Florida bat removal allowed starting Aug. 15, but illegal after April 15

While many people associate bats with Halloween, Floridians live with 13 native species plus seven others that are occasional visitors from elsewhere.

But if you find yourself literally living with bats that have roosted inside our outside your house, it is illegal to evict them from April 16 to Aug. 14 because their four-month maternity season runs from April 15 to Aug. 15.

So if you have bats, now is the time to remove them, as Aug. 15 through April 15 is legal bat removal season.

Bat maternity season

During maternity season , female bats congregate and raise baby bats, so removing or trapping them can harm baby bats and any adult bats that have not emerged.

To prevent bats from roosting on your property during maternity season, you can:

• Bat-proof your home to prevent them from entering your living space
• Seal and prepare outdoor areas to prevent them from coming in
• Consider erecting a bat house for them to use

Bat removal

If you want to remove bats from your property, the safe way to do it during eviction season is:

• Build an exclusion : This multi-step technique pinpoints all potential bat entry and exit points in a building. One-way exit devices are installed to allow bats to leave the structure, but not re-enter. Potential bat entry points are permanently sealed to prevent re-entry.

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Bat species in Florida

There are 13 bat species in Florida. Typically, these flying creatures roost in trees, caves, manmade spaces or other natural spaces.

• Big brown bat
• Tricolored bat
• Evening bat
• Gray myotis
• Northern yellow bat
• Seminole bat
• Velvety free-tailed bat
• Brazilian free-tailed bat
• Eastern red bat
• Florida bonneted bat
• Hoary bat
• Rafinesque's big-eared bat
• Southeastern myotis

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com , 772-409-1429, or follow her on X @gonthescene .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida bat removal allowed starting Aug. 15, but illegal after April 15