Pests in dorms and apartments peeve students

Waking up in the middle of the night, flicking on the light and finding a centipede crawling along the dorm room wall is not something most University of Richmond students expect.

Senior Lauren Trueax found herself one night with just such a centipede problem in her North Court single. She said she had discovered the bugs about a week into the semester, possibly because they only came out at night.

"It was averaging about three [bugs] per night for a week," she said. "I think I waited three or four days thinking that it was just centipedes."

"When I woke up, they were on the wall," she said. "I slept with the light on."

She called facilities because she could not sleep knowing that the centipedes were in her room.

After facilities came and sprayed, she said she saw fewer centipedes and had not seen one for three days.

Alex Bloomfield, a junior, said that her apartment was afflicted by ants.

"They are all over the kitchen floor," she said.

The ants have been a problem since she moved into the apartment. She said they had been trying to kill ants as they see them and not leave food out. They have not yet called facilities, she said.

Though several students, like Trueax, have reported bug infestations in their dorm rooms and apartments this semester, the problem is no greater than in the past, according to Alexander Lane, the manager of environmental and custodial services.

"I think there are a few more calls for ants," he said. "It's maybe below average for cockroaches."

Facilities handles pest control on campus.

"We deal with spiders, ants, termites, centipedes, cockroaches and even squirrels," Lane said. "More than a majority of our requests are related to ants."

"Before move-in there was some rain in mid-August, which may drive ants inside," he said. "This time of year with the weather changing a bit and rain, it's pretty normal to have ants."

Lane said that the university had a contract with an outside pest control company, Ecolab, which takes care of the buildings on campus. When a call comes in about bugs, the area in question would be inspected by Ecolab, he said. Ecolab treats the problem, usually from the exterior, and later conducts a follow-up inspection.

"If there is a repeat call or someone is really upset by the problem, there is a staff member that will go out, inspect and do a light treatment," he said. "We always use the professionals, though, and they will do the follow-up."

On occasion, Ecolab employees must go inside rooms to inspect. Lane said that students inside the rooms would be notified. If the student was unable to be reached, a facilities tag would be left on the door knob listing what was done in the area.

Facilities keeps all documentation from Ecolab calls in a binder. Each job write-up includes what they treated for, the area, the chemicals used and what kind of treatment was applied, Lane said.

In addition, notes are kept on what kind of pest activity was observed and any sanitation or structural concerns contributing to the problem.

"We need to do that kind of follow-up work to control this," Lane said.

This semester, facilities has averaged around 10 work orders per week for pest control, he said.

"They call it pest 'control' because they're here and part of nature," he said.

Contact reporter Kaileigh Connolly at kaileigh.connolly@richmond.edu