RIVERVIEW, Fla. — We're in the thick of bat maternity season. From April 15 through Aug. 14, bats give birth and raise their young. During that time, it is illegal to remove them from your home.
Matt Longo said he was fortunate to solve his bat problem before the April cut-off date came around.
"There was an odor that we smelled," Longo said, recalling the experience. "It just kept getting stronger, stronger and stronger."
Eventually, he called pest control. "They said that we had well over 100 bats that were through in the attic and the soffit," Longo added.
While there is never a good time for a bat infestation, Longo said his experience was particularly stressful, as he and his girlfriend had a new baby on the way.
"I was afraid of sickness, I guess. I mean, bats hold a bunch of diseases, rabies for one," he said.
He and other neighbors tell us this isn't the first infestation in their Riverview neighborhood, Villages of Bloomingdale.
"The pest control company that we had called out, they said that they've been out here and they've sealed up a lot of different people's apartments," Longo said.
Dusty Showers has worked in pest removal for three decades and said that's likely because bats are creatures of habit.
"You get bats that live in certain neighborhoods where they know that they're familiar with the places to get in, especially if all the houses are the same. Where they go in one house, they can go in another," Showers said.
He said there's no easy or humane way to relocate a colony of bats.
"When you relocate them, they can fly right back or they can just disappear," Showers said. "It seems humane, but relocated animals don't do very well."
While neighbors like Longo floated the idea of a neighborhood "bat house", which has become popular in some areas, that is a finicky solution that will take time.
"They're a wonderful idea," Showers said. "But you have to have your expectations tempered. Just because you have that out doesn't mean that they're going to move into it."
He recommends being proactive with your property.
"If you're in an area where you think that might be a concern, you can have somebody come out and do an inspection and point out places where bats might get in," Showers said.
Showers helped write the legislation making it illegal to remove bats in Florida during mating season. He said it's not only inhumane to do so, but would likely create more problems for homeowners, forcing the bats further into your home, making them more aggressive, or frankly, causing the babies to die and creating a significant smell issue in your home.