It happens every summer: the weather warms up, and suddenly you start hearing high-pitched squeaking or scratching in the walls. Or perhaps you’ve noticed dark smudge marks near your roofline and see flickers of bats swooping out of your eaves at dusk. Finding out you have a bat colony in your home is incredibly stressful. Your first instinct is likely to call a wildlife control company and demand they be removed immediately. However, because it is mid-June, we are currently in the middle of a highly regulated, legally protected time of year known as Bat Maternity Season.
Here is exactly what that means for homeowners in Zimmerman and across Central Minnesota—and the steps you can take to protect your home right now while staying compliant with state laws.
What is Bat Maternity Season?
In Minnesota, bats play a vital role in our ecosystem by consuming thousands of mosquitoes and agricultural pests every single night. Because of their ecological importance, bats are a protected species under both state and federal guidelines.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR), bat maternity season generally runs from May 15 to August 1. During this window, female bats gather in warm, safe spaces—like your attic—to give birth to their pups.
Because bats are mammals, these pups are born completely flightless and rely entirely on their mothers for milk. It takes several weeks for the young bats to grow strong enough to fly out of the roost on their own.
The Legal and Regulatory Reality of June Exclusions
It is strictly illegal (and highly unethical) to perform bat exclusions during the maternity window. If a homeowner or an inexperienced pest control company were to install one-way exit doors or seal up the exterior entry points right now, the results would be disastrous for both the bats and your home.
| Action During Maternity Season | The Immediate Result |
| Installing one-way doors | Mother bats are locked out, leaving flightless pups to starve inside your attic. |
| Sealing exterior holes | Trapped mothers will frantically search for new exits, often pushing down into your living quarters. |
| Using DIY repellents | Highly ineffective; bats will retreat deeper into your walls or ventilation system. |
Ignoring these regulations can lead to severe odor issues, secondary pest infestations (like bat bugs or flies) from deceased pups, and potential fines for violating wildlife protection laws.
What Homeowners in Zimmerman Can Do Right Now
Just because we cannot physically lock the bats out of the exterior of your home until August doesn’t mean you are helpless. If you have bats right now, our team at Badger Wildlife Management will take immediate, legal action to secure your living space.
Here is the legal summer protocol for Central MN properties:
- Interior Bat-Proofing: Our top priority is making sure bats cannot get from the attic into your actual living space. We will thoroughly inspect and seal interior vulnerabilities, such as gaps around attic hatches, recessed lighting, plumbing chases, and chimney flashing.
- Comprehensive Exterior Inspection: We will perform a full-scale audit of your roofline, soffits, vents, and siding to identify exactly where the bats are getting in. We map out every primary and secondary entry point.
- Getting on the August Schedule: August is the busiest month of the year for wildlife management in Minnesota. By inspecting your home in June or July, we can put together a concrete exclusion plan and get your property at the top of our schedule for the first week of August.
Once the DNR lifts the maternity restriction in August and the pups are capable of flight, our team will return to install one-way exclusion doors. The bats will naturally fly out at night to feed but will be unable to re-enter. After we confirm the colony is completely gone, we permanently seal the exterior and begin the guano cleanup and sanitization process.
Don’t Wait Until August to Call
Whether you live near our headquarters in Zimmerman, MN, or elsewhere in the surrounding area, ignoring a bat problem during the summer only allows the guano (bat droppings) to accumulate, creating potential respiratory hazards and damaging your insulation.
Be proactive. Let the experts handle the situation safely and legally.
Do you suspect you have a maternity colony in your attic?
Contact Badger Wildlife Management today. We’ll secure your living space now and get your permanent exclusion officially on the books for August. Call (763) 389-8887 or (320) 250-5572
