We have another 4-legged animal

I would love to adopt a second rescue dog. There are so many dogs in need of homes, and we have the room to have them. But Wade is happy with one dog.

So I was surprised when Wade told me right before bed, "We have another four legged animal in the house".

I knew he didn't just go out and pick up a dog. "A mouse?" I asked. "Yep."

Wade tried to kill it with his hockey stick. He almost got it, he told me, but he just missed when he brought the stick down. He told me that if he was closer, he'd have gone after it with his hands. Apparently, at a friend's house, he caught a mouse with his bare hands. (I did not ask what he did with the mouse.)

That freaked me out. Wade got a lecture on diseases: rabies and hantavirus. I told him not to TOUCH a wild mouse again.

We were both surprised by the mouse. There are no "signs" of a mouse living in our house (well, the unfinished area of our basement). There's no torn up tissue, no chewings, no mouse droppings.) Hopefully, that means the mouse hasn't been here long. I don't care about the mouse per se, but rather about the droppings it leaves (because that's unsanitary, gross and disease-causing). Wade's getting mouse traps on the way home. I don't want to kill the mouse - I mean, he just found a warm spot to winter (kinda like snowbirds). But what other option do we have? If we catch and release, he might find his way back to our house.

Do you have experiences with mice, vermin, or other uninvited guests?