Creepy-crawly critters, dust and other disgusting things seem to sneak into the places people live.
Auburn is no exception with its abundance of dorms, apartments, condos, trailers and houses that provide a welcoming habitat for unwelcome guests.
New Orleans native Michelle Duplantier, freshman in biomedical sciences, found an unexpected visitor in her bedroom one night.
"I was lying in my bed reading, and I heard something behind the window shade," Duplantier said. "I looked behind it and found a bat flying around."
Duplantier said she thinks the bat may have entered through the attic.
After alerting her parents, Duplantier and her dad opened her bedroom window.
"The bat didn't want to get out at first, so my dad had to get a broom and hit the shade a few times to get it to fly out," Duplantier said.
Michael Henry, freshman in engineering, said his suitemate in The Village recently found ladybugs in his dorm room.
"He doesn't like bugs, so he didn't handle it well, but the rest of us thought it was delightful because they're not going to hurt anyone, they're ladybugs," Henry said.
Insects tend to enter people's houses when the weather gets warmer, said Wayne Clark, professor in entomology. One problem with entomology is that people have a negative response to any kind of insect or creepy small critter because it's a natural reaction to have a psychological aversion to things like that," Clark said. "People tend to show fear, repulsion and what one student described as a real 'yuck factor' when they see bugs, especially cockroaches."
Clark said he has studied and appreciated bugs since childhood. However, Clark remains weary of a particular household invader.
"Spiders do bother me a little bit," Clark said. "I'm not comfortable touching or handling spiders."
For Leischuck resident Mallory Mims, sophomore in accounting, bugs are not the main concern.
"Girls shed hair a lot, so my roommates and I find wads of hair in the carpet," Mims said. "Dorm rooms also get really dusty, and the dressers get covered in makeup, too. You can just run your fingers across the surface and see a layer of dust and makeup combined."
Mims said she uses Clorox Wipes on surfaces and vacuums and mops the floors at least once a week. "By cleaning little things along the way, we don't let things get nasty by waiting longer to clean," Mims said. "I don't tend to think a lot about germs, but I have to keep things picked up and neat."
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