Is it good to have bats around your house at night?

Yes, it is generally good to have bats around your house at night, because most bats are highly beneficial and pose little risk when they stay outside. Insect-eating bats, which are the most common species around homes in North America and Europe, can eat huge numbers of night-flying insects, with a single little brown bat eating up to 1,000 mosquitoes and moths in one night, which helps reduce mosquito bites, crop pests, and garden pests naturally without pesticides. Having bats around can reduce insects that damage gardens and spread disease. Bats are also important pollinators for some plants in southern regions, though most northern bats are insect eaters. The presence of bats hunting around your yard at dusk indicates a healthy ecosystem. However, bats should stay outside, you do not want bats roosting inside your attic, walls, or chimney because their droppings called guano can accumulate, cause odor, stain ceilings, and in large amounts can harbor fungal spores that cause histoplasmosis, a respiratory disease, and a small percentage of bats can carry rabies, so you should never handle bats with bare hands. To benefit from bats while keeping them outside, you can install a bat house on a pole or tree away from your house to give them a roosting spot, keep outdoor lights that attract insects away from entry points, and seal holes larger than a quarter inch around rooflines to prevent entry.