How far do I need to transport a mouse so I know it won't come back?

Perfect timing, I had this very same problem 4 days ago and am still wondering the answer.

When I was in high school and a mouse got trapped in my window well (basement room), we shoeboxed it outside (let it loose in field across the street), and it did not return.

I think it depends on whether the mouse in your house was living there or just gained temporary ingress. If the latter, anywhere outside should be fine. If the former, it was probably not alone. Other signs? Droppings? Noises in the wall?

If you are up for an experirment, mark it on the back in a small patch with nail polish. Then, if it comes back, you will know.

Good luck. Bless you for not killing it! Although I would expect nothing less from a guy with your great antecedents.

Halfway across the bridge.

get a lot of friends together and release it, but stomp your feet in the direction you want it to go. it will get scared and never return.

Put him outside and then throw some cheese? Maybe give him a napsack too. Seriously though, 10 blocks should be more than enough. Do shelters take mice? Wouldn’t that be an oddity. Walk in with a mouse on a piece of twine.

@Mtl_zack but what if you squish it. =*(

@twrex: well, all that + be careful. even if you do squish it, problem solved, the mouse will not come back.

The obvious answer would be heaven, but I would never really suggest that.
I have one of those humane mousetraps. I haven’t had problems with mice lately but when there was a field across the street (now houses) we used to get them frequently. I would catch them and drop them off in a field about a mile away. That seemed to work as it would be awhile before more would show up in our garage (cats in the house seemed to keep them from coming inside). Of course, I have no way to know if some of the mice I caught were repeat intruders or not.

You don’t have to send it too far. I don’t think they have homing instincts like pigeons. We took ours to a field about 4 blocks away and it never came back.

Update: He’s free! About 7 block away. Hope I never see him again, but I was surprised how satisfying is was to see him scamper away safely.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

we take ours one block away to a very expensive block. People own the whole brownstone building and the entire basement is their kitchen. Besides, I don’t think the little mouse will be able to cross 7 ave!

The rule here is 5 miles (and preferably in a wooded area or open field)

Ben, keep on the qui vive for his sisters, and his cousins and his aunts. Mice are not solitary creatures by nature..

Drive until you hit water, get in a boat, paddle until you hit land. Then leave the mouse with some food and water and get the heck back home as soon as you can. Then you might have a chance.

Bottom line: If your mouse has discovered a way to get into your house where there’s food and warmth and safety, he’ll travel pretty far to get there.

Okay, and on an unrelated note, I just realized I’m at 995 for my lurve! Who’s gonna help a sister out and bump her into the quadruple digits!?

Okay, there you go. I just hate it when people beg for lurve, but I must admit when I was hovering just below 5000 for the longest time I resorted to that just to get it over with. Then I was able to focus again.
Oh, and congrats on getting 1k.

YAY! Thanks AstroChuck! That was my first time begging for lurve. It won’t happen again. Well, maybe at 2000. :)

The nearest toilet

You have to mail it UPS or FEDEX to one of your least favorite relatives on the opposite coast. Otherwise about 2 weeks after you launch him he’ll be back,,,,,,,,and he’ll be mad.

What the hell is wrong with USPS?