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Mice reported in Warren Towers, on Bay State Road

Within the last week, Warren Tower residents have been reporting mice in their dorms rooms. Maintenance has put traps out and patched holes in rooms where they were seen, such as this one on the 11th floor of Shields Tower. PHOTO BY SARAH FISHER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Within the last week, Warren Tower residents have been reporting mice in their dorms rooms. Maintenance has put traps out and patched holes in rooms where they were seen, such as this one on the 11th floor of Shields Tower. PHOTO BY SARAH FISHER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Boston University students have reported multiple sightings of mice inside bedrooms and study lounges in Warren Towers and rooms on Bay State Road within the past week.

Julie Robinson, a College of Communication freshman who lives on the 11th floor of Shields Tower in Warren, said she realized her room in Warren Towers was infested with mice after she felt one run across her foot Saturday. BU Facilities Management & Planning responded promptly to Robinson’s complaint.

“The mouse ran across my foot and then facilities came a few hours after we called them,” Robinson said. “They laid down a couple of sticky traps. Today they set up a barricade against the wall covering the hole they think it was in.”

Robinson said she has not seen a mouse since and hopes the problem is resolved.

BU Facilities Management officials could not be reached for comment.

BU Housing officials and Warren Towers Residence Hall Association officials declined to comment.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said Facilities Management officials work year-round to try to prevent rodent infestations.

“We have a contractor that does regular visits to all of our facilities and essentially eradicates the situation as soon as possible by placing traps and that sort of thing,” Riley said. “I do not know what the number of reports are, but I do know that they respond regularly and appropriately to any reports and that they are taken care of as quickly as possible.”

Mice are to be expected in a city settling, Riley said.

“This is an urban area, and there are pests that are common to urban areas, so unfortunately there are buildings that have this problem,” he said. “But as soon as it is reported it is taken care of as soon as possible.”

Students have also reported seeing mice in other residences on campus.

Lyndsay Fong, a College of Communication junior, said she and her roommate have had to deal with multiple mice in their apartment at 171 Bay State Road.

“I live in the basement apartment so I was hoping that is why we have had so many mice,” she said. “I have seen them in all parts of the room. At one point we even thought they were in the pantry.”

Fong said BU has been helpful in dealing with the situation.

“BU emergency services has been really good about bringing in traps and coming right away,” she said. “They brought in an outside company after we had called a lot and they set a lot of different types of traps.”

Despite the traps, Fong said the mice have done damage to the building.

“There was some damage under my roommate’s bed,” she said. “We would hear it clawing at the stuffing of the wall that they were gnawing at, and the thing is that this building was renovated this past summer. There shouldn’t be holes, everything is brand new.”

Aubrey Giasson, a College of Engineering freshman who lives on the 18th floor of Marshall Tower in Warren, said she saw a mouse in her room in January, but has not had any problems since.

“It ran around near our fridge, and so we called the RA [resident assistant] on-call and then Maintenance,” Giasson said. “A couple of Maintenance people came up and they put down two sticky traps with food on it and told us to call if we saw anything. It never got caught, but we haven’t seen it since.”

However, Giasson said her floormates had a similar problem a few weeks prior and were able to catch the mouse.

“Maintenance did the same thing for them, except their mouse was caught on the sticky trap and they called maintenance to take care of it,” she said.

COM freshman Emily Kraklow, who lives on the sixth floor of Fairfield Tower in Warren, said her floormates found a mouse in their room last week.

“I guess I expected it because this is just such a big building that it’s just assumed there is going to be something,” Kraklow said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I’m not really scared of them.”

Zoe Roos contributed to the reporting of this article.

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3 Comments

  1. The best thing to get rid of mice is a cat.

  2. here’s a tip, keep your rooms clean and don’t put holes in the wall. Better yet, get a pair, we live in a city and there will be mice. OH i pay all this money, blah blah blah. I pay all this money too.

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