Students may have a few squeaky friends in residence, at least according to one student living in Frontenac House.
Rebecca Hardiment, a second-year student majoring in journalism and film studies who lives in Frontenac, said she saw a mouse in her residence room on Feb. 27.
“It was around 8:20 on Friday morning when I saw it,” she said. The mouse appeared from her roommate’s room and then proceeded to go underneath their fridge.
“After a couple of seconds of processing the situation, I went into my room and unplugged all of my electronics. When I was younger we got some mice in our house and I remembered my parents biggest concern was them chewing through the wiring, then I came out and stuffed plastic bags in the gap between my door and the floor,” Hardiment said.
Housing director Laura Storey said while “housing has received some information about mice in residence, we have not noticed a pattern of this nature in Frontenac.”
Hardiment’s roommate notified the residence desk and put in a maintenance request regarding the incident.
By that afternoon, traps had been placed in the their suite-style room and have been checked frequently.
“They were very quick to respond to the situation, and they came today to check the traps, but the mouse has eluded capture thus far,” Hardiment said. The mouse may have been an isolated incident, she added, as it has yet to turn up in any traps.
Other students have seen mice, or been warned they may be in the building, during their time living in Frontenac.
Brie Lewis, a third-year history student, said when she was in Frontenac in 2014, “[students] were asked to take extra precautions of mice.”
“One member on my floor saw a dead mouse in the stairwell once, and another floor mate was forced to catch a mouse in his room,” she said.
However, Frontenac resident Colton Branker, a second-year computer science student, said he has not seen or heard any mice in the building.
Storey said housing dispatches their pest control service if they receive any word of pests or infestations in residence.
“We respond immediately to try to rectify the situation,” Storey said. “We recommend that students bring forward concerns of this nature as soon as they become aware of them in order for us to respond.”
Storey said the presence of any mice may be due to “the cold outdoor temperature and warm indoor temperature (mice may come inside for warmth) or from food in student rooms.”
So far, Hardiment said she is satisfied with how Housing has been dealing with the situation.
“They are dealing with the situation . . . I will feel happier when it’s caught, but also in the back of mind I will be thinking are there others?”
