Little Brown Bat

Even little brown bats look gigantic when they fly around the inside of your house scaring you half to death as you make your way to the bathroom at 2AM!

Although there are other kinds of bats in the northern VA area, the big brown bat and little brown bat are the ones most likely to take up residence in your home.

Since they are a protected species (and beneficial to the ecosystem) the best option is not to trap, but repair all potential entry points and set up a one-way exit.  Bats find their way home by urinating and deficating on the way in and out, leaving their scent to mark the way.  Most of the time their main entrance can be found just by the droppings on the ground or on the wall around the entrance as well as the grease mark left by their bodies as they squeeze into the house.

They are, however, usually not much longer than a business card and about as big around as a stick of butter. Their wings make them look much bigger. If you look closely at the picture of the big brown bat you can see a big bone on the left and more smaller onesradiating to the right. This big bone is his arm from the elbow to the wrist. The smaller bones are the equivalent of our fingers and the wing is a thin, leathery membrane actually stretched between his “fingers”.