Dealing with woodpeckers, prairie dogs, rattlesnakes, skunks and raccoons is all in a day’s work for Matthew Territ, founder of Animas Wildlife Solutions, who prides himself on wildlife removal skills and pest control.
But there is one sort of animal that keeps him up later than others, perched on rooftops, watching and studying its behavior.
Bats are Territ’s true moneymaker, he said. They are fascinating and complicated to handle, ensnared by state and federal wildlife protections.
Bats can carry deadly diseases such as rabies, but they feast on more traditional pests such as mosquitoes and other insects too. Some of them also like to take roost in warm homes when nobody is paying attention.
It’s Territ’s job to usher the winged mammals back to the wild before they become too cozy in a home’s rafters – but sometimes, on a seasonal basis, that proves basically impossible, legally speaking.
“They do some crazy things,” he said.
Females will carry sperm after mating until they find a safe place to roost. They impregnate themselves and bear offspring when temperatures get warm enough. Pups spend six to eight weeks nursing and learning how to fly – and during that whole time they are protected from removal from one’s home by state and federal regulations.
“It’s like a blackout period. That’s where we don’t mess with bats,” Territ said. “… You can’t injure, damage, harass.” That includes the bats barricaded away in your attic over the winter.
The most common bats Territ encounters are Little Brown Bats – or canyon bats – Big Browns, Mexican free-tailed bats and silver-haired bats. There are about 18 different species he might find, but he has come face-to-face with Big Browns the most times, because they like nesting in houses more than other species.
A client’s call often starts with someone describing how they found bat guano, he said.
“It’s really great for your garden. Sweep it up for the plants. It’s the best fertilizer ever,” he said as an aside.
Territ’s clients report guano on their porches, scurrying sounds in the walls or ceilings, and even sightings of bats going to and from a hole in the roof of their porch.
His first assessment requires a bat watch. He sits and waits for about 10 minutes before or after sunrise when the bats make their moves.
“It has to be warm enough, it has to be clear,” he said. “They don’t like rain. Just watch and count.”
If more bats exit than were initially cataloged, then babies have taken flight, he said.
The most bats he has counted on a single job was 278. It was the single biggest colony he has ever encountered and it was in a home just east of Bayfield. He, his wife, his son and a few buddies – enough people to surround the house – gathered and waited.
“I was just sitting on this hillside. And as soon as it got dark, I started watching bats coming out of this chimney,” he said. “… They’re just everywhere. That many of them, you can hear their little chirps and pitches.”
Despite the size of the colony, it was a straightforward job, he said. Other than the chimney, the rest of the house was in excellent bat-proof shape. He visited the home another evening or two later and watched again. No bats.
Territ said by law he is required to release bats when he’s allowed to interact with them at all. Law also requires him to euthanize skunks and raccoons he removes from properties because of the disease they can carry – he said only roughly 1% of bats actually carry rabies.
Relocating pest animals like raccoons isn’t feasible because it’s irresponsible to place a potentially diseased animal onto public lands where it could endanger other wildlife or the public, he said. That, and it’s being placed into an unfamiliar environment where it doesn’t know where to find food, water or shelter.
“It’s probably going to die a much slower, less humane death,” he said.
Territ said he is concerned about a bat disease called white nose syndrome that is “sweeping across the U.S.” He said it’s a fungus that infects a bat’s nose and it’s been killing off colonies and populations.
He said diseases that kill bats give way to diseases that hurt humans, because the fewer bats there are to feed on disease vectors like mosquitoes, the more mosquitoes there are to spread diseases like West Nile virus.
However, that doesn’t mean bat and human interactions should be encouraged. Territ said bat-proofing a home starts with sealing every crack and crevice in the roof line, fascia and soffit – except for where the bats actually are living. A one-way valve, tube or spring can be installed to allow the bats exit but no entrance.
“Once they’re all out, do another bat watch. Just make sure you don’t see anything leaving. And just seal up the last spot,” he said. “They’ll hang around, swarm around for a bit, but they’ll eventually find their own (way).”
Reader Comments