Bats from attic infestation terrorize tenants at Largo apartments

Bats from attic infestation terrorize tenants at Largo apartments:

'via Blog this'have made their way inside the units through holes and cracks in the walls.

"It's so bad and there are so many up there that I can't even sleep in that back bedroom," tenant Katrina Abdulmatin said. "I would definitely call it an infestation. There are at least 50 up there, if not more."

Abdulmatin lives in Building 16 in the the complex off Seminole Boulevard and said a bat came flying into her living room last week.

“He flew back and forth,” she said. “I had to throw my kids down to the floor. It was a complete nightmare."

Abdulmatin said all her doors and windows were closed at the time. She believes the bat got into her apartment through holes and cracks in her drywall.

"Screeching, you can hear clawing, like they're digging. It's horrible," Abdulmatin said.

The tenant took some pictures of the bat on her ceiling, on the carpet and with her daughter’s face near it for proof.

On Saturday, Abdulamtin’s neighbors said a bat came flying out of their bathroom.

"It was about five o'clock in the morning,” tenant Laura Salisbury said. “I get up from bed, still sleepy. I walk in, open the door, and as soon as I turn the light on, whoosh, like this bat… just comes flying out.”

Salisbury’s fiancée, Josh Reed, said the bat hit him in bed.

"I was lying in bed and you could feel him, his body or his weight, flying tripping around hitting me on the blanket," Reed said.

Salisbury is eight months pregnant and said she believes the bat got into her bathroom through a hole in the wall near her shower head.

“Animal control told us a bat could bite you and you wouldn't even feel it when you're sleeping because their teeth are so little,” she said. “Not only that, but a bat is one of the No. 1 animals to have rabies."

Salibsury said she’s seen a lot of bats flying out of the attic at night and has also heard them.

"We hear the squeaking at night; we hear their claws on the wall," she said. "We can hear them running around."

The tenants said they filed complaints with their apartment manager and Largo Code Enforcement.

They said maintenance came out and plugged up some of the holes and cracks near the attic and inside their units but that has not solved the problem.

"They need to get them out of here because it's not safe," Abdulmatin said.

"It's not right to live in fear every night to walk into your house when it's dark ‘cause there's a bat flying around," Salisbury said.

Largo Code Enforcement staff performed a field inspection last Thursday and determined that the property was in violation for bat and insect infestation. The manager was given seven days to correct the problem. That deadline arrives Thursday.

The Brittany Bay manager said he has hired an exterminator who is going to come out Thursday to check the units and attic.

Senior Pinellas Animal Control Officer John Hohenstern said the test results for the first bat came back negative for rabies. He said they’re still waiting for the test results on a second bat.

Hohenstern said anytime a bat gets into a home they need to test for rabies because bats are considered a high risk species.