Bat Removal From Ohio Houses and the Pup-Season Timing

Is it a big brown or little brown bat colony?

An Ohio State University Extension article from 2016 says two Ohio bat species commonly share living space with people: the big brown bat and the little brown bat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says little brown bat maternity colonies commonly are in “warm sites in buildings, like attics” and other human structures.

You do not have to tell them apart. The operator identifies the species at the house, and it matters because of the federal listings further down this page.

What helps is where and when. Note the spot on the roofline the bats use, the time you see them, and where droppings pile up underneath.

One bat flying in a bedroom or a living room is a different problem from a colony overhead. The page for a single bat indoors covers that case.

How much of Ohio’s animal rabies is in bats?

Most of the confirmed cases. An Ohio State University Extension fact sheet dated January 3, 2022 reports 225 confirmed animal rabies cases in Ohio from 2016 to 2021. It says those cases included 194 bats and 29 raccoons, plus one cat and one fox.

That count says which animals the confirmed cases were. It does not say what share of bats carry rabies.

Questions about contact with a bat go to a health department, not to an operator. The locations page lists who takes bat contact calls in the cities and counties it covers.

Who handles the bats once a colony is found?

Two different parties. A health department deals with exposure questions and rabies testing. The work on the building is done by an independent operator.

Ohio Attic Animal Removal is neither. It is a referral service run by Local Core Group, with no field staff. A call to the number on this page is passed to an independent operator when one works at your address, and whether one does is settled on the call. The operator sets the price and answers for its own license and insurance.

When in the year can a bat colony leave an Ohio house?

The calendar below comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and from Ohio State University Extension.

The 2016 Extension article says that if exclusion happens before the young can fly, the mothers are shut out and the young are left inside to die.

State rules apply to bat work. This page does not restate them, and the operator who takes the job answers for them.

What does shutting a bat colony out involve?

An operator inspects the house and explains the plan on the call. The one method fact this page can source is about timing: the 2016 Ohio State University Extension article says exclusion before the young can fly shuts the mothers out and leaves the young inside to die.

Questions worth asking the operator who takes the job:

• Which gaps the bats are using, and how those were found.
• How the operator will know the young can fly.
• What will be closed, with what, and when.

Nothing on this page is a how-to.

Are the bats in my attic a protected species?

Under federal law it depends on the species. These are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service statuses as of November 2, 2026.

• Little brown bat: not federally listed. The Service says it is reviewing the species’ status.
• Northern long-eared bat: listed as threatened in 2015, then reclassified as endangered by a rule published November 30, 2022 that took effect March 31, 2023.
• Indiana bat: endangered, with a listing date of March 11, 1967.
• Tricolored bat: proposed for listing as endangered in September 2022, and still proposed, not listed.

Tricolored and northern long-eared bats mostly roost in trees, but not always. The Service says tricolored bats have been seen roosting in barns and beneath porch roofs, and that northern long-eared bats are found, less commonly, in structures such as barns and sheds.

State protections are separate from the federal listings. The operator who takes the job answers for both.

What should I tell the operator when I call?

Have these ready:

• Where droppings collect, inside or outside.
• Where on the roofline you have seen bats, and at what time.
• Whether a bat has been in the living space.
• The month you first noticed them.

No prices appear on this site. An operator explains the plan and the cost on the call.

Droppings are a separate piece of work. What it involves is covered under bat droppings cleanup.