When the autumn season begins, insects—and larger pests—start to look for a warm place to spend the chilly weather, making dorms not only the home of students, but also to creepie-crawlies. This year, despite the warm weather Saint Vincent College experienced until Oct. 11, the bugs made the move from outdoors to indoors once again, as indicated by a small number of reports that mention wasps, bees, spiders and ants.
HowStuffWorks recommends preventative tips to help minimize chances of acquiring pests, including sealing containers of food, keeping dorms tidy, emptying the garbage regularly, keeping suitcases and backpacks off of beds, sealing holes in window screens and hanging up any items that are damp such as clothes and towels. But if a bug problem is substantial, FMO can be contacted to handle the issue.
Vicky Booth, assistant director of facilities, said that FMO does not get too many calls about insects in the dorms; however, there have been two rooms so far that have had issues with bugs. Booth also reported that D-Bug, the pest control company in Latrobe, was called in for bees’ nests near Gerard Hall.
“Normally, we don’t have a problem with bees this time of year,” Booth said. “But with the nice weather we have been having, they are still out.”
D-Bug is a source used by FMO if the insect issue continues to worsen. However, if FMO is contacted and the problem is small, such as a few spiders or ants, the standard procedure is a few sprays from a can of RAID.
Taylor Medeiros, senior biology major and resident of Rooney Hall, had an encounter with several large spider nests residing on the side of her window. She and her roommate immediately contacted FMO and a staff member arrived the next day to examine the issue.
“Once [the Rooney custodian] saw the extent of the problem, he left to get the vacuum,” Medeiros stated.
After the vacuum had been used to remove the nests, Medeiros reported that the spiders did not return, and the issue was resolved. However, Medeiros added, her friend and fellow resident of Rooney Hall has also complained of giant spiders on the walls.
Ashley Krause, junior communications major and resident of Saint Benedict Hall, mentioned that she has seen several daddy long-legs spiders in her dorm throughout this year.
“[The daddy-long-legs] seem to come through the window because I always see them on my curtains,” Krause said.
While Krause has not heard any other students complain of spiders, she reports that ants have been an issue in past years.
Daddy-Long-Legs Spiders are one of the types of insects reported to be a common sight in dorms.