I just moved into a new apartment that is confirmed pest-free.My last apartment had mice for the last 5 years out of the decade I had lived there, and a developing cockroach infestation.The mice situation had gotten worse and worse year after year, and this year took the cake. I'm a pretty clean person. I enjoy cleaning. What I don't enjoy is cleaning up after pests. That's what I was required to do.This year has also been the first year I've ever seen a cockroach in real life. I believe we just saw about 2 or 3 within the month. We had stuffed steel wool everywhere due to the mice. Under the sinks, along the baseboards. If I hadn't done that I'm sure the roach problem would have been worse.We got out of our lease early. Still dealing with management, though. But we found a new place and moved within 2 weeks.We had gotten rid of a few pieces of furniture and quite a bit of unnecessary items. There had been a lot of things I didn't trust enough to keep.My daughter is still paranoid with every new sound in the new apartment.I'm absolutely done with that place.We still think we see something flitting by in our peripheral view. I'm very nervous about stowaways, even though I checked everything. I'm scared of unmentioned pests.The amount of fear and stress we've been under has been so intense that we were feeling physically sick a lot.What have you dealt with and how have you recovered, or struggling to get on with your life?
#1
Mice, silverfish and centipedes. Once the water issue was resolved (new roof), the bugs were no longer a thing. The mice, hired out to have a service identity and seal any entrances, eradicate the existing population and quarterly, they inspect and spray the foundation. It took awhile to not be weird about turning the kitchen light out of fear of seeing scurrying but we're good now . Having a cat would let you know if you're reinfested. They do stare at nothing but they pounce on real stuff.
2points
#2
FLEAS. I bought our house 6 years ago. It's an older fixer-upper with a big yard. We knew the previous owners had dogs inside and rabbits in an outdoor hutch. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, but we have always kept our pets on flea/tick/heartworm preventatives, so we didn't think much of it. The first summer in our home, we noticed the cats scratching a lot--then we saw them. I thought, no big deal, probably just an odd one that came in on one of the dogs that hasn't died yet. Nope. Evidently the fleas in our yard were completely unaffected by the cats topical flea meds. The dogs didn't have them, but they carried them into the house and the cats were covered almost overnight. We treated them, but it took forever to find a preventative that worked, so they kept coming back. After treating the pets, the house and everything, we finally got rid of them for good, but I still get phantom itches and compulsively check the cats every time they scratch.
1point
#3
My house used to have a cockroach infestation, every time we got back from some kind of vacation there'd be a bunch of dead cockroaches everywhere. Then we found their nest inside an old crocodile head in our garage and threw it out, and the cockroaches never returned. Sorry if this is bad I'm horrible at writing.
1point
#4
Termites and mice. We dealt with the termites by gassing out the entire house so we had to live elsewhere and we death with the 1000 mice by getting a colony of cats (it started with 3 and now grew to 13).
1point