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I was gone this past weekend and came in to, in my opinion, something a bit disturbing late last night. I keep my apartment very clean and rarely see any type of bug. First thing that was odd was that my entrance light inside was on, which I know I turned off before leaving for the weekend. No maintenance notice inside that someone had entered. I had asked them to take a look at a roof leak. But how can I prove anything?
Anyway, when I opened the door I was met with a swarm of mosquito's and other flying insects. Killed probably about ten of them. Then I went into my kitchen and noticed a number of little mini bugs crawling around my sink (which was clean). I have never seen these before. They were about the size of the smaller variety of ants, but then I noticed they looked more beetle or roach shaped. I opened my dishwasher to find a ton more of them. I opened the cabinet underneath my sink to find a few live roaches. At least I think they were roaches.. I'm from the north, but they were brown, and long and skinny. Maybe 1-1.5 inches.
I killed everything I could find and checked out the rest of my apartment and couldn't find anything. I called my leasing office this morning (management company, not individual LL), and they said that pest control had already come through early this morning and they would not be able to treat my apartment until next Tuesday, since they only come through once per week.
Now, I'm not from the south and haven't been here long. But from what I've read, any sign of a roach is a sign of infestation. I'm also not used to bugs like this and am uneasy to even go back to my place, let alone for a another week. They suggested I can get myself some traps on my own if I'd like. I don't see this as very reasonable if I'm specifically paying for pest control.
What are your thoughts? Can I demand they bring someone out immediately? I'm already unhappy with my apartment.. only a bit more than a month left on my lease, but this issue was just icing on the cake and making me very uneasy about continuing to stay.
Once exterminating is done the bugs swarm from their safe holes and die so this is likely what you're seeing. I don't see you'll gain much from demanding an immediate re-do spraying. In a few more hours they'll likely all be dead so just wait a bit. Given where I live this is something I'm very used to!
Their contract is probably just for a once a week spraying, so if you wanted another mid week treatment, it would be at your expense.
And I agree that the bugs all (literally) come out of the woodwork after a spraying, and then start dying off. We always see MORE bugs for a short time after a spraying.
But how long have you lived in this place (you said not long, but is that a week, a month?)? If they've been spraying every Tuesday and you've lived there for at least a few weeks, you should have seen this before. If it is a new or seasonal problem, I would expect it to just be 1 type of bug, not several as you've described.
On the other hand, I've never lived in the south either. Here in Boise, we don't even contract for pest control unless we have a problem. We just don't generally have bug problems. Some areas just have bug problems inherently and you have to put up with them as part of the deal.
Sorry, let me clarify. They did not do a spraying of my apartment today. I'm not looking for a re-spray. I live in a big 20 building community, so apparently they have a contract with Orkin where they have a guy come out every Tuesday and take care of whatever requests were put in. They do NOT do a full spraying every Tuesday. It's handled on a case to case basis. The last time my apartment (and my whole building) was treated was 6 months ago when I first moved in.
So my apartment has NOT been treated in months, and they're saying they won't have it done until next Tuesday.
Still wait a bit before making demands. Likely a unit next to you, above you or below you was sprayed so they're dying and evacuating. You said once you cleaned up you didn't find any more. Oh, and one or two roaches isn't indicative of an infestation. If you had an infestation you would know it as there would be scores of them running around as soon as you flip a light switch! I don't mean to make light of it as people not used to them do tend to freak out - but this does sound like the typical dying/evacuation routine.
Still wait a bit before making demands. Likely a unit next to you, above you or below you was sprayed so they're dying and evacuating. You said once you cleaned up you didn't find any more. Oh, and one or two roaches isn't indicative of an infestation. If you had an infestation you would know it as there would be scores of them running around as soon as you flip a light switch! I don't mean to make light of it as people not used to them do tend to freak out - but this does sound like the typical dying/evacuation routine.
Okay. The only thing that doesn't quite add up with what you're saying is that if anything was sprayed, it was sprayed today. But I found all of these last night. If there was a spraying it would've been a week ago, and I didn't see anything at all during last week.
But yes I didn't see much of anything back again this morning, but I also believe the roaches only tend to come out at night. I'm just a bit uneasy that my place might be full of them in hiding.
If there was a spraying it would've been a week ago, and I didn't see anything at all during last week.
But then again, someone may have done their own thing and "bombed" their place. You never know ... If you switch on a light tonight and an army goes scurrying off for the dark spaces, call your PMC first thing and have them get the Orkin people out!
But then again, someone may have done their own thing and "bombed" their place. You never know ... If you switch on a light tonight and an army goes scurrying off for the dark spaces, call your PMC first thing and have them get the Orkin people out!
Okay! Thanks a lot. I'm hoping I walk home to a clean apartment, but I'll still have them come spray either way Tuesday. But yeah if I see anything else tonight I will definitely want someone to come out tomorrow. Some people may be used to seeing roaches, but not I.
I feel for you... I dealt with this in a place I lived once. It was really bad too. It took MONTHS of me complaining for them to finally listen to me on how to fix it permanently. Meanwhile, we had to keep all our opened food (cereal, chips, sugar, flour, etc...) in the fridge because the roaches would get inside the bags/boxes and eat whatever was inside. You can tell if they're roaches pretty easily as well - roaches have weird little antenna type things that stick out from their bottoms. Google Roach and check out images and you'll see exactly what I mean.
If it is roaches, you need to ask that they have the exterminators lay down bait. The stuff they're spraying doesn't kill the eggs so all the adults die then the eggs hatch and you're infested all over again. My LL used to spray over and over and within a week, all the roaches were back. I guess the adults end up taking the bait back to their "nests" and that's why it works at killing the eggs off too. If they're getting inside your dishwasher, you probably have them bad. If you see any crawling along your walls during the day, you've definitely got them bad.
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