I've had mice, squirrels and raccoons in the house. The raccoon had made a little nest in an attic space and gave birth to three kits. It was cold, so I didn'

I've had mice, squirrels and raccoons in the house. The raccoon had made a little nest in an attic space and gave birth to three kits. It was cold, so I didn't want to evict them, so I let them stay and I put up a camera recording on slo-mo on a VCR. I learned a lot about raccoons. The mother raccoon is a very very caring and devoted mother. She also keeps the nest completely clean. She always left and went outside to do her business. She removed all her kits wastes as well. Eventually, when it got much warmer and she started to chew the batten boards, I did evict her humanely. She had done very little damage to the house and no mess. I was probably lucky to get a good one. I had a squirrel fall down the fireplace chimney and roam the house while we were on vacation. My friend checking on the house discovered her after she'd been trapped inside for a couple of days. Squirrels poop everywhere they go, so I could tell everywhere she went. She explored the whole house, but spent the most time looking out the ground floor windows. The fireplace ashes on her hands revealed things she touched. There were black marks all over the window cranks, but few marks on the window sashes. It looked like she had tried to operate the window cranks. I appeared she understood that if she could move them the right way, she could open a window and get out, but she had been unable to move them. She found a bit of peanut butter to eat, and she shredded our curtains. Apart from that she did very little damage and the mess was limited. The poops are pretty dry, and she only peed in a couple of specific locations, not everywhere. I did a cleanup before my wife returned home, and as I cleaned up, the things I observed caused me to develop a lot of empathy for the trapped and frustrated creature, who didn't want to be there. As for the mouse, that was an experience I doubt most of you would believe.