Bat Removal in Baltimore County and Central Maryland
You hear it right around sunset. A faint scratching above the ceiling, or a fluttering in the wall that stops the second you put your ear against it. Or maybe there’s no mystery at all, and a bat is doing laps around your living room right now.
Either way, we can help. Shumaker’s Animal Control provides humane bat removal and exclusion for homes across Baltimore County and the surrounding counties, and we answer the phone 24 hours a day.
Call 443-854-8072 for bat removal today.
Signs You Have Bats in Your Home
Bats are quiet, they come out at night, and they can fit through gaps smaller than you’d expect. Most homeowners don’t notice them until a colony has been settled in for a while. Watch for:
- Guano (droppings) piling up in the attic, on windowsills, or along exterior walls. It looks like mouse droppings but crumbles into powder when crushed.
- Dark, greasy stains around small gaps in the roofline, siding, or soffits.
- Scratching or squeaking from the attic or walls around dusk and dawn.
- A sharp ammonia smell in the attic.
- Bats leaving the same spot on your house just after sunset.
A single bat in your living space is worth paying attention to as well. Sometimes one flies in through an open door, but a bat in the house can also mean there’s a colony in the attic and one of them took a wrong turn.
Found a Bat in Your Living Space?
Keep your distance and follow these steps:
- Get kids and pets out of the room.
- Close the doors and windows so the bat stays in that one room.
- Don’t try to catch it with your hands, a towel, or a net. A scared bat will hide somewhere hard to reach, and handling one without protection puts you at risk of a bite.
- Call us at 443-854-8072. We’re available 24 hours a day.
If the bat may have touched someone who was sleeping, a young child, or a pet, it may need to be tested for rabies. Keep it contained, call us, and contact your local health department.
Once the bat is out, we’ll also check the rest of the house for signs of a colony.
How Our Bat Removal Process Works
Maryland protects its bats, so removal happens through exclusion. That means getting every bat out of the house and making sure none of them can get back in. Here’s how we do it.
Inspection
First, we find out where the bats are getting in. We check the roofline, attic, chimney, vents, soffits, and the spots where siding meets the roof. Bats can squeeze through a gap less than an inch wide, so this step takes a careful eye. We also look for signs of how big the colony is.
Exclusion Devices
Next, we install one-way exclusion devices over the active entry points. The bats leave at night to feed like they always do, and when they come back, they can’t get inside. There’s no trapping, no handling, and no harm to the bats.
Sealing and Bat-Proofing
After the bats are gone, we seal the entry points, along with other gaps that could become entry points later. The order matters here. If a house gets sealed while bats are still inside, they end up in the walls or the living space looking for a way out.
Why Timing Matters for Bat Removal in Maryland
Bats in Maryland raise their young in the spring and summer. During those months, pups in the attic can’t fly yet. If the adults are excluded, the pups are left behind, which harms the bats and leaves you with a worse problem overhead. That’s why Maryland restricts full colony exclusions during maternity season.
You can still call us during the summer. We can come out, find where the bats are getting in, and plan the exclusion for when the window opens. A bat that gets into your living space can be removed any time of year, day or night.
The Risks of DIY Bat Removal
Plenty of advice online suggests you can handle bats yourself with mothballs, sprays, or a tube of caulk. These are the problems we see most often:
- Sealing too early. If you close up gaps while bats are still inside, they’ll look for another way out, often into your living space.
- Relying on repellents. Scents and sprays may push bats around for a few days, but they won’t remove a colony. Mothballs also carry health risks in enclosed spaces and aren’t meant for this use.
- Handling bats. A frightened bat will bite, and bats can carry rabies.
- Bad timing. An exclusion during maternity season can trap young bats inside and goes against state rules.
If you want to know how deterrents actually stack up, we cover home remedies for bats and tactics for dealing with a bat problem on our blog.
Areas We Serve
We’re based in Upper Falls in Baltimore County and provide bat removal throughout:
- Baltimore County
- Baltimore City
- Harford County
- Anne Arundel County
- Howard County
- Queen Anne’s County
Not sure if you’re in our area? Give us a call.
Why Homeowners Choose Shumaker’s
We’re a family-owned business, and every bat job we take on uses humane, nonlethal methods. We never kill or harm bats. They do a lot of good outside, where a single bat can eat thousands of insects in a night. They just don’t belong in your attic.
Learn more about why homeowners choose Shumaker’s.
Bat Removal FAQs
Is It Legal To Kill Bats in Maryland?
No. Bats are protected in Maryland. The legal way to remove them from a home is exclusion, which gets them out without harming them.
When Can Bats Be Removed From a House in Maryland?
A single bat in your living space can be removed any time. Full colony exclusions are restricted during the spring and summer maternity season, when young bats can’t fly yet. Give us a call and we’ll let you know what the timing looks like for your home.
How Long Does Bat Exclusion Take?
It depends on the house and the size of the colony. The exclusion devices need to stay up long enough for every bat to leave, which typically takes at least several days.
Do You Offer Emergency Bat Removal?
Yes. We’re available 24 hours a day at 443-854-8072.
Will the Bats Come Back After Removal?
Bats are drawn back to familiar roosts, which is why sealing entry points is part of every exclusion we do. Once those gaps are closed, the bats have no way back in.
What Areas Do You Serve?
We serve Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Harford County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, and Queen Anne’s County.
Get Bats Out of Your Home
The longer bats stay in an attic, the bigger the problem gets. Guano builds up, the colony grows, and the odds of one ending up in your bedroom go up with it. Call Shumaker’s Animal Control at 443-854-8072, day or night, or contact us online.
