mouse pet

Question
I was jogging in the park when a volunteer gardener called me over.  She was pruning bushes and pointed out what appeared to be a helpless small albino mouse.  What should we do, she asked, leave it here to die?  Someone must have abandoned it here, it's clearly from a pet store she said. I put my hand to it and it didn't bite me, just crawled into my hand calmly and stayed there.  

As I have two boys I thought they'd like a little Stuart Little pet so I got a little metal cage for it and they were both thrilled (my wife not so much).  Anyhow I recently went to the pet shop to see if it looked like the mice there and to my dismay it looked like the albino rats!  

Now I'm not sure if it's a rat (which will grow, ugh) or if it's a harmless albino mouse as imagined.  Furthermore, I just read from another question that wild mice can carry dangerous viruses.  So I feel grossly irresponsible and am ready to send the thing on its way.

So, I need your expert advice.

1) Is it a hazard to our health?
2) How do I know if it's an albino mouse or rat?


Thanks!

Answer
Hi!

The little feller sounds like an abandoned pet mouse/rat alright. Easiest way to tell apart a mouse from a rat is to look at the general build of the little guy - mice are generally very petite and rats are rather heavy build. Rats also have smaller ears and a bigger head, feet and tail. Here's a picture of a baby rat: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Vimes/145555_2024.jpg and an adult pew (pink eyed white) mouse: http://koti.mbnet.fi/~raphael/mice/IMG_0318.jpg
Hope that helps!

As it is most likely an abandoned poor guy from a petstore (albinos are very rare in wild mice/rats), I'd say it's definitely NOT a hazard to your family's health! Furthermore if it had made contact with a wild mouse, it's very likely that the little guy wouldn't have made it alive.

Hope this helps, my greets to Stuart the Lucky! ;-)