Will mice leave if you clean your house?

Cleaning your house thoroughly will help make it less attractive to mice and is a critical part of prevention, but cleaning alone will almost never make an established colony leave on its own. Mice come for food, warmth, and shelter, and while removing crumbs, grease, pet food, and clutter reduces food and nesting material, mice can survive on very little food, only a few grams per day, and can hide in walls, attics, and appliances where cleaning does not reach. If they have already built nests and found entry points, they will stay even in a very clean house as long as they have warmth and some access to food. Cleaning helps in several ways, it removes scent trails that mice use to navigate, it makes droppings and new signs easier to spot, it forces them to travel further for food which makes trapping more effective, and it reduces health risks. To actually get rid of them, cleaning must be combined with sealing all holes larger than a quarter inch with steel wool and caulk, storing all food in airtight glass or metal containers, fixing leaks, removing clutter, and using multiple traps. So cleaning is necessary but not sufficient, a clean house can still have mice if entry points remain open.