The residents for suite 302 in Bragaw Hall have some uninvited guests this semester. Mice have moved into their rooms and have caused them much distress while the University has been slow to address the infestation.
According to Beth McIntyre, a senior in textile chemistry, she and her suitemates first noticed the mice two weeks before spring break. McIntyre discovered that the rodents had gotten into the bottom drawer of her dresser and had chewed holes in her food containers. Other members of her suite also discovered the mice in their rooms.
“One day my suitemate noticed that the straws she had in a mug on her desk were moving around.” McIntyre said. “When she looked inside, she discovered that a mouse was moving around in the bottom of the mug.”
McIntyre said members of the suite then contacted the 24-hour desk in Bragaw to report the mice. However, the response they received was not one they had hoped for.
“At first they didn’t believe us when we told them that we had mice in our suite.” McIntyre said. “Apparently some students use a mouse infestation to get their parents to pay for them to live off campus.”
According to McIntyre, the girls then placed a total of four work orders to have the mice removed. These orders were apparently lost by the 24-hour desk and no action was taken until the girls captured a mouse in a trap they had set themselves and took it to the 24-hour desk.
“At the beginning, the lack of response to our problem was very frustrating,” McIntyre said. “But the 24-hour desk apologized for the misunderstanding and the response has been very good.”
According to John Ashley, the pest control technician for Housing, he received the work order for the mouse infestation in 302 on March 1 and his team installed traps that day.
McIntyre and her suitemates have captured a total of 10 mice with traps they had set themselves. During the spring break holiday, after the University had placed its own sticky traps, Ashley said no mice were captured.
“It’s really disgusting and unsanitary,” McIntyre said. “Their droppings are everywhere, and me and my roommate haven’t been able to sleep well since we first discovered the mice.”
Ashley said mice infestations are isolated incidents on campus and are usually reported when it is cold or in the springtime, and then usually only a few mice. Sometimes the infestations are a result of escaped feeder mice for snakes, which are illegal in the University dorms.”I’ve only heard of mice problems in Bragaw and Wood Halls,” Ashley said. “Unlike some pests, mice are pretty easy to catch.”
A hole that the mice used to pass between two rooms in suite 302 has been fixed and a wire mesh was put up to ensure no mice could get through. Ashley speculates that the mice may have entered through the newly redone air conditioning system in Bragaw, but he is still uncertain of their origins.
“Mice can fit through an opening that is only a fourth of an inch wide.” Ashley said. “It’s hard to tell where they are coming from. Most of the time we just catch them once they’ve gotten into a building.”Suite 302 is the only suite in Bragaw Hall to currently have a mouse problem.
“The whole situation has baffled everyone,” McIntyre said. “No one else has seen or heard anything, and it would seem logical for the mice to be on the first floor, not the third.”
