Sneaky little thing, huh? I haven't had to trap one of those but did have to use glue traps for field mice some years ago, had to because we had small children and anything else was dangerous for them. Our squirrels won't go after peanuts or pb but bird seeds (black sunflower currently) will lure them into the havaheart trap (we release them into the big park a couple miles away). Good luck getting that thing John, he's eating you out of flora and fauna! ;)

No, you cannot use vegetable oil. You can find horticultural oils any place where gardening supplies and chemicals are sold. In the meantime, do some googling about 'hortucultural oils' and why they are so useful for the control of scale insects and the suppression of other pests. Scale insects can be a challenge to control. Whomever gave you this particular plant needs his/her glasses adjusted, lol. If these pests are on the leaves and stems......I'm just sayin.

could be leafhoppers

Now, we can talk! This is what I was suspecting but couldn't see from the original photos. And WHO was gonna believe this? Your pest is the larvae of the three-lined potato beetle. It piles its excrement on its back as a fashion statement of some kind (actually a good disguise). Your plant is in the same family as potatoes, tomatoes, etc. Here is a link that might be useful: