If you don’t take the little guy a couple of miles away, he’ll be back in the house within hours. I speak from personal experience, having trapped the same two or three mice repeatedly until I caught on.My two are on a mouse stake-out. It is under an ottoman and they are circling around it and giving it a poke now and then. They've been stalking this mouse for three days now, and it's getting old. They've both caught it several times, but don't hurt it and then released it somewhere else so they could chase it. I've about had enough. As soon as I can, I'm going to catch it with a pot and lid and put it outside. There will be two very disappointed cats. It's like a toy.