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Entry 408Filed under Breeding

What to Do If You Find a Bat in Your Home

A bat in your home calls for careful containment and prompt local public-health advice—not bare-handed handling or guesswork about rabies exposure.
8-minute read By Animalso Team

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Keep people and pets away from the bat, close the room door if you can do so safely, turn off ceiling fans, and do not touch or release it. Call your local health department or animal control for instructions; public-health officials can advise whether the bat should be captured and tested. If anyone was bitten or scratched, wash the wound with soap and water and seek medical care right away. If contact may have happened but you are unsure, contact a health professional promptly rather than trying to rule out exposure yourself.

This guidance is for people in the United States and draws on CDC recommendations and a Connecticut Department of Public Health FAQ. Local contacts, wildlife laws, and capture procedures vary, so follow your own health department’s directions. The CDC guidance cited here is dated July 1, 2025; the Connecticut FAQ is dated September 16, 2026.

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What should I do if I find a bat in my house?

  1. Keep your distance. Move children, other household members, and pets out of the room. Do not try to pick up, swat, or chase the bat. A bat may bite when handled, and a bite can be difficult to see.
  2. Contain it if safe. Close the room’s interior door to keep the bat from moving through the home. Turn off ceiling fans so the bat is less likely to be injured. Do not put yourself near the bat or block its path if doing so would require approaching it.
  3. Call for local instructions. Contact your health department or animal control. Tell them where the bat is, whether anyone may have touched it, and whether anyone in the home was asleep or unable to report contact. Ask whether authorities want the bat preserved for testing and how to proceed.
  4. Do not release it before speaking to public health. A test result may help officials determine whether post-exposure care is needed. If you cannot safely contain or capture the bat, leave it alone and ask the authorities what to do.

Getting public-health advice is urgent, but a bat in a room is not automatically an emergency requiring you to approach or capture it. Connecticut’s public-health FAQ makes that distinction; response arrangements differ by location, so call your local authority and follow its instructions.

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What if I wake up and there’s a bat in my room?

Leave the room, keep other people and pets out, and contact the health department or a healthcare professional promptly. A sleeping person may not know whether a bat touched or bit them. The same concern applies when a young child or someone who cannot reliably report contact was in the room. Tell the professional who was present, whether anyone was asleep, and what you observed; they can assess the circumstances and advise whether the bat should be tested.

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Do not assume that nobody was bitten just because there is no visible mark. Bat bites may be tiny or leave no obvious mark. At the same time, a bat’s presence does not mean every person in the home automatically needs treatment. A public-health or clinical professional should assess the individual situation, including any test result if the bat is available.

Do I need rabies shots if a bat was in my home?

Only a qualified health professional or public-health authority can assess whether post-exposure care is appropriate for a particular person. The answer depends on what contact may have occurred, who was present, and, when possible, the bat’s test result. A bat being somewhere in the home is not by itself a diagnosis or a decision about treatment.

Call promptly if you were bitten or scratched, if bat saliva or brain material may have reached your eyes, nose, mouth, or an open wound, or if you may have had contact that you cannot confidently rule out. Describe the exposure as accurately as you can. Do not wait for a mark to appear before asking for advice, and do not try to decide on your own that there was no exposure.

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For context, a CDC press release published January 6, 2022, reported that 70% of people infected with rabies in the United States had been infected following exposure to rabid bats. That is a historical statistic from 2022, not a 2026 estimate, and it does not mean that 70% of bat encounters cause rabies. It illustrates why possible contact merits a professional assessment rather than guesswork.

What should I do if someone was bitten or scratched?

  1. Wash the wound immediately with soap and water.
  2. Get medical help right away and tell the clinician that a bat may have bitten or scratched the person.
  3. Contact public health as soon as possible for guidance about the bat and any recommended next steps. If the bat can be tested, officials can use the result as part of the assessment.

If there is no visible wound but saliva or brain material may have contacted an eye, the nose, the mouth, or broken skin, seek professional care urgently. If you are unsure whether contact occurred, explain the uncertainty to a healthcare professional or health department rather than treating uncertainty as proof that no exposure happened.

Should I catch the bat myself?

No one is required to attempt capture. The safest first step is to ask animal control or the health department for help. Capture can expose a person to a bite or scratch, and local authorities may have specific instructions about handling and testing. If the bat is difficult to reach, moving around, or in a place where you cannot safely work, do not improvise; ask public health what to do.

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If authorities advise capture and you can do it without exposing yourself, CDC describes a container method using a box or jar, cardboard with small air holes, leather work gloves, and tape. The gloves are one part of the listed method, not a guarantee that handling is risk-free or a reason to capture the bat against official advice.

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  1. Wait until the bat lands. Do not try to catch it in flight.
  2. Put the container over the bat without touching it.
  3. Slide the cardboard beneath the container, keeping the bat inside.
  4. Secure the cardboard to the container with tape.
  5. Keep the bat contained and follow the health department’s instructions about storage, transport, or testing. Do not release it unless public-health authorities tell you to.

A container, cardboard, and tape may already be available at home. Do not buy supplies or handle the bat solely because you have them; follow the local authority’s directions and your own ability to do the task safely.

Why keep the bat for testing?

Public-health officials may recommend testing because the result can help determine whether someone needs post-exposure care. Call before releasing or disposing of the bat so officials can explain whether testing is possible and what to do with it. If the bat has escaped or cannot be captured, say so; the health professional can assess the exposure based on the circumstances without a test result.

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Testing and response arrangements are local. Ask the health department who handles the bat, whether animal control can assist, and how the result will be communicated. Do not transport a bat or take it to a facility unless authorities direct you to do so.

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How can I keep bats from getting back inside?

For a single bat that entered through an open door or window, check how it got in and address that route once the immediate health concern is handled. For recurring entry or a colony in the structure, exclusion—not indiscriminate killing—is the approach described by CDC. Bats can fit through openings as small as ¼ inch, so a small gap can matter.

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Inspect and seal entry points

  • Inspect the exterior for openings and gaps, including around plumbing and electrical penetrations.
  • Caulk openings larger than a dime. CDC also recommends screens, chimney caps, and draft guards where appropriate.
  • Fill plumbing or electrical holes with steel wool or caulk, and ensure exterior doors close tightly.

These are general prevention measures, not a substitute for assessing an active colony. A contractor or wildlife-control provider may be needed when the entry route is difficult to reach, when work would put someone at risk, or when local wildlife rules restrict what a homeowner may do.

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Use exclusion timing that does not trap young bats

For a colony, CDC describes watching where bats leave at dusk, allowing them to exit, and sealing the entry after all have left. Fall and winter are often favorable periods for bat-proofing. CDC cautions that young bats may be trapped between May and August if adults are excluded while young are still inside. Timing depends on the site and local conditions; check local laws and species protections before work begins.

If you hire help, ask how the provider will let bats exit, seal the openings, avoid trapping young, comply with species protections, and handle follow-up. Those are practical questions based on CDC’s exclusion and seasonal cautions, not a certification or ranking of providers. Contact animal control or a wildlife conservation agency if you cannot establish what is lawful or safe in your area.

What information should I give the health department?

A clear account helps officials decide what advice is appropriate. You do not need to determine whether exposure occurred before calling. Share the facts you know and identify anything uncertain.

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  • Where the bat was found and whether it is still contained, escaped, or was removed.
  • Who was in the room or nearby, including anyone asleep, a young child, or someone unable to reliably report contact.
  • Whether anyone touched the bat, was bitten or scratched, or may have had saliva contact with an eye, nose, mouth, or open wound.
  • Whether pets had contact with the bat, and any relevant details the health department asks you to provide.
  • Whether the bat is available for testing and whether anyone has already attempted capture or handling.

Answer based on what you observed; do not guess to make the account more certain. Ask whom to call next, what to do with the bat, and how you will learn the test result if testing is arranged.

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What not to do

  • Do not touch a bat with bare hands or let children or pets investigate it.
  • Do not swat at it, chase it, or attempt to catch it in flight.
  • Do not release it before consulting public health, because a test may help inform the exposure assessment.
  • Do not dismiss possible contact because no bite mark is visible, or assume every person present automatically needs treatment.
  • Do not seal an active colony’s exit without considering young bats, the season, and local wildlife protections.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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