PALM BAY, Fla. -- A Palm Bay family is dealing with an icky problem -- dozens of bats have made their way into their home's attic.

  • About 150 bats infest Palm Bay family's home
  • Family says bats are leaving foul odor; some have even died
  • Neighborhood's HOA says it might build a 'bat box'

It's meant sleepless nights -- and yes, a horrible smell.

"I turned around in the driveway, and I looked, and all of a sudden all of these bats started coming out, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, we've got bats up there!" Jennifer Seifert told Spectrum News from her front yard.

"I started ducking," she recalled.

As she headed to work, dozens of bats began flying at her, from the soffits on her roof.

Their latest count is some 150 of them, all infesting the home's attic.

"It's awful," Seifert said. "It's like a scratching, and they squeak."

But it's not just the animals -- it's what they are dropping that isn't pleasant. Their driveway and yard has been covered in bat waste.

"We kind of spray everything down," she said.

Seifert says a few of them have died in the attic too.

The family decided to call in the experts.

"The diseases that bats carry are airborne, so unless you have a full respirator on, you can breathe those spores in and it can make you sick," Jerry Fine, On Point Wildlife Removal, told us.

Fine and co-worker James Valdes are sealing up the roof, plus using “bat cones” to allow bats to leave the house but not get back in.

"If you think you have a problem, get ahead of it," Fine said. "It's going to be cheaper in the long run."

For Seifert, she just wants her home back.

"We don't want anyone else to experience this," she said.

Bat maternity season runs from April 15 to Aug. 15, and removal of baby bats during that time is illegal in Florida, as the young animals can't yet fly and could die in attics.

The neighborhood Homeowner’s Association is considering building what's called a "bat box," a place for the bats to go.