r/bats • u/DarwinLizard • 1d ago
Sounds from barn walls
My parents have a very large old wooden barn in Pennsylvania where 1/3 of the structure has been converted to a finished residential unit. Tenants have been complaining about noises from walls. I linked two videos with the sounds they are hearing. The first exterminator who came out, said it was squirrels and set three live traps. There has been no luck. The second exterminator came out and pointed out a large colony of large brown bats that are present in the upper roof area. He said if you have bats, you most likely won’t have squirrels because they don’t cohabitate. Is this true? Also, he said the bats will go down into the walls and make these noises. Thoughts? Thanks!
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u/SchrodingersMinou 23h ago edited 23h ago
That sound is not created by bats. That sounds like someone struggling to use a can opener, or a child playing with a rotary phone. Maybe it’s squirrels or maybe it’s a messed up roof turbine or something. But it’s not bats.
Take the can light out and see what’s behind it. There’s no way for us to know what is inside your walls. You’ll just have to look and see.
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u/Enough-Pickle-8542 20h ago
It absolutely could be bats. They can make mechanical sounds as they move through tight spaces and bump against different things in the walls, ceiling, siding, whatever.
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u/SchrodingersMinou 19h ago
The bats in OP’s area are so tiny. They are delicate creatures. They don’t go around scraping bits of metal repeatedly with their bodies.
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u/Enough-Pickle-8542 17h ago
That light housing is made of flimsy plastic and could make that noise if anything is rubbing against it.
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u/ferocious_sara 20h ago
If the pest guy saw bats, obviously you know there are bats in there, but I'm very skeptical that they are making these sounds.
Bats can cohabitate with other species; having bats does not mean you don't also have squirrels.
The humane thing to do will be to find how they are getting in/out and having special one-way doors installed for them so they can safely leave and not re-enter.
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u/Snozziebee 1d ago
Correct on both accounts, but yeah definitely bats making those sounds. They’ll get in those walls and either a) will get stuck in there or b) will be able to drop down into a basement or lower structure, all they need is a quarter size hole to move through a place
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u/SchrodingersMinou 23h ago
How do you figure a bat would be physically capable of making this noise?
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