2x or 3x the chuckle, thanks Jamie. There is a report from Consumer Reports about rodent deterrents, in particular a pepper flavor tape from Honda:
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...-from-rodents/
and the tape at Amazon:
https://www.google.com/search?q=part...sm=91&ie=UTF-8
With the stories of them eating thru foams, I'm not too confident about tape. I'll try the peppermint oil.