Bat Removal Castle Rock, CO

Who to call in Castle Rock

Douglas County Health Department is direct about it: animal control cannot remove wild animals, and residents who want one removed should contact a wildlife removal company. A bat that may have touched a person or pet is a different call. That is a public-health exposure question first.

• Possible bat contact or rabies exposure: Douglas County Health Department, 720-643-2400. A communicable disease epidemiologist is available 24/7 to assess risk and decide whether post-exposure treatment is needed. The county also takes reports through a single online animal-encounter form.
• Castle Rock Police Animal Welfare Unit: 720-733-6063 or PoliceAnimalControl@crgov.com, daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The unit's two officers and a supervisor handle animal bites and other animal issues in town and work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife on wildlife contacts.
• After hours: Castle Rock Police non-emergency dispatch, 303-663-6100 (around the clock). Call 911 for an emergency.
• Wildlife questions: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region, 303-291-7227 (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

If a bat gets inside

Douglas County's guidance is to avoid contact and open a direct path to an exterior door so the bat can leave. If you wake up with a bat in your room, or a bat is found in the room of an infant or small child, contact the health department right away. If someone had contact and you have the bat, call before you release or dispose of it so the county can decide whether it should be tested. If nobody had contact, the county asks you not to try to capture it. Because bats are small, the county notes, their bites or scratches may not be noticed.

Rabies and white-nose syndrome in Douglas County

Castle Rock has a documented rabid bat. In August 2007 a resident in the Plum Creek area found a bat alive but motionless on a porch and called town animal control. The bat tested positive for rabies; the resident had not touched it. When Douglas County Animal Services announced a rabid skunk east of Parker in March 2010, it noted that the most recent rabid animal confirmed in the county before that was the 2007 bat. Statewide, CDPHE names bats as the main rabies reservoir throughout Colorado, with skunks the other carrier on the eastern side of the state.

CPW lists Douglas among the Colorado counties where white-nose syndrome has been confirmed in bats (Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Grand, Jefferson, Larimer, Otero, Routt, Teller and Weld). Exclusion here should push bats out with one-way devices rather than trapping or sealing them in, and crews should decontaminate gear between sites so the fungus isn't carried from one roost to the next.

Castle Rock housing and bat entry points

Castle Rock has 31,105 housing units with a median year built of 2008. Only about 8% predate 1980, while 43% were built in 2010 or later. About 75% are single-family detached homes, 10% of units sit in buildings with 10 or more apartments, and 18% of homes are rented. Newer homes in neighborhoods such as The Meadows, Crystal Valley Ranch and Terrain still have ridge vents, gable vents, and gaps where stone or stucco meets the fascia. Those match the thumb-sized openings the Colorado Bat Working Group says bats use. Older downtown buildings and homes near Plum Creek have more of the same gaps, plus aging chimney flashing. Townhome rows share soffits, so bats seen at one unit may be using the whole roofline.

When bat exclusion can happen in Castle Rock

Colorado Parks and Wildlife asks property owners to avoid sealing bats out of buildings during pupping season, June through August. The Colorado Bat Working Group gives a slightly longer window (June to mid-August) and asks a simple question first: can the work wait until the maternity colony disperses in autumn?

In Castle Rock, NOAA normals for the Castle Rock station put the average low at 50°F or warmer in Jun–Aug, the stretch when insects, and therefore bats, are most active. That lines up with the state window. We use those months for inspection and night exit counts. One-way doors go up after the pups can fly, and stay up for the 5–10 nights the Working Group recommends before the last gaps are sealed.

Castle Rock at a glance

• Housing units: 31,105 (median year built 2008)
• Built before 1980: 8%; built 2010 or later: 43%
• Single-family detached: 75%; buildings with 10+ units: 10%
• Renter-occupied homes: 18%
• Average January low: 18°F; average July high: 86°F
• Months with an average low of 50°F or warmer: Jun–Aug

Housing figures: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year estimates (tables B25024, B25034, B25035, B25003) via Census Reporter. Climate: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Castle Rock station.

Common questions

Nearby city guides

• Castle Pines
• Parker
• Larkspur
• Franktown
• Lone Tree

Sources

1. Douglas County Health: Animal bites and scratches (rabies)
2. Douglas County Health: Report an animal encounter
3. Town of Castle Rock: Police Animal Welfare Unit
4. Town of Castle Rock: Wildlife
5. Colorado Community Media: Bat with rabies found Aug. 8 in Castle Rock (2007)
6. Castle Pines Connection: Rabies confirmed in Douglas County (2010)
7. CDPHE: Animal bites, bat exposures and rabies
8. Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Living with Bats
9. Colorado Bat Working Group (CNHP, CSU): excluding bats from buildings
10. Census Reporter: Castle Rock profile (ACS 2024 1-year)
11. NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals (Castle Rock)