As spring slowly arrives, the Twin Cities average about 150 home exterminations a week, especially around the St. Thomas campus where students live in older homes, according to Rob Greer of Rove St. Paul Pest Control.

Seniors Alexa Peloquin and Shanthi Kelaart said they have encountered countless unwanted visitors in their home by campus.

“I was just laying in bed when I heard a couple of scratches” Peloquin said. “I went and looked in my entertainment center, opened the drawer and a mouse ran out. Then I went to grab my things out of my closet and a mouse jumped out of there too.”

Peloquin and Kelaart have been living in the same duplex since June 2012 and haven’t had an issue with mice before.

Jim Young, the students’ landlord, was notified immediately once the first mouse was spotted.

“I went home for spring break, so Alexa called our other roommates and told them she had seen three or four mice within an hour,” Kelaart said. “She called our landlord, and my other roommate went and picked up traps.”

Young, a 1996 St. Thomas alumnus, is a realtor. He took action as soon as he got the call to make sure the problem was fixed in a timely manner.

“The first thing that any property owner has to do is go take a look at the property so you can find out what’s causing the problem,” Young said.

After Young saw the extent of the problem, he decided to hire an exterminator.

“The exterminator company is going to look for any entry points and then seal them with wire because mice won’t chew through copper,” Young said. “They will also set out large bait boxes outside to catch all of them coming in.”

Kelaart said the exterminator has been helpful.

“Since the exterminator came, we haven’t had as big of a problem,” Kelaart said. “We haven’t heard them or seen anymore droppings anywhere.”

Senior David Bailly has also had problems with mice in his St. Paul home.

“A few months ago, I opened our washing machine to do laundry, and a mouse had been run in the previous cycle,” Bailly said. “We set up traps, but we didn’t catch any mice.”

At a different St. Paul home, Peloquin had issues with boxelder bugs. Making sure they didn’t get into her home was a big concern.

Associate evolutionary ecology professor Adam Kay said the boxelder bugs won’t become active until the weather warms up.

“Once they do, they’re going to start moving around a lot,” Kay said. “It’s natural that it would happen at this time of the year.”

Kay said people who live in Minnesota can occasionally get ants in their homes. However, because of the climate, they’re not as big of a problem as in other parts of the country.

Junior Bryton Altemose and her three roommates have been having problems with boxelder bugs and house centipedes since school started in the fall. The bugs disappeared during the winter, but have started to reappear since the weather has gotten warmer.

“We have boxelder bugs, but we’ve become immune to them because of the centipedes,” Altemose said. “They’re these huge, oversized, nasty centipedes that apparently sting.”

To try and prevent bug and animal invasions, Young said students need to make sure their houses and apartments remain clean.

“If your dishes are clean, you’re going to get less ants, flies and fruit flies,” Young said. “If it’s mice, you need to make sure you keep your floors well vacuumed and well swept.”

Anne Becken can be reached at beck9626@stthomas.edu.