With colder weather settling in to stay, some Iowans may also find they have unwanted guests settling in their homes. Infestations of rats and mice are common during the winter months. Ryan Ross, owner of pest control company in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says Iowans should look their homes over from the outside to make sure all gaps and holes are properly covered.

Ross says: "Check to make sure there aren’t any easily accessible areas to the home. Make sure that vent pipes at least have some screen or something over them to prevent the rodents from entering the home. Check all your gaps, enclosures, door sweeps on doors, garage doors, any accessible point around the home needs to be secured and tightened up a little bit."

Ross says it’s also a good idea to get rid of any old appliances or other trash inside your garage, especially if the garage is attached to your home. "They get into a garage. They will build nests inside old dishwashers, old refrigerators, things of that nature," Ross says, "the more you can decrease the harborage for the rodents, the greater the chances you’re going to eliminate at least some of the attractable features of your home for rodents."

Ross says it doesn’t take much of an opening for a mouse to get inside your home. Ross says: "Mice can squeeze through any opening about the size of a dime, so pretty small. The can compress their rib cages and flatten out and get really small so it doesn’t take much of an opening." He offers other bits of advice to reduce a rodent population, including: keep all pet food sealed in containers and make sure you cut back vegetation around your home.