A pair of sophomore women returned to campus after the Christmas Break to find some unwanted visitors in their A.B. Barret Hall shower – leeches.

Cheryl Bell, sophomore musical theatre major from Austin, said she went in to take a shower and was disgusted to find many of the creatures all over her shower floor. Her roommate, Kren Fernandes, sophomore piano performance major from Wichita Falls, said they thought someone had spilled something at first.

“It just looked like random specks or whatever,” Fernandes said. “Then we looked closer to see they’re moving and alive and not dead.”

10 leeches were spread out around the shower floor, not just near the drain, they said. The women said they weren’t sure it was leeches but they fit the description.

“They’re slimy and black and they’re like an inch long and they wiggle,” Bell said.

Abbey Moses, sophomore political science major from McKinney and their resident assistant, said that when the women told her about the leeches in their shower, Bell assumed everyone had them.

“She said, ‘Hey are we supposed to have leeches in our showers?’ and I said, ‘Excuse me, what?'” Moses said.

Moses said she and the women tried a number of things to get rid of them, including turning on the shower but nothing helped.

“They didn’t stop moving when we sprayed them with Windex, which was weird,” Moses said.

Finally, Fernandes said she wiped up the bugs, put them in a cup then threw them away. However, another crawled out of the drain within an hour. The students called maintenance, hoping they would fumigate the bathroom, Fernandes said. They were told maintenance would be out no later than Wednesday.

“I will be showering in my R.A.’s room until they come and fix it,” Bell said.

Bell said she was a little shocked to find the bugs in their bathroom because of where their pod is.

“When you’re on the second floor, you don’t usually have a problem with animals or creatures,” Bell said.

However, Bell said the leeches haven’t spoiled her view of dorm life at Barret.

“It’s also college, and it’s also a dorm room,” Bell said. “I wouldn’t be like ‘I wanna live in Sikes now because Barret has leeches.’ It could be anywhere.”

Moses said the leeches provided a fun experience for her and her residents to look back on.

“If anything, it was a bonding moment for Barret residence,” Moses said.

Fernandes said her advice to her fellow students is to watch their showers.

“The bathroom can quickly turn into not-as-safe-a-place as you thought it was,” she said.