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Bats, Rats & Spiders

By Morgan Saylor

Have bats, rats, or spiders taking up residence in your house? You might feel like you’ve stepped into a real life horror movie. Don’t settle in with them - here's how to evict creepy critters.

Bats – If you have bats in your attic or chimney, the only legal and humane way to rid your home of them is by doing a bat exclusion. According to BatsIntheAttic.org, bats prefer to move horizontally, and if they are in your chimney, they have found a gap or maybe an area of decay to enter and exit through (thanks, bats!). At dusk, go outside and try to pinpoint the area(s) in your attic or chimney that bats are entering and exiting. Install bat cones, says Realtor.com’s Stephanie Booth, so they can exit but not re-enter. However, be aware that it is illegal to kill a bat or perform bat removal during the months of April or May, as this is when baby bats are flightless and confined to their roost.

Rats – Getting rid of rats the most humane way possible may fly in the face of your contempt for them, but if you have small children or pets around, traps and poisons may not be the best option. There is no more of a “natural” way to combat rats than by acquiring a cat – the arch enemy and predator of small rodents. If you’re not a cat person, then prevention may be the best medicine. According to wikihow, try to eliminate the rat-attraction factors in and around your home. Keep trash sealed up and take it out whenever you toss food, seal up food in your house, and seal off any small holes that lead into your house. Wikihow suggests sealing with steel wool.

Spiders – Spiders at least have one redeeming quality about them: eight hairy legs aside, they eat other bugs that otherwise annoy. If that’s not enough for you to allow them residence at your home, pestkill.org offers these solutions for eliminating or otherwise repelling spiders: turn off porchlights, use eucalyptus sprigs around your home. Use one drop of lavender, citronella, cinnamon, citrus, peppermint or tea tree oil. Only one drop of any of these herbs with water sprayed weekly should do it.

Source: http://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/how-to-get-rid-of-rats-bats-cockroaches/, http://www.batsintheattic.org/chimney.html, http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Rats , http://pestkill.org/insect/spiders/repellent/

Tags: Home Maintenance, tips, how-to, repair, pests, home repair, prevention