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What Smells Do Bats Dislike? (Read This First!)

Bats are the only known mammals on our planet that can fly. They are very beneficial for the earth’s ecosystem and work as pest controllers and pollinators.

However, bats can be detrimental if they are roaming around or roosting in your home. Because bats can potentially transmit different zoonotic diseases to humans.

Thus, it is important to keep bats away from your home. Follow our guidelines to know what smells bats dislike and how to use them to keep bats away from your house.

Nine smells bats dislike and how to use them

Bats usually dislike the smells of cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, white phenols, menthols, eucalyptus, cloves, mothballs, mint, and peppermint. Due to their very good sense of smell, bats do not like strong smells. Hence, these elements with strong scents can be used as effective bat repellents.

Since bats have an excellent sense of smell, they are scared of many smells. Among them, the most popular elements that can be used as a bat repellent are explained below,

Cinnamon:

Both cinnamon sticks and oil have a strong scent that can irritate bats. You can mix up cinnamon oil with some water and liquid dish soap to prepare an effective spray.

Then you can apply the spray in the areas of your home where do not want bats to settle down.

In the case of cinnamon sticks, you can place them near vents to keep the bats away. You can also make bat repellent spray by mixing the cinnamon powder with water.

However, it is not recommended to use the dry cinnamon powder alone. Because they can easily fly away with air.

Rosemary and Thyme:

Rosemary and thyme have a strong aroma and bats do not like their smell.

You can keep fresh rosemary and thyme plants near the windows to keep the bats away from your windows thus, preventing them to enter your house through the windows.

You can also mix rosemary and thyme oil with water to make a bat-repellent spray. Using rosemary and thyme oil gives a much more scented solution than using the crushed leaves of rosemary and thyme.

Phenols:

Phenols are very helpful to keep both pests and bats away from your home. You can fill phenol into a spray bottle and spray it at their nesting locations and flying routes.

The pungent smell of phenol will irritate bats and prevent them to enter your house.

Menthols:

Although menthol is a chemical that is naturally found in peppermint and other mint plants, it can also be synthesized in a lab. It has a very strong minty, cooling odor and taste and most species of bats dislike it.

You can easily use 1 teaspoon of commercially available menthol with water to make nontoxic bat repellent spray.

Cloves:

Cloves have a very potent smell which bats do not like. You can easily make a natural nontoxic bat repellent spray by mixing some crushed cloves with water.

You can also buy commercially available clove oil and mix it with water to make a bat repellent spray.

Mint and Peppermint:

Mint and Peppermint contain menthol and a very strong smell which bats do not like. You can use crushed mint leaves and water to produce and bat a repellent solution.

Then you can soak cotton balls in the solution and place them surrounding your home. This is a very effective way to repel large colonies of bats.

Eucalyptus:

Eucalyptus is widely used in human shower gel and soap due to its relaxing scent.

However, bats do not like this strong smell. You can easily use eucalyptus oil with water to produce a spray that can get rid of bats effectively from your home.

Cedarwood:

The cedarwood tree and its fruit have a soft and camphoraceous smell that is cooling and mothball-like. Although cedarwood oil is widely used in human products, bats do not like them due to their pungent smell.

The best way o used cedarwood as a bat repellent is by mixing cedarwood oil with some water to produce a bat repellent spray

Mothballs:

Mothballs are usually composed of naphthalene and they are mainly used in cloth storage to terminate moths, and their larvae and repel other insects. Naphthalene has a very pungent smell and it releases toxic vapor.

Thus, bats are so irritated by mothballs. You can take a cloth and put some mothballs into it and hang it in the nesting area or entrance of bats in your home. However, mothballs are toxic to humans thus, they must be used with precaution.

Where to place these smells to prevent bats?

The use of scent is the safest and most humane method to prevent bats to come to your house. But you need to place these smells in appropriate places to effectively repel bats. There are some places in your house you may place these smells to prevent bats.

Doors and windows are the most common entry points of bats in your house. To prevent bats to enter your house you need to place these smells near the doors and windows.

Hollow spaces in your house like eaves, attic, and storerooms are the most common roosting places for bats where they usually take shelter. Hence, you should place bat repellent smells in these places in your house.

You may also see bats in your room near lights or on the edges of your room. You can spray these smells in the places of your house where you often see colonies of bats.

What attracts bats to your house?

Bats are nocturnal animals. They usually sleep during the day and search for food at night. Bats can be attracted to your house due to several reasons.

Most species of bats eat moths, beetles, mosquitos, and other insects. They also eat plants and fruits bananas, mangoes, and dates.

If your house is home to insects like moths, beetles, and mosquitos, bats are probably coming to your house to search for their prey. Also, if you have a garden with fruit trees around your house, bats are coming there to eat fruits.

Bats can also be attracted to your house due to open water sources. If there are open water sources around your house, they may come there to drink water. 

Bats are also known as cave dwellers. Nowadays, natural caves are very rare in urban areas thus, they tend to roost in hollow spaces of your house.  If your house has hollow logs, eaves, and attic which is less used by humans, bats are coming there to rest.

The most common predators of bats are hawks, owls, raccoons, and snakes. Bats also can come to your house to take shelter, if they are chased by their predators.

Other tips and solutions to keep bats away from your home:

Apart from smell-based techniques, there are several other ways available to keep bats away from your home.

Use Reflective Surfaces:

Bats do not like the light and they always prefer dark areas. Aluminum foil and mirrors are very good at reflecting light. Thus, you can use reflective surfaces like aluminum foil and mirrors to disturb bats.

Place Predators of Bats:

Another effective way to keep bats away from home is placing natural enemies of bats like owls, and hawks near the roosting place and entry points of bats.

You can simply buy fake, plastic owls and place them near the roosting place and entry points of bats to keep them away from your home.

Close the entry points:

The most common entry points of bats are doors, windows, and vents in your home. You can keep the door, windows and any other openings closed with a net to prevent the bats from entering your home.

Swapping out the light bulbs:

Bats like to eat insects and they can be attracted to your home if your home has lots of insects and bugs. Conventional light attracts lots of insects and bugs in your home than yellow-colored lights.

Thus, swapping these lights with yellow lights can attract fewer insects and bugs in your home. This will eventually attract fewer bats because of fewer food sources for them.

Ultrasonic Bat Repellent:

Ultrasonic devices produce an array of signal which is known to disturb the bat’s habits, communication, and roosting.

There are lots of commercially available ultrasonic devices available that work to repel bats. You can simply buy these devices and place them near the roosting area of bats to keep bats away from your home.

Final thought

Cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, white phenols, menthols, eucalyptus, cloves, mothballs, mint, and peppermint are frequently disliked by bats. Bats dislike strong odors due to their sensitive sense of smell. As a result, these highly scented compounds can be used as excellent bat repellents.