Temperatures are dropping and many Wisconsin and Minnesota residents are noticing more mice.
A couple of weeks ago, Marty Pearson’s four mouse traps couldn’t keep up with the influx of mice finding their way into his handmade log home in Burnett County, Wis.
Pearson estimates he caught dozens of rodents this fall culminating with eight, his largest catch, inside a 5-gallon bucket with a swinging top that traps mice inside. It’s tough for Pearson to keep his 40-year-old home sealed from outdoor critters because the logs expand and contract with moisture, he said. He finally got his pest problem under control when recent snowfall allowed him to track where the mice were getting in. Pearson sealed the gaps with steel wool.
“Because I live in a log house, mice are going to happen,” he said. “But this year there was a massive wave of mice.”
Pearson is not the only one facing rodent problems.
Business has gone back to normal after months of calls off the hook, said Jill Schaaf, who owns Burnett County-based Marty’s Pest Control (no affiliation with Pearson). Schaaf attributes last year’s mild winter with the region’s increase in mice.
“I had mouse jobs all summer long that I could hardly keep up with,” she said, adding that the busy season typically begins in August and goes through November. “Now the demand has subsided. It’s back to normal.”
Mice also caused problems for Rock Island State Park in eastern Wisconsin. That state’s Department of Natural Resources closed the campground early due to a mouse infestation in October. Officials blamed mild winters for allowing populations of mice to outpace snakes and birds of prey, according to the [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2024/10/10/rock-island-campground-closed-for-the-year-due-to-mouse-infestation/75604845007/).