Hello boffins

We have mice in/around our house. Last year we saw them running across our living room a few times, but then they disappeared once the weather warmed up a bit. This year we haven't spotted them, but my wife has found a bit of their poo around. I'm pretty nonplussed by this but she is absolutely beside herself about them.

Last year we had a pest guy come out a few times and lay half a dozen traps (those black ones you see around restaurants and warehouses that the rodents walk into). These never caught anything. This year we have not had the pest guy back, but we've put out a bunch of traps in well traversed areas (behind the couch, along the wall in my kid's bedroom - the spots where their poo has been found) and, like last year, not one of the traps has ever gone off.

Either we're dealing with an extremely evolved family of mice, or we're doing something wrong.

What next? Glue traps?! I don't fancy having to dispose of one of them...

My shoe is stored in my locker in the basement of my squash club . There are mice traps around so I guess it is an issue. I do not keep my locker locked because there is not much of value in there .
A) is this a mouse that did this? B) if so would locking the locker prevent access?

The locker is on the second row, elevated above another row of lockers.

I do not see any droppings anywhere in my locker nor any sign of entry from the back or corners of the locker.

A few days ago, I was sitting on my bed when I saw something dark dart really fast across the hallway into my room. I immediately start panicking and crying. I called my brother (he doesn’t live with us currently, it’s just my mom and I) and he tells me to go tell management, which I did.

Mind you, a few months ago, I saw a mouse (for the first time in this apartment we’ve been living in for 2+ years now) and went immediately management. They called “pest control” and he came over and set traps and took the mouse away. The only reason the guy was able to get the mouse was because we trapped it in the pantry and put a pair of jeans to block the gap under the door.

Fast forward to recently, the pest control guy came over, checked the traps he previously set, set more traps and looked for holes. Of all the traps he set, only one in my brother’s room was eaten from (and it seemed like it wasn’t just one mouse because about half was missing from the poison thingy). For the holes, he told me that he’d tell maintenance to come seal them. I know that’s a lie, and if it were true, maintenance would only do a half-assed job.

I called my brother to come home for the weekend to help me plug the holes. And we plugged as much as we could with coarse steel wool and mice expanding foam. He had to go back so we weren’t able to take out the fridge or the dishwasher to inspect behind it.

Maintenance said they will come in by tomorrow or two days to seal up holes. Do I just wait for them to come in and tell them to pull out my fridge and dishwasher? Or find someone to do it for me because I cannot do it myself and my brother can’t do it either because he’s out of town.
My question sounds so stupid but when I asked maintenance to do a task for me, they always do a shitty job, so I’m just stuck.

Regarding my mental health, it’s been 4 days since I saw the mouse dart from the hallway into my room, and I’ve cried well over 20 times. I bought cameras to help me feel safe, but whenever I hear noises around my apartment I don’t see anything in the camera. I don’t sleep in that room anymore, instead I sleep in my mom’s room. I burst into tears every time I hear a random noise in the background thinking it’s mice. I’m not eating and I’m barely sleeping.

I have a headache currently as I type this because I probably slept 2 hours total before my twelve hour shift. And even at work, I have to go to the bathroom to cry. Multiple people asked me what the problem was.

I just feel dramatic, hopeless, and useless. I don’t know I feel this way. I’ve spoken to multiple people
for words of encouragement but I don’t know what to do anymore.

I considered moving out but what if the place I move to also has mice. I feel like I just have to toughen up. I want to but I physically can’t. I know I’m being irrational but I’ve thought about ending it all these last few days. I also worry how I’ll never be capable of living alone because I can’t imagine what I’d do if was alone. I can’t rely on a partner because they might not always be there. I haven’t even done any homework in the last few days. That’s how much this is weighing on me.

It doesn’t help that no one is taking me serious and everyone thinks I’m being dramatic (which I am)

Semi good news
I could go into my room for about a minute to get something I need but I immediately run out.
I bought ear plugs to plug out sounds

Bad news
I’m still crying all over

Help

I don't even know where to begin with writing this.

Hello, I come asking for any and all information on how to move forward in this situation. I am 24, I am mentally disabled and I live with both my parents and my maternal grandfather. I have been out of a job since June due to my disability, but start a new job Monday 10/19.

I would like to preface that I am an incredibly clean individual. I clean my space top to bottom weekly, and all sheets are laundered at least weekly, sometimes more.

Sunday 10/11 I stayed overnight at my grandmother's house to help prepare her for a surgical procedure the next day. When I returned home on Monday 10/12 I started noticing bites all up and down both of my legs. The first bite showed up when I was sitting in my mother's chair in one of the living rooms. I didn't think much of it, until I was seemingly being eaten alive. Red, itchy, incredibly irritating. They started going all up and down both legs, my left arm, and my left hand. At one point I had to take Benadryl just to sleep because of the discomfort. A few days in I become very suspicious that something more is going on. I take it upon myself to check every single article of furniture in the house for signs of bedbugs. Every bed, every chair, every sofa, everything. I did this nearly daily, checking every nook and cranny, seam, everything. I investigated thoroughly with a flashlight. I never found a single bug, shed exoskeleton, or feces anywhere.

I became suspicious of fleas, as I used to be a veterinary nurse in years prior before I became disabled. My own dog is on a strict NexGard regimen every 30 days. I checked him daily for fleas and none were ever seen. I've been checking his bed daily and have never seen anything. However, he became increasingly itchy within this week, always biting at his rear end, which is where fleas like to latch. I got flea traps and saw nothing.

Yesterday, I cleaned the entire house (vacuuming) and sprayed every baseboard in the house with Ortho Home Defence, just trying to cover as many bases as I can.

Unfortunately, yesterday I found a bedbug. Climbing up the wall of my parents bedroom. This is where things get bad. I immediately panic and my disability shows it's angry snarling teeth. I go up to Home Depot and buy the bedbug mattress spray they have, 3 bombs, and the canned spray, because I have honestly no idea where to even start. I ended up having a panic attack and passing out in the Home Depot parking lot. Eventually I made it home and had to take one of my PRN medications, that unfortunately treat the issue by sedating you.

In my panic, I called an exterminator. They quoted $500 for full treatment. This did not help, as you can imagine.

I fought the sedation and tried to get to work. I sprayed my mattress with the bedbug spray jug with the nozzle, and put it in a mattress bag. I put my sheets that were cleaned the same day over the mattress bag, and unfortunately had to pass out immediately due to the drugs.

My parents sprayed their mattress with the spray and put the sheets back on, and did nothing else.

I would also like to preface that I collect stuffed animals. Probably 150 of them. Mostly scattered across my bed and the floor. I know that this is going to be a problem, and as I type this I am starting to shake again. I took all the stuffed animals and put them in garbage bags and put them in one corner of my room, unsure of how to proceed. I woke up today with 2 new bites on my knuckles, but no other signs.

I come to you now begging for help. I assume that the issue isn't bad because we've only ever seen one through all the checking that I have done. However, it's bad enough that my family is starting to get bit. Where have no idea where they came from.

My parents are undermining the issue. Told me that "It's just one bug, there isn't anymore, calm down" I know that this is going to blow out of proportion if I don't do something. And I'm going to have to be the one to do it. I don't know where to begin, and I'm going to need help, not only with guidance and a plan, but with someone physically helping me. I can't do everything, I physically and mentally cannot.

Please help

So I have a bunch of stray cats around my place and I just want them dead. They piss in my alcove to my front door, I hear them fighting all the time in my backyard, then constantly shit in my lawn. I’m not above just doing it by hand but id like to not start with that. Any tips? I live in a neighborhood so I really can’t just blast them with a gun

I live in the Northwest Washington area, and own chickens. They have a nice-sized coop, as well fenced in area to free range. Except there is a problem. Rats keep getting in the coop at night, not through the enclosure door, but through the coop walls. Every night they always chew the smallest hole in the wall and sneak in through it. I have boarded up the walls and set traps in the walls, but the rats are very smart and avoid them. I have seen them in person and they measure up to 8 in long. I have killed a few myself by physically driving them out of the walls, then stabbing them. Not a fun or pleasant experience. I have very nearly been bit by one on several occasions, even when wearing gloves. I just don't know how to kill them without harming the chickens or physically hunting them down. Does anyone have any advice?

This may have been asked previously. But do the corn cellulose baits work? The ones that make them die of thirst. Or should I stick with warfarin baits?

And is it a good idea to use it indoors? The pest control guys told us that they would use poison to clear out mice outside and also indoors and also seal entry holes. They told us that dying mice are “okay” inside drywall. But it’s rats that will have a foul smell.

I was wondering if this is true? I saw online that mice will also create foul odours and maggots may crawl out and under the baseboards,outlets, and lighting fixtures from within the drywall.

We’ve sealed up the exterior and interior entry points that we can see. But they are still coming through. We are planning on placing a bait station inside the wall. Is this a good idea? And which bait is best?

Hi there, I do cleaning for a small company and one of our clients is a fairly large size industrial print shop. (They do decals for big rigs and big signs). While vacuuming I see these huge 1.5 inch long thick hornets that look like giant yellowjackets. I live in Southwestern Ontario and from what I researched they seem to be European Hornets. They have hug traps hanging from the ceiling. I clean once every two weeks and the last two clean there have been around 30-40 dead throughout my vacuum. How dangerous are these guys? I am kinda scared the vacuum will cause me to be swarmed. I’m scared I will get fired if I refuse to clean that shop though. It must be impossible the print shop people don’t know. They are very visible in the air and surprisingly clumsy and whack into you. Hornets are my biggest fear and these are the largest. Its surprising how late-state capitalism can make you face your fears. 🤣😭

Gonna preface this with saying that I'm a kid...

Desperate post... I'm living in an apartment in NYC, Queens. It's a very old prewar with a building-wide roach problem. In my apartment, german roaches show up in the kitchen. I thought my bedroom was sorta safe from it all, but my sister keeps eating in our bedroom!!! on her bed, it's disgusting. Anyways it's finally come to bite us in the back, because I found a baby brown-banded roach crawling next to my pillow...

My sister won't stop eating in the bedroom, she doesn't really care. Not sure what I'm supposed to do about that, my parents won't do anything either 😭 I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, and I feel really disgusted... Sleeping is going to be super hard knowing that there are roaches near my bed. What can I do to shoo them away? I can buy treatment, but nothing crazy. The exterminator can also come by once a week, are there any places I should tell him to spray down?

I also put chunks of camphor in the general area behind furniture. I heard it's a good insect repellent. Apart from Raid spray it's all I have right now, but i can get glue traps and diatomaceous earth and all that stuff. Thanks!

found in basement, i also found a baby one in a dehumidifier in the basement like a month ago. it’s like the size of a dime i’d say. it’s also been raining a lot and getting cold. located in SW PA. should i be worried? we clean the house constantly. my family says its a water/wood roach. ever since i found the first one today my family and i have been moving couches and everything to see if we could find more and we found 2 dead ones but they’re alot smaller. it can be seen in the second pic. i posted the first pic in one sub reddit and they said it was a german cockroach. pls tell me its not right so i dont have to torch my entire house. i think we’re going to call a exterminator tomorrow, but i just want verification bc if it is a pennsylvania wood roach then i dont think we would. pls help, thank you 🥲🥲🥲🥲

Is this a tick? It was just crawling across my leg in my bed!! My dog goes outback and then gets up on my bed.

There is a new hole in the side of our porch with loose dirt coming out of it. We found a butter yellow larva on the ground outside the hole. What could it be? I only have a picture of the squished larva unfortunately.