Rodent/Rabbit attack

[JohnJohn]

I've had my Audi A4 Avant 40tfsi since the end of December and had only covered around 1200 miles to the middle of June. Went on a road trip, mid june, covered another 1000 miles with no issues. Got home and went to start my car next morning....warning lights, aircon wouldn't work, loud fan going full speed in engine bay. Called Audi assist they said I had a sensor fault but safe to drive to dealer to fix. Car was in 2 days and they said my wiring loom had been chewed through by rodents which was not covered by warranty, however they very kindly didn't charge me either. Got my car back on the Friday evening, it was parked on my drive all w/end, went to start it Monday morning.....same issue/warnings....back to the garage, wires all chewed again including the original wires that were repaired however a lot more damage this time. Took them a week to fix it. In the meantime I had bought 30 mouse traps (I don't do thinks by half :)) Anti mouse spray, an ultrasonic device to scare them off and mothballs (recommended by lots of people). I also bought a game cam and set everything up. It took a couple of days, but finally saw a mouse running around and caught/killed on day 3 or 4.  Got my car back after a week (with a large bill), parked it up the drive surrounded by mouse trap with the game cam under the front of the car looking towards the rear. All was well for about a week...reviewed the cam each morning and saw a rabbit under the car sniffing around. It then jumped up onto the engine trays under the gearbox/engine.....fortunately only stayed there about 20 seconds and left, so hoping it was the spray/mothballs/ultrasonic device that scared it off.....fortunately no damage this time. Spent a bit of time rabbit proofing my drive/garden but rabbit keeps coming back to look for a way in. It doesn't touch my sons Audi S3 or any neighbours cars, just my A4!!!!!    Anyone know if it's possible to block the rear of the engine undertrays to prevent animals jumping in there...I can't believe it's only happening to me?

[cliffcoggin]

I am sorry to read of your misfortune. Wiring damage by mice and squirrels in houses is well known, but I have never heard of them attacking car wiring. And why only your car, not others?

My speculative guess is that one component, such as the plasticiser, of the insulation is attractive to the pests, in which case little can be done unless you have a garage to park the car in.

[Magnet]

Blinking heck John. 
Chewing-mice are devils. We live a bit out in the country, and a neighbour had his motor home fuel supply chewed through, and the same with another vehicle there at the time. 
Someone told him that to become more environmentally respectful, certain plastics are manufactured from ‘more tasty’ constituents rather than the chemical based plastics that were. 
The little mices love it! 
True?? 
Kind regards,

Gareth.