In the past few weeks, the Oswego County Health Department has seen an increase in cases of bats in homes.

Maria Sagot, an assistant professor in Oswego State’s biological sciences department, said it is likely that if one bat is found within a house, there is a colony that may have been living there for years, undetected.

“People don’t notice until after multiple years,” Sagot said. “The smell can start accumulating, or, by accident, one of them gets from the attic into the house, and people start seeing it around.”

Attics can provide the ideal temperature for bats, and only a small crack is needed for the animal to fit.

In winter, bats hibernate, but factors like the need for water or warmer temperatures may wake them up. The cold weather can lead to the bats searching for a warmer place to stay, Sagot said, and this could be inside one’s home.

The big brown bat is the most common found in homes.

Wild animals, such as bats, are likely to have contracted rabies, and residents are urged to take precaution if the animal is found in their home and to contact the Oswego County Health Department to have the animal tested.

Rabies is a deadly virus that attacks the nervous system of a mammal and is present in their saliva and nervous tissue, according to the New York State Health Department. Contact, such as a bite or scratch, is needed in order for a person to get the disease from an infected mammal.

“If one gets on you, you’ve been exposed,” said Chris Williams, the associate public health sanitarian at the Oswego County Health Department. “We advise you to try to catch the bats if you can. If we can test the bat and it’s not rabid, then you’re all right. If you don’t have a bat to test or the bat’s rabid, then you have to be treated.”

Bats are the most tested animals for rabies in the county. They are sent to the Wadsworth Center in Albany, and most come back negative, Williams said.

“The incidents in rabies is actually really low,” Sagot said.

According to Jill Montag, a public information officer with the New York State Department of Health, between Jan. 1, 2017, and Jan. 30, 2018, there were 139 specimens received from Oswego County; 78 were bats. Two of the 78 bats tested positive for rabies.

Signs of a rabid animal include aggressiveness, unusual friendliness toward people, convulsions and frothing at the mouth, according to the New York State Department of Health’s website. It is harder to find signs of rabies in a bat, but their presence is enough to believe the mammal is infected, Williams said. 

“Just the fact that the bat is there could be an indication that something is wrong with it, because you usually don’t see them in spots,” Williams said. “This time of year is probably not as likely that they would be rabid.”

Suggestions to catch a bat include closing all windows and doors, using a coffee can and wearing gloves, according to the county health department.

Williams cautions if a person is fearful of exposure, do not try to catch the bat and let a professional do the job. Sagot also advised to call the health department because stress from both the resident and the bat could lead to a possible accident, like a bite. 

“If you see a bat flying inside the house, you have to think, they are really stressed out, as well as you, because there’s a lot of light,” Sagot said. “They don’t know where to go.”

If an individual wants to get a colony of bats out of their home, Sagot said they need to wait until it is dark out. People who close all entrances in the morning are shutting the bats in their homes, leading them to either die or find alternative routes to get out of the residence.

Sagot encourages having bat houses, because the mammal provides useful services to humans, like eliminating mosquitos.

To contact the county health department in the event of a bat incursion into the home, call (315) 349-3564.

Photo provided by Radu Privantu via flickr