- (301) 829-0060
- Mt. Airy, MD
- info@pestshieldinc.com
Pest Shield, Inc. (MDA #30263) has served Brunswick and western Frederick County since 2011, with over 75 years of combined pest management experience across the team. Owner Troy Yowell handles bat removal calls directly — the same person you speak with on the phone is the one who shows up. Jeffrey Allwine, Pest Shield’s on-staff entomologist, supports species identification when field assessment isn’t conclusive. Free property inspections are offered for all new client relationships.
How it works
Four steps. No surprises. Same answer whether it's your first call or your tenth.
You reach Troy or someone on his team directly. No call center, no dispatcher, no routing.
Same-day or next-day for most calls. Emergency stinging-insect situations and real-estate WDI deadlines get priority.
We identify the species, locate entry points, and find the source — not just the symptom.
Written recommendation, straightforward pricing, no obligation. If you don't need treatment, we'll tell you.
Finding a bat inside your home is alarming, but the situation is usually more manageable than it feels in the moment. What matters most is understanding what you’re actually dealing with — a single bat that wandered in, or signs of a roosting colony — because those two situations call for very different responses.
In Brunswick and the surrounding Potomac corridor, the two species most commonly encountered inside homes are the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Both roost in attic spaces, wall voids, and gaps around rooflines. Brunswick’s older housing stock — with aging wood trim, deteriorating soffits, and gaps around fascia boards common in historic construction — creates exactly the kind of entry points bats exploit. A gap as small as 3/8 of an inch is enough for a little brown bat to enter.
A single bat inside a living space usually means one of two things: a young bat that lost its way during its first flights in late summer, or an individual that found its way in through a gap that connects interior living space to an attic or wall void. What it does not necessarily mean is that you have a colony. The distinction matters because the appropriate response — and who should handle it — is different in each case.
There is one genuine safety concern that should not be minimized: if the bat was in a room with a sleeping person, or if there is any possibility of direct contact with the bat, the Maryland Department of Health recommends contacting your local health department to discuss rabies exposure protocol. This is not a reason to panic — the vast majority of bats are not rabid — but it is a reason to make that call before the bat is released or disposed of, so the animal can be tested if needed. Do not handle the bat with bare hands.
If you’re seeing repeated entry and exit activity, guano accumulation, or staining around openings, the situation may involve a roosting colony rather than a single bat. That distinction shapes what kind of professional help is appropriate — and it’s exactly what Pest Shield, Inc.‘s inspection is designed to determine honestly.
60+ years of combined experience. Tell us what you’re seeing — we’ll come look, no obligation.
Troy was very knowledgeable and professional. He returned my calls promptly and showed up on time. I would highly recommend him to friends.
Sabrina Weedon · May 2017 Read on HomeAdvisor →
Troy gave me honest feedback and even suggested that I didn’t really need a treatment at this time, which saved me money. He inspected my basement and explained that there is old damage from beetles and also what the limitations of treatment were. Very helpful and informative and reasonably priced.
Anna West · August 2022 Read on Google →
Pest Shield is a great company to work with. Troy is very knowledgeable and won’t do services you don’t need. He does a thorough job the first time so you don’t have to keep calling him back.
Jim Frizen · April 2020 Read on Google →
General pest & rodent control
Pest Shield’s bat removal scope covers single-bat extraction from living spaces — bedrooms, living rooms, basements — and small attic situations where a bat has entered but a large roosting colony is not present. Every service call begins with a free property inspection: Troy or a technician assesses the situation, identifies how the bat entered, and evaluates whether the entry point is an isolated gap or part of a pattern that suggests a larger roost. That assessment is honest — if the inspection reveals signs of a colony requiring one-way exclusion devices or a Maryland DNR Letter of Exemption process, Pest Shield will tell you that directly and refer you to a licensed wildlife control cooperator who handles that work. Taking on a job outside the appropriate scope doesn’t serve you, and Pest Shield doesn’t do it.
For single-bat situations, the service call typically covers:
Same-day response is available for bat situations — call (301) 829-0060 and you’ll speak directly with Troy or a technician, not a dispatcher. If the bat is still in the living space and the situation is urgent, same-day scheduling is the norm. Sunday service is available at no extra charge.
One note on Maryland wildlife regulations: bats are protected under Maryland law, and bat colony exclusion — the process of installing one-way devices to allow bats to exit but not re-enter — is regulated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Exclusion work during maternity season (approximately May through August, when young bats cannot yet fly) requires a DNR Letter of Exemption. This regulatory framework is part of why large colony work is a specialized service that Pest Shield refers out rather than performs. For a single-bat extraction, these restrictions do not apply in the same way — but it’s worth knowing the regulatory context if your situation turns out to involve a colony.
No chemical treatment is involved in bat removal. The free inspection applies to new client relationships — call (301) 829-0060 to schedule.
Owner
Founded Pest Shield in 2011 after years as a pest management contractor on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Around 35 years in pest management. Personally handles or leads the majority of service calls.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across Frederick, Carroll, and Montgomery counties.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across the service area.
Our Entomologist
Consulting entomologist on species identification, conducive conditions, and treatment strategy for difficult cases.
Brunswick sits at the western edge of Frederick County along the Potomac River, bordered by the C&O Canal National Historical Park and dense tree canopy that extends through the river corridor toward Point of Rocks and Knoxville. US-340 connects Brunswick to Frederick to the east and to the Virginia and West Virginia borders to the west. The combination of mature hardwood forest, river bottomland, and proximity to the Appalachian foothills creates year-round habitat for bat populations that are among the most active in the region.
Brunswick’s historic downtown and surrounding residential neighborhoods include a significant share of older homes — many built in the early to mid-twentieth century during the town’s railroad era — with wood-framed construction, aging soffits, and roofline details that develop gaps over time. These entry points are exactly what little brown bats and big brown bats exploit when seeking roost sites. Homes near the river corridor and the wooded lots along Brunswick’s western and southern edges face higher bat pressure than newer construction elsewhere in Frederick County, making entry-point identification during inspection particularly useful here. Residents dealing with other wildlife-adjacent pest pressures in the area may also benefit from pest control in Brunswick to address the broader range of insects and rodents that share this habitat.
Don’t try to catch it with your bare hands. Contain the bat to one room if possible by closing interior doors, and keep people and pets out of that space. If there’s any chance the bat made contact with a sleeping person — or was in a room where someone was asleep and could have been exposed without knowing — contact the Frederick County Health Department before releasing or disposing of the bat, so it can be tested for rabies if needed. Once the immediate situation is contained, call Pest Shield at (301) 829-0060 for a same-day assessment — Troy or a technician will come out, safely remove the bat, and inspect the entry point so you know whether this was a one-time incursion or something that warrants further attention.
A single bat inside a living space is usually a young bat that lost its bearings during its first flights in late summer, or an individual that found a gap connecting interior space to an attic or wall void. A roosting colony is a group of bats — sometimes dozens or hundreds — that have established a regular roost in an attic or wall void and return to the same site repeatedly. The signs that suggest a colony rather than a one-time incursion include: bats observed entering or exiting the same exterior opening at dusk on multiple evenings, guano accumulation in the attic or along exterior walls, and grease or staining around a gap from repeated use. Pest Shield’s inspection is designed to make this determination honestly — if the evidence points to a colony, you’ll hear that clearly along with a referral to the appropriate wildlife control specialist, rather than a service that isn’t the right fit for the situation.
No — and being clear about that is intentional. Large colony exclusion requires installing one-way exclusion devices that allow bats to exit but not re-enter, and during Maryland’s maternity season (approximately May through August, when young bats cannot yet fly), this work requires a Letter of Exemption from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. That’s specialized wildlife control work, and Pest Shield refers those situations to licensed wildlife control cooperators who are set up to handle it correctly. What Pest Shield does handle is single-bat extraction from living spaces and small attic situations, with a thorough inspection to determine which category your situation falls into. If it’s a colony, you’ll get an honest answer and a referral — not an oversold service.
The vast majority of bats are not rabid, but bats are one of the wildlife species in Maryland where rabies exposure is taken seriously by public health authorities — because bat bites can be small enough to go unnoticed, particularly if a bat was in a room with a sleeping person. The Maryland Department of Health recommends contacting your local health department if a bat was in a room with a sleeping person, an unattended child, or anyone who cannot reliably confirm whether contact occurred. In those situations, the bat should be captured (not killed if possible) and submitted for testing. If the bat has already been released or cannot be tested, the health department will advise on whether post-exposure prophylaxis is warranted. This is a public health protocol question — Pest Shield can remove the bat and identify the entry point, but the rabies exposure decision belongs with your local health department.
Same-day response is available for bat situations in Brunswick — call (301) 829-0060 and you’ll reach Troy or a technician directly. Sunday service is available at no extra charge, which matters when a bat shows up on a weekend evening. The free property inspection applies to new client relationships: Troy or a technician will assess the situation, identify the entry point, and give you an honest read on whether this is a single-bat extraction or something that warrants a different kind of specialist — before any service is scheduled or charged.
