- (301) 829-0060
- Mt. Airy, MD
- info@pestshieldinc.com
Pest Shield, Inc. has served Frederick County homeowners since 2011, and bat calls are among the situations where same-day and after-hours response matters most — Troy Yowell and his team are available seven days a week, including evenings, at no extra charge for Sunday service. Licensed by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA #30263), Pest Shield handles single bat extraction and entry-point identification for residential properties throughout New Market and eastern Frederick County. With over 75 years of combined pest management experience across the team, Pest Shield brings the diagnostic depth to find how a bat got in — not just how to get it out.
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.
A bat in a living space is one of the more disorienting pest situations a homeowner encounters — it happens fast, usually at dusk or after dark, and the instinct is to act immediately. That instinct is right. Here’s what the situation typically looks like, and what it means.
New Market’s housing stock — including homes in the historic district dating to the late 18th century — tends to have aging rooflines, deteriorating fascia boards, and gaps around chimneys and soffits that create ready entry points. The wooded lots and agricultural surroundings along the I-70 corridor support active bat populations year-round, particularly the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), Maryland’s most common species.
If a bat was in a room where someone was sleeping, or in a space where a sleeping person could have been exposed without knowing it, contact the Frederick County Health Department. This is a separate question from pest removal — it involves potential rabies exposure protocol, which is a public health matter. Pest Shield handles the extraction; the health department handles the medical question. Both calls may be warranted.
60+ years of combined experience. Tell us what you’re seeing — we’ll come look, no obligation.
Troy was very knowledgeable, professional, courteous, and prompt. They eliminated my mice problem and came out for follow up visit to seal off any entry points from outside. Very reasonably priced for the service provided. Used top notch products, instead of just sitting out glue traps. Highly recommend them.
Kevin Smith · February 2016 Read on HomeAdvisor →
anyone in the area needs any type of pests services contact Pest Shield Inc out of Mount Airy, MD. Robert was incredible to work with when we had a carpenter bee problem that nobody else could figure out. You never find honest and caring people like this anymore and our family is so glad we did! Beyond reasonable!!
Christopher Herche · August 2020 Read on Google →
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 →
General pest & rodent control
Pest Shield’s bat service begins with an inspection. Troy or a technician assesses the property — the living space where the bat was found, the attic if accessible, and the exterior roofline — to understand how the bat entered and whether the situation involves a single animal or something larger. That distinction drives everything that follows.
What Pest Shield’s bat removal service covers:
What Pest Shield does not handle:
When a situation falls outside single-bat or small attic scope, Pest Shield refers to wildlife control cooperators who specialize in colony exclusion work. That referral is part of the service — not a dead end.
Bat removal involves no chemical treatment. The work is physical: locating the bat, safely extracting it, and identifying how it got in. Troy is available same-day and after-hours for bat-in-the-house situations — including Sundays at no extra charge — because waiting until the next business day isn’t a reasonable option when a bat is loose in your home. Response is typically the same day for active situations in the New Market area.
After extraction, you’ll have a clear picture of the entry points involved and what structural repairs would prevent recurrence. Pest Shield documents what was found and what was done — so whether you handle the sealing yourself or bring in a contractor, you know exactly where to focus.
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.
New Market sits in eastern Frederick County along the I-70 corridor, roughly midway between Frederick and the Montgomery County line. The town is accessible via I-70 and MD-75, with surrounding communities including Monrovia, Ijamsville, and Lake Linganore to the west and north. The area transitions from the suburban development along the interstate to semi-rural and agricultural land within a short distance — a landscape pattern that supports year-round wildlife activity, including bats.
The historic core of New Market — one of Maryland’s oldest intact 19th-century streetscapes — includes homes with aging rooflines, original masonry chimneys, and wood fascia that has cycled through decades of weather. These structural characteristics create the gap conditions that bats exploit most readily: deteriorating soffit joints, chimney crown gaps, and attic vent screens that have failed over time. The wooded lots and proximity to agricultural fields in the surrounding area mean bat populations are consistently active, making entry-point identification after any bat encounter a practical priority. For broader pest pressures that come with this landscape, pest control in New Market addresses the full range of wildlife-adjacent pest activity in the area.
Pest Shield’s bat service covers single bat extraction from a living space or small attic situation, plus a property inspection to identify how the bat entered — gaps in soffits, fascia, chimney openings, attic vents, or other structural vulnerabilities. What it does not cover is large colony exclusion: if the inspection reveals an established colony requiring one-way exclusion device installation or a Maryland DNR Letter of Exemption process, Pest Shield will refer you to a wildlife control cooperator who handles that work. The honest scope distinction is part of the service — you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with after the inspection.
Yes — contact the Frederick County Health Department. A bat found in a room where someone was sleeping, or in a space where exposure could have occurred without the person waking, triggers a separate public health protocol regarding potential rabies exposure. Pest Shield handles the extraction; the health department handles the medical question. Both calls may be warranted, and the health department call should not wait on the removal visit.
Same-day response is standard for active bat-in-the-house situations in the New Market area. Troy and his team are available seven days a week, including evenings and Sundays, with no extra charge for Sunday service — a pattern confirmed across dozens of customer reviews. For a bat loose in a living space, call (301) 829-0060 directly; don’t submit a web form and wait for a callback.
For a single bat extraction, the removal visit is typically one appointment. The inspection that accompanies it will identify entry points, and Pest Shield documents those findings so you know what structural repairs would prevent recurrence — but the sealing work itself is separate from the extraction service. If the inspection reveals a more complex situation (evidence of repeated entry or a small colony), Pest Shield will tell you directly and refer to the appropriate specialist if the scope exceeds single-bat work.
A single bat using a gap as a roost entry is common, particularly in older homes with aging fascia, chimney gaps, or deteriorating soffit joints — all typical in New Market’s historic housing stock. Seeing one bat at dusk near a roofline gap doesn’t confirm a colony, but it does confirm an entry point worth inspecting. The distinction between a single roosting bat and an established colony is exactly what Pest Shield’s inspection is designed to determine — and it’s the distinction that drives what service is appropriate next.
