I have had one of those rotary traps here for going on decades. Mouse tally = 0, no matter where I place it. If I put a Black Cat trap down where I had the rotary, mice. I guess the mice are different out here...
@marrt Sorry to here about your problem. "Welcome to the club! We have jackets..."
If it were me, I would go for screening. I did that after some enterprising mice filled our CAT 3126 air filter and intake housing full of acorns. Luckily, I was doing a pre ignition check, happened to bump the air intake, and a couple of acorns fell to the ground. My thoughts were along the lines of "WTH?!?". Even so, I could not believe how well packed the acorns were, close to four gallons worth. Thankfully, they stopped at the filter. I have had other episodes where the chewed through the filter and kept going which is far worse.
I just got done with cleaning out the cabin air intake on my pickup; the mice had moved in to the cowling below the windshield and absolutely stuffed it with nesting material that got wet/damp when I drove the truck in some rain. It literally took days to disassemble the engine side cowling, vacuum up material, then switch to an extra long under refrigerator vacuum, then wash it down, rinse it, blow it, and then clean the fan in the cabin, along with the AC and heater cores. For some reason, on this truck, three feet of the air intake below the windshield is integral to the body in this truck, and the only access is behind/through the windshield wiper mechanism. To get to the other side requires removing most of the dash. Not readily repairable compared to some vehicles that I have owned.
Did I mention that we were in between having barn cats? (Old age/covid) We never had any of these issues when we had cats.
My real fear with mice is wiring. It is so easy for them to nest on an engine and take a liking to a wiring harness that costs thousands just for the part.
All the best,
Peter