Most of the state\u2019s bats give birth and raise their young during the almost 4-month maternity season, so it’s illegal to block them from returning to their roosts.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Batman, it’s time to clear out your Batcave.<\/p>\n
Florida’s native bat species are set to begin their maternity season, which runs Thursday, April 16, through Friday, Aug. 14. That means now is the time to clear out any bats that may be flocking in or around your home.<\/p>\n
Most of the state\u2019s bats give birth and raise their young during the almost four-month maternity season, so it’s illegal to block them from returning to their roosts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 15 is the last day to legally remove bats from buildings without a permit until Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says this prevents flightless bat pups from being trapped inside structures, which could be detrimental to both humans and bats.<\/p>\n
Florida bats typically roost in trees, caves or other natural spaces, but are sometimes attracted to buildings and other human-made structures, like your home. This includes buildings that may still be under construction.<\/p>\n
FWC explains that when it’s not maternity season, the only legal way to remove roosting bats from your home is with exclusion devices, which allow the critters to safely exit a structure but block them from returning to their roosts.<\/p>\n
Permits are required to use exclusion devices during Florida\u2019s bat maternity season.<\/p>\n
Bat exclusion is a multistep technique that identifies all potential bat entry and exit points in a building. FWC says exclusion devices must be left up for a minimum of four nights, and the low temperature must be forecast to remain above 50 degrees during that time.<\/p>\n
Florida boasts 13 native bat species. All of the state\u2019s bats are insectivores, with a single bat capable of eating hundreds of insects, such as mosquitoes or garden pests, in a single night.<\/p>\n
\nHow to help stray bats <\/p>\n
The FWC gave these suggestions on how to aid Florida bat populations:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Preserve natural roost sites, including trees with cavities or peeling bark.Leave dead palm fronds and Spanish moss, which can provide roosting spots for bats.Install a bat house on your property.Add native plants when landscaping your property to attract native pollinators and benefit bats.Do not bring equipment, clothes or shoes that have been in caves in other states into Florida’s caves.Report unusual bat behavior, as well as sick or dead bats: MyFWC.com\/BatMortality.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most of the state\u2019s bats give birth and raise their young during the almost 4-month maternity season, so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-222077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}