Bats in My Belfrey

The Orkin man dropped by for his monthly checkup, where he sprays for all sorts of bugs. He told us today, however, that we have bats in our chimney. Now, I have heard squeaking in the fireplace for the last couple of weeks, but I assumed it was our gas hot water heater, which gurgles, bubbles, and whistles on occasion (and is immediately behind the chimney in the house). However, we did the two-person check, and sure enough, the noise wasn't coming from the hot water heater.

We were told by the previous owners of the house that the chimney had been plugged. But there definition of "plugged" might not be the same as mine.

While bats in and of themselves don't bother me, there is a small risk of them swooping into the house, and a small chance of mites, which bats often carry, getting in the house as well, which is a much more serious problem.

So we're going to investigate what we can do to get them out of there. It might be as simple as shining a light in the chimney, but it's never that simple, is it?