TOWSON, Md. — Students living at Altus Apartments in Towson reached to WMAR-2 News concerned about an ongoing rodent problem.
"It’s just gross," said Ellie Dreschler. "My roommates and I, we are not messy. We don't even leave food around and we still found mice."
Dreschler has been living at the off-campus apartments since it opened in August. She said she started noticing the mice around September. The latest catch was in her apartment's hot water closet on February 18th.
"We have seen signs of them," she said. "There are chewed bags and mouse poop on the kitchen counters. We just don't know where they're coming from."
Dreschler told WMAR she's spent her own money to purchase a plug-in ultrasonic pest repellent.
"I put it in my bedroom, and it appears to be working, but I can still hear them scurrying around," she said.
Dreschler lives on the building's fourth floor. She told WMAR she's heard complaints from people as far up as the 7th floor.
"I just want there to be some sort of way that we can just get rid of them altogether instead of catching them," said resident Eryn Frazier.
Frazier said she started noticing mice around October and that she's catching mice weekly.
"There's got to be a better way than just catch them we have to throw them out," she said. "This is a twice, sometimes three times a week thing."
Her friend Malory said she's had to dispose of the dead rodents herself.
"Sometimes we call and maintenance takes a while to get here," she said. "I've heard some of them screeching while they're stud in the traps. Sometimes I'm like, 'I can't do this.'"
WMAR reached out to both the building's general manager and front desk workers for a statement regarding the rodent issue.
In an email WMAR was told our request was being sent to a corporate representative.
Altus Apartments is student housing building and is is part of a $350 million mixed-use development project. It is managed by Gilbane Development Company and is located at Susquehanna Avenue and Towson Row.
"It's just a waiting game at this point," said Dreschler. "I wish they would take more precaution measures, more than just 'OK here’s the trap let me know when one gets caught.'"
"I don't think they realize how bad it is," said Frazier. "We pay a lot of money for these student apartments and they just hand out traps."
Frazier pointed out more than 15 of them in her apartment. She said she refuses to walk around bare foot.
"I just don't know if one is going to run across my feet," she said. "I found two in my own personal bedroom closet where there’s absolutely no food, nothing that would be attracting rodents at all. We also saw two out here and we kind of just see them running in our bathroom, just across the entire apartment. It’s not just the kitchen."
