If you call around about bats in your attic between May and July, you’ll hear the same answer from any legitimate operator: we can’t do the exclusion right now. That’s not a sales tactic or a scheduling excuse. It’s North Carolina law, and it exists for a specific, good reason.

What the Moratorium Actually Says

North Carolina law prohibits active bat exclusions and the installation of one-way exit valves from May 1 through July 31 every year. That covers every bat species in the state, all of which are non-game, and none of which can be legally relocated anywhere in North Carolina at any time of year.

Why the Timing Matters: Flightless Pups

May through July is pup-rearing season. Baby bats are born unable to fly, and they stay that way for several weeks while nursing. A one-way exit device lets adult bats leave to forage at night but blocks them from getting back in, which is exactly the problem during this window: if the mother is excluded from the roost while her pup is still flightless inside, the pup is left to starve. That’s not just inhumane, it also creates a serious secondary problem, since a dead animal decomposing inside a wall or attic space causes odor, decay, and its own sanitation hazard that’s often worse than the original issue.

What Actually Happens If You Find Bats During the Moratorium

You’re not left with nothing to do for three months. Here’s the real sequence:

1. Interior safety sealing. We seal off any pathways from the roost to your actual living space, so the colony stays contained to the attic or wall void and out of your home.
2. A bat house recommendation. Installing an external bat house gives the colony an alternative roost to move toward, which can reduce pressure on the structural entry point over time.
3. Scheduled exclusion on August 1st. Once the pups are flying and the moratorium lifts, the one-way valves go in and the permanent sealing work happens right away, not weeks later.

Why This Should Make You More Confident, Not Less

If a company tells you they can exclude bats in June, that’s worth a second look, not reassurance. The moratorium is well established and not a gray area. Our bat exclusion page covers the full process, both the moratorium period and the permanent exclusion once it’s actually legal to proceed.

Timing is only half the story. See what pest control companies often get wrong about bat exclusion for the technique mistakes that cause just as much harm as bad timing.

Go On, Git! is NWCOA Bat Standards Certified, a national credential from the National Wildlife Control Operators Association built specifically around bat biology and humane exclusion timing like the moratorium above.