have been working on our problem for about 3 months. I’m still getting about 4 or 5 bats a night out of my dining room and living room. (It’s actually kind of fun in a sick sort of way, though I try not to kill, just stun)
Also, they say a bat is like a mouse in that they can get in the tiniest of holes. Once they get into your living space (which if there is a roost in your attic eventually they probably will) be prepared to get twitchy. Everytime something in my house my heart starts racing.
Sorry for the length, but I can probably help some
OBTW, the other guys are right the bats won’t go near the poison, for one thing they won’t even know it’s there. I’m pretty sure they hunt insects by detecting their movement.
As noted above, since they eat insects it may prove challenging to get them interested in your D-Con. Toss small pellets into the air as they fly by? Not a high chance of success, I’d think.
FWIW, I caught a bat in a mousetrap baited with peanut butter. I was trying for mice not bats. He was pinned by the wings but they weren’t broken so I released him and he seemed OK.
You might try building a bat house that they would like better than your attic. Those little buggers eat half their weight in skeeters every night or something like that. I always catch and release when I find them in my house if the cat doesn’t get 'em first.
There are some big tropical bats, like the False Vampire Bat, that eat mice, other bats, birds, frogs, or whatever they can catch. But there aren’t any bats in the US that are likely to do so.
The bats found in most of the US mostly just eat insects they catch in flight, although they might on occasion take an insect on a surface.
Try this little charmer, my favorite: Centurio senex, the Wrinkle-faced Bat. Oddly enough, it also has a flap of skin on the neck that it can pull over its face, which has translucent skin it can sort of see through. I’ve always thought that this was probably necessary if mating was ever to take place.
Well OK. D-Con is Warfarin-based. Warfarin is a blood anticoagulant, causing internal bleeding and hemorrhaging leading to death. Specifically it inhibits the enzymes responsible for recycling of vitamin K which leads to the animal bleeding to death because its blood will not clot. There is no effect on circulating clotting factors, so there is a lag time between eating the bait and death – usually 3-5 days. Over that time you will see the symptoms appear including lethargy and weakness (I was being flip but not kidding about Bats crawling around your attic and yard) as well as difficulty breathing; lack of appetite; blood in the stool, vomit, or urine; and nose bleeds.
Blah-blah Yes. D-con will kill any type of bat that eats a high enough dose.
I doubt leaving D-con lying on the floor of your attic will work though:
This thread has pointed out the many problems inherent in getting the bats to eat the poison and in most places it is illeagal to poison bats, so let me re-state that as all excellent points.
In fact, depending on the dosage strength you are using, some D-Con products are not meant to kill mice in a single dosage but expects to have them return and consume more over a few days …
D-Con uses Cereal and grass seeds as the main attractant - assuming you have Brown Bats (the most common in the U.S.) they eat insects not grass/cereals and the bats probably, by and large, will not go for the bait.
The only caveat I offer is that D-Con also uses some chemical attractants in their bait (most as I understand it “jazz up” the scent of the cereals and grasses – but there is other mouse friendly stuff too) – I have no idea what effect these “other” chemical attractants will have on Bats.
Better ways to deal are listed in this thread and all the threads are relevant to the OP as listed. But to the specfic Question asked at the end of the OP:
**I just want to know whether they will actually eat mouse poison.
This is in two parts. First, the answer to your original question. Then, what you should really do.
In order to get a bat to eat your poison, you’ll have to trick it. Photographers do this to get those fabulous pix in Nat Geo. Don’t do this. It’s ecologically stupid, and illegal in most states.
Find a place where the bats hang out. A street light attracts flying bugs, which attract bats.
Put pellets of D-con® into a few dozen larvae from a bait shop (bee moths, wax worms, e.g.)
The photogs use a pedal-operated pneumatic launcher to throw the bugs into the air. You, the amateur, can simply throw the things up manually.
Bats catch the bait in midair, scooping it up with a wingtip and popping it into their mouths.
Part Two, the smart way.
Over a few days, wait near your house with a flashlight at dusk. You’ll see where the bats are leaving the attic. Once you find the opening, patch it. Ideally, you’d patch it at night when the bats are out hunting, so they don’t die in your attic. Depending on the size of the hole, you can use caulk, aluminum flashing or wadded-up polyester scrub pads.
You may have to repeat the process for other holes.
The weird thing is, I just had the house painted (a month ago), and the painters didn’t mention anything about finding any holes. And they would have told me. So the holes must be really small. I guess I will have to hang around outside looking for the bats emerging – after my cold goes away!
Nitpick - DCon’s newer formulation doesn’t use warfarin specifically, but another anticoagulant called brodifacoum. Rat bait manufacturers have changed formulations partially because warfarin-resistant rats and mice have been turning up. The new formulation has about the same effect on the rats and mice - they hemorrhage to death.
