College dorms are meant to be places where students can hang out with friends, study, and rest. None of this is likely to be accomplished when your assigned dormitory has a pest problem. Though you should always expect to have access to a clean dorm room, here are a few pests that might nevertheless pop up from time to time while you are pursuing your degree.
Ants
Dorms are often rowdy places with a lot of different things happening at once. Ants are attracted to sugar, and they will likely sniff out any morsels that have been left in the study room down the hall. Ants release chemical trails that guide other ants to a food source, and you should be especially careful of starting infestations during the spring and summer.
Roaches
Roaches, like ants, can be hard to eradicate once a colony gets started in an indoor area. In dormitories, roaches are most likely to be found near sinks and toilets. They are known to feast on garbage, and dirty bedrooms or living areas are likely to attract the creatures. German cockroaches are fairly common across the country, and infestations are often first discovered by the droppings that the insects leave behind. Study areas that have been overtaken by loose papers and food scraps will be prime areas for roaches, and you will want to keep things as neat as possible to avoid a breeding colony, which will then be difficult to get rid of without professional intervention.
Bed Bugs
Bed bugs, unlike ants and roaches, do not generally invade dormitories without being brought in on sheets, blankets, or some other soft material. They are brown or black and are almost microscopic in size. Bed bug infestations are most likely to occur when one student brings sheets that are already infested into the dorm. Bed bugs require blood in order to reproduce, and students are likely to first notice infestations by observing straight lines of small, red bite marks on their wrists, arms, legs, or ankles. Bed bugs require either a heat treatment or a chemical treatment to completely eradicate them.
Flies and Bees
Flies are classic summer-time burdens in dorms. They come in through open windows, propped doors, and other weaknesses in the building. Dead flies are often found on window ledges, but because the insects breed so quickly, there will always be a few buzzing around the dormitory. Wasps and hornets, on the other hand, can build nests near the entrances of buildings and will have to be dealt with quickly for the safety of the dorm residents.
Contact Ideal Pest Control now for more information and a free quote.
