When You Can Legally Remove Bats In Ohio

Bats in the attic sound like a simple nuisance until you learn there’s a legal calendar, a safety checklist, and a very expensive cleanup waiting for anyone who guesses wrong. We walk through the Ohio timing that matters most, including the common exclusion windows (April 1 to May 15, and August 1 to October 14) and what changes when hibernation season hits. If you’re buying, selling, or maintaining a home, this is the kind of detail that prevents rushed decisions and ugly surprises during a home inspection.

We also get practical about bat exclusion: why you cannot just seal every hole, how a one-way exit approach works, and why hiring a professional wildlife company is often the safest move. Bat guano is not just gross, it can create real respiratory risk, and we share a memorable example of what “years of accumulation” can look like in an attic. Along the way we explain what we do as inspectors when we encounter bats: document, recommend, and avoid harming protected wildlife.

Then we pivot to chimney swifts, the sleek little birds that can shut down a chimney scope because they’re protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. We talk about when they’re typically in Ohio chimneys, why disturbing nests is illegal, and the simplest prevention step homeowners overlook: a chimney cap with a screen. We close with a couple of weird but useful field notes, including how spiders can block gas fireplace components and why pest activity can hint at a moisture problem.

If this helped, subscribe for more straight-talk home inspection guidance, share the episode with a homeowner friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Bats in Buildings | Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Chimney Swifts: An Introduction - Columbus Audubon

Transcript

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Bat Removal Dates In Ohio

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Alright everybody.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hello everyone.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Laura. James. We got a month or so to go. Maybe two months.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

So October 14th is the day in which you c if if you have bats in your belfry in your belfry in your attic, that's the date you can get rid of them.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

And why is that?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Alright, so here in Ohio, there there are some there and we have to double check. I know brown bats are protective. There's some protected species of bats. You are not allowed to remove brat bats. Because of their brats. Because they're because they're brats. Because they're the summer maternity season for the bats. Which is like May 16th and July 31st. And then they got winter hibernation season, October 15th. But you uh to get rid of them, you have to have special permission during some of these these dates in October.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

And to go through and get that special permission, I believe you have to go through the Department of Natural Resources. Yeah, so there's But they would at least help you start.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, so the legal windows remove or exclude bats from a building are April 1st to May 15th, just before they start having the little, I don't know, I don't know, what do you call a group of bats? A brood?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

No, but their babies are called pups or kids, I think. I think it's pups.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Pups, okay. We'll go with that one. And then August 1st to October 14th.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Which is where we're at right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

You're allowed to remove the bats or exclude them from the home.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Yeah meaning block it off.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, and wow. And you gotta make sure you do it properly. You can't just seal up all the holes and say, screw them, they'll just die in there. No, you have to put like one, you gotta seal everything up except one exit hole. That way they can exit, but it won't get back. It's like a backflow valve on the sewer line.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

It's a backflow valve for animals.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yep.

Safe Bat Exclusion And Guano Risks

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Which is why you should have a professional company come and do it also. Yes. Because there are health concerns with bat guano, and they would be more prepared to take care of that and to not get sick from it than Joe Homeowner would.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, because that their their their feces, the guano, you can get histoplasmosis, which is what it's a bacteria.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Correct? From a fungus that grows on there.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I don't know. I've I've not exactly looked that up. I think it's a fungus.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I think it's a fungus that grows.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

On the poop?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah. But you don't want to breathe it no matter no matter what.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

No, it it does it can do serious damage to your respiratory tract.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yes. So if you do have bats, it's kind of it's not unusual to find bats during the inspection, but use it's like just one or two. I remember this one house out in the country, taking off the attic hatch, look inside. There is a pile of bat guano going down the entire length of the attic.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

And it was, I don't know, easy six to eight inches high.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

They'd been there for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

The entire length of the attic.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

So sellers maybe want to get that home inspection before you list your house.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So where they're going in, I don't know because I really couldn't keep my head up there very long. I had a mask on. I think I had a mask on. I'm like, you do not want to breathe this stuff along. It was it was just a mess. So that was and it's not cheap to get rid of these things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Removing the uh guano is not a cheap endeavor, that is for sure. Yeah, we've had a couple of houses that have had bat issues in it. We've also had some with uh chimney swifts where we've had to not do the chimney scope. We can do that one later.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, that yeah. The chimney swifts. We're gonna let's do let's make this an animal episode.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Okay, let's this is the animal episode.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

So another thing, well, so getting rid of the bats in the attic doesn't affect what the home inspectors do. No, not we're still gonna look. We can still we're not removing them, we're not gonna injure or kill the bats. We're gonna go, oh, there's a bat, make a note of it. Get the you know, and get and get out of the attic space. We're not gonna spend a whole lot of time up there.

What Inspectors Do With Bats

SPEAKER_00 4:47

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Chimney Swifts And Legal Limits

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Now, chimney swifts.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

That is another special type of bird that is protected in the state of Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yep, and they are, those are the ones that you you'll see coming out of the chimneys.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

They like little brown ones.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Ah, let me find you a picture of them. They look they're very aerodynamic. Chimney Swift. There we go. I'm pulling a picture. Oh. It's like gray.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Grayish black.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So the head is like really tapered.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Insectivorous. That's an interesting word.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Oh, they will these would be cool to have because they will get a lot of bugs flying around the uh house.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah, we can do the chimney swift uh chimney. Like we can build like a stack for them.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

And that's and I might build a chimney specifically for the chimney swifts. Because all right, here's something here's how home inspectors are all of a sudden like taper off in the weird different topics. Chimney Swifts, the reason they live up in chimneys is because the way their feet are designed, they they can cling to vertical surfaces. They really cannot grip a branch.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

And what they do is they will like hover and break a little twig off of a tree, and then they will go into the chimney with that twig, and they their uh saliva is thick, and it kind of turns cement-like, and they will sp like a honk a loogie up on this stick and put it onto the side inside of the chimney, and it hardens, and that's what and that's how they make their nest in there.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Oh, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So when you so like a bird house, it won't work for them. They can't they can't land on that little potion out there sticking with the birds. They can't land on that, they need the vertical surface. So if you make a uh a swift house, Lord, look at the picture of the right. I mean, look how aerodynamic these things are, but look at that head.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

You know what that reminds me of? That reminds me of the airplane that was in King Tuts 2, the Sicaro plane. Sicaro plane, yeah, you would think not a I'm a geek or anything, but you know, you are a geek.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So anyway, so if you make a uh a chimney for these things to live in, because you don't want to live in your own chimney. Yeah, and the reason we we brought this up is during the times of the year that the chimney swifts are around that we cannot do a chimney scope if there's chimney swifts up inside there because they are protected. Chimney Swifts are in Ohio chimneys from early April until late October.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

And I think that's the whole time frame because the so we did an inspection, and this has been a couple years, and we couldn't do the chimney scope for the woman because we found chimney swifts in it. And when we went back out, I was with you when you went to do the chimney scope, and it was cold, like there was snow on the ground almost.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the sellers put a note on the fireplace, hey, there's chimney swifts, you can't do it. You can't touch it, which is good because we wouldn't have known until we started going up inside of there. So here in Ohio, you cannot early April to like late October, you cannot disturb them or remove them.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

So they are actually protected under federal law by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. So it is illegal to remove or disturb nests, eggs, or birds. You have to wait until they leave before you can get your chimney clean, before you can have a scope done, before you can have anything done. Or you and the company you hired could be in trouble.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yep. So leave leave those birds alone. But they will they will leave late October. And they have to be South America, and then yeah, they migrate, which is crazy how far they think they can fly. But during that time period, you really can't do a you can do a scope and you find them in there, back out, take the scope out, that's it, you're done. You discovered them, you left them alone. That's cool. To keep from going in the first place, you need to have a uh cover screen on your on your chimney. Not just the cover, but you have to have a screen around it as well, that way they burst can't get inside there because they need those vertical surfaces, and the brick is a perfect one, and the the tile, the sections, those create perfect little ledges for them to grasp hold of. So when you make a if I make one of these, a chimney, uh a swift house, uh like as I think it's called the Swift Tower.

Building A Swift Tower For Bugs

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Chimney Swift Tower, you're taking that T111 siding that has like the vertical grooves in it. Oh, okay. Okay, yeah, and you're rotating it so the grooves are horizontal on the inside of the chimney.

unknown 10:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So you're putting that siding on backwards so the rough that so the design is on the interior, and those little lines give them the grooves that they need to be able to grip. And then they'll that's where they'll build their nest.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

So what I'm hearing is that you're either going to build this tower over the wintertime so that we have it and can put out in uh February or whenever they're gonna be starting to come back. Or are we gonna do this next year?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

We uh we will see how much my time period, how much free time I have. It's not a real difficult build, but it will take time to do that.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah. Now, I also am under the impression, so if you live out in the country, a Swift Tower might not be a bad thing because they help keep hawks away and they will chase hawks and crows. So, because we were actually debating about whether or not we wanted to lure crows in. But I think we're going with the Swifts.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yep. And check this out Swifts in a single family of Swifts eat up to 12,000 bugs every day. I love Swifts, it's an insane number of bugs that they will eat. So I'm thinking mosquitoes during the day, right? They can have them all perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. And they do not, we looked at this, but they do not eat like honey bees.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

No, they don't. They all they eat fleas and ticks. Look, look that up, pretty pleas.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Fleas and ticks would be on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

These are mostly air, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Most of the flying things. And then, so here's a combination we're going for. We already have a bathhouse to get rid of mosquitoes at night, and then we'll get some Swiss for the daytime to get rid of mosquitoes and other flying bugs.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

And why are we getting rid of mosquitoes? Because Laura is a mosquito magnet.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yep, and I don't know any redeeming property that mosquitoes have.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

They don't have any. Well, uh unless they've sucked blood from a dinosaur and you're gonna use it to clone a new dinosaur. That would be it. Other than that, they should all just be squished.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yes. So anyway, so that there's this is our our animal feature for you know our animal episode.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

So bats of any other protected animals.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

That would be involved in a home inspection? Yeah, nothing. Nothing I can think of. It's just the bats, you can't just the bats and the chimney. You can't get rid of the bass during certain times of the year, and you cannot get rid of the chimney swiss or disturb them during certain times of the year.

Spiders, Gas Smell, And Moisture Clues

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Oh, I have something that could work for an animal contribution because this kind of creeps me out. So if any of you have like a gas log fireplace or something where you've got gas that comes in and all of a sudden it stops working, it could be because spiders are attracted to the scent that they put in so that you can smell natural gas if it's leaking. So Mercaptin is that scent, and for some reason, spiders go gaga over that.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yes. So if you turn off your pyolite and they can smell a little bit that Mercaptin in that little uh pyolite aperture of the hole, they will go up inside there and lay lay eggs or build a nest and it'll block things.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

And I still don't know how they get in there, and that just creeps me out.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Well, another thing, if you have a bunch of uh spiders in a certain area of your house, uh-huh, it's probably an indication of a moisture issue because they need moisture. So it's like you find you find little pill bugs, we call them bowling balls around the bill. You touch them, they just curl up in little balls. Moisture indicates a moisture issue. But anyway, so that

Quick Recap And Key Dates

SPEAKER_01 14:11

we got bats, leave them alone for the most part, unless it's that time of year. If it is within that time frame where you're not supposed to bother them, you can get rid of them, but you need to get permission from like I think Department of Natural Resources to do that.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Yeah, just call your local office, and if they can't help you, they should be able to direct you.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So you can get rid of them April 1st to May 15th or August 1st to October 14th.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Well when you cannot get rid of them.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

No, that's that's when you can get rid of them. Early spring and then late summer, but come fall, you cannot okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

So they have until the 14th to be able to.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

You have until October 14th to get rid of um like brown bats. There may be other types of bats as well, but I don't know, one bat for the bigger.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Maybe you can put that link in the description, and that way they can go and look about and look at it.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Add that to the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

So check the check the show notes. He'll have a link for the ODNR resource.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

But after October 15th, you cannot get rid of them until April 1st. Because winter hibernation. Well, they will slow down, they'll be a lot less active. They hibernate.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

So you got that going for you. So all right, I think that's it on this one. And then, of course, chimney swiss. Uh, if they're if they're in the chimney, I'll leave them alone until it till it's cold out. Yep. All right, that's it. All right, bye guys. Bye bye.