Mice can be removed without poison, and the plan does not depend on it. The work is trapping on the runs, sealing the entries, and removing the food that draws mice to the house — three parts, in that order, checked over weeks. Poison is not the plan, and the visit does not need it to end a mouse problem.
The reason trapping and sealing work is that mice are creatures of habit. A mouse runs the same route every night — along the wall line, behind the stove, up the same pipe chase — and the droppings cluster along that route. The visit maps the route from the signs, traps on it, and seals the entry the route leads to.
TL;DR
Problem: mice in the house, and poison is not wanted.
Solution: trap on the runs, seal the entries, and remove the food at the wall.
When to call: when droppings appear, or when scratching starts in the walls at night.
Map the runs first
Before any trap is set, the visit maps the runs from the signs — droppings, gnaw marks, rub marks, nesting material. Droppings cluster along the route the mouse uses, and the route points to the entry. A trap placed on the run catches mice; a trap placed where it is convenient catches dust. The map is what makes the trapping precise.
Trap on the runs
Snap traps are placed along the wall lines, behind appliances, and in the attic runs where the signs are thickest. They are checked and reset on the follow-up visits, and moved to the runs that are active when a trap is not catching. The follow-up visits are what tell the homeowner whether the population is dropping or simply moving to a new run.
Seal the entries
Every gap found is listed for sealing: the gap where the gas line enters, the corner of the garage door, the crack where the foundation meets the sill, the vent that has lifted. The sealing uses materials mice cannot chew through — metal mesh, cement, hardware cloth — and it is done as the trapping clears the population inside, so new mice cannot replace the ones removed.
Remove the food
A pet bowl left out overnight feeds the mice the traps are trying to remove. Open pantry bags feed the population inside. Bird seed spilling by the foundation draws mice to the wall every evening. The food list is worked through alongside the trapping, because a house with food at the wall will always have mice at the gaps.
Steps
Follow the droppings
Droppings cluster along the route. Follow them to the run, and the run to the entry.
Set traps on the run
Place snap traps along wall lines and behind appliances, where the signs are thickest.
Seal as the traps clear
Seal the gaps as the trapping clears the population inside, so new mice cannot replace the ones removed.
Check over weeks
Follow-up visits check the traps, look for new signs, and confirm the sealed entries are holding.