As temps drop outside, rodents seek warmth in homes

MILWAUKEE -- While it's freezing outside, you're warm and toasty inside. There are a few unwanted guests that may want to join you. This is the time of the year for rodent invasions - but there are a few ways to find out whether you already have the intruders.

PJ Winkelmann with Advanced Wildlife Pest Control says mice are the biggest hassle this time of the year. As soon as the temperature dropped, his business was swamped with calls.

The mice find where the heat is emitting from the house - and they want in!

Winkelmann says, "If you look right around the pipe. if you see a brown residue spot, that's a secretion mark that mice leave in basements  so homes of this nature we usually put our bait stations right up here."

The next place to check? The attic.

"All you have to do is pop up there, take a light and look at that insulation and if you see little lines or pathways or droppings in there you'll know exactly if there's a mouse problem or not," he says.

Winkelmann also says any home can have mice, no matter how clean it is. He says the cleanest homes can have the worst problem, and the dirtiest homes may not have any mice at all.