If you've noticed bats swooping out from under your roofline at dusk, here's the good news: right now, they can be legally and humanely evicted from your home. That's not always the case in Florida. Every year, state law shuts the door on bat eviction for four months straight, and if a colony moves in during that window, you're stuck living with it until the law allows removal again.
Here's what every Sarasota and Manatee County homeowner should know about bats, the blackout period that protects them, the health risks they carry, and what a safe, legal, permanent removal looks like — while it's still on the table.
The Bat Blackout: Why Eviction Isn't Always Allowed
Florida is home to 13 native bat species, including the endangered Florida bonneted bat, and every one of them is protected under state law (Florida Administrative Code Rule 68A-4.001). It is illegal to kill a bat in Florida at any time of year.
The bigger restriction homeowners run into is what's often called the bat blackout — bat maternity season, which runs from April 16 through August 14 every year. During this window, female bats roost in colonies — often in attics, soffits, chimneys, and roof gaps — to give birth and raise their young. Because newborn pups can't fly, sealing an entry point during the blackout can trap them inside, killing the colony and often leaving the homeowner with a far worse odor and cleanup problem than they started with.
For that reason, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) prohibits bat exclusion work during the blackout without a special permit. April 15 is the last day to legally evict bats before the blackout begins, and August 15 is the first day eviction work can resume. Outside of the blackout, eviction still comes with rules: devices must stay in place for a minimum of four consecutive nights, and work can only be done when the overnight temperature is forecast at 50°F or above, so bats aren't excluded into conditions they can't survive.
We're currently outside the blackout, which means if you have a bat problem right now, we can act on it immediately — full inspection, humane eviction, and permanent sealing, all before next spring's blackout shuts that option down again.
The Health Risks of a Bat Colony in Your Home
Bats play an important role in the ecosystem — a single colony can consume enormous numbers of mosquitoes, moths, beetles, and other crop pests every night, and insect-eating bats are estimated to save U.S. agriculture billions of dollars a year in pest control costs. From a distance, they're a benefit to have around. Living in your attic is a different story.
A few of the main concerns homeowners should be aware of:
Rabies. Rabies is the most significant health risk associated with bats and is fatal if untreated. Transmission typically requires a bite or scratch, but because bat teeth are so small, a bite can go unnoticed, especially if a bat is found in a bedroom or near someone who was sleeping. Any direct contact with a bat should be treated seriously and followed up with medical guidance.
Histoplasmosis. This is a fungal lung infection that develops in soil enriched by bird or bat droppings. Large guano deposits, which build up quickly under an active roost, create the right conditions for the fungus to grow. Symptoms mimic the flu — dry cough, fever, and body aches — and cleanup of contaminated insulation or guano should only be done with proper respiratory protection.
Parasites and structural damage. Bat colonies can bring mites, ticks, and other parasites into a structure, along with the ongoing accumulation of guano and urine that stains ceilings, degrades insulation, and produces a persistent odor. The longer a colony stays established, the more expensive the cleanup becomes.
Noise and stress. Even setting health risks aside, most homeowners simply don't want the scratching, chittering, and dusk-time swarming that comes with a colony living in the walls or attic.
What to Do If You Find Bats in Your Home
Because we're currently outside the blackout, a colony found today doesn't mean a long wait — it means the clock is running the other way. The sooner it's inspected and excluded, the sooner it's handled, and the more buffer you have before the blackout returns next April 16.
If a colony is ever discovered during the blackout instead, the right move is to have it identified and monitored by a professional rather than sealed or disturbed. A licensed technician can confirm the species, estimate the colony size, identify every entry point, and get the property queued up so exclusion happens the moment it's legally allowed again, without leaving pups trapped inside.
Either way, this is where it helps to work with a company that treats bats as a wildlife issue, not just a pest to spray.
How Westfall's Handles Bat Colonies — Humanely and Professionally
At Westfall's Pest Control, our approach to bats is built around doing it right: no harm to the animals, no shortcuts on the law, and no bats getting back in once the job is done.
Our process starts with a full inspection to find every active entry point — bats can squeeze through a gap as small as three-eighths of an inch, so we look well beyond the obvious roofline. From there, we install one-way exclusion devices that let bats leave to feed at night but prevent them from returning to the roost. We monitor the colony through this stage to confirm the structure is completely clear before doing anything permanent.
Once we've verified every bat has left, we seal the entry points for good, using materials built to keep bats — and other wildlife — from getting back in. If needed, we also handle guano cleanup and can talk through options like exterior bat houses, which give displaced bats somewhere to go without giving them a way back into your home.
We follow Florida's blackout rules on every job. Right now, that means we're clear to move quickly — but that window won't stay open forever. Once April 16 hits, eviction work stops until August 15, so any colony still in place when the blackout returns has to wait out the entire maternity season.
Don't Let the Blackout Catch You Waiting
Bat colonies tend to grow year over year once a structure proves itself a reliable roost, and the cleanup only gets more involved the longer they stay. Since eviction is legal right now, there's no reason to let a colony sit until spring forces the issue. If you're hearing activity in your attic or seeing bats emerge at dusk, reach out to Westfall's Pest Control for an inspection. We'll tell you honestly what you're dealing with, confirm we can act before the next blackout, and handle it safely and permanently for your home and the bats.
Contact Westfall's Pest Control today to schedule a bat inspection — while eviction is still legal.