This newsletter, authored by Jerry Cates, keeps E2M2C™ program participants informed about the devices in place at their homes and businesses. It is accessible to all who are interested in the general subject of rodent biology and control and the research this program is conducting. © Bugsinthenews Vol. 25:02(01): Re-published, with fresh content, on 15 April 2025. To view the archived 2024 E2M2C™ Chronicles, click here.
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Our Latest News on Rodent Biology is posted in the body of this article’s text, below.
Note: The E2M2C™ program’s focus is on what we refer to as EcoSystem Forensics. Though rodent control is only one of several projects that fall under the E2M2C™ umbrella, it remains the most crucial. Of all pests affecting mankind, commensal rodents pose the greatest known threat to human health and safety. Thus, their control has a crucial impact on our well-being. Yet besides being our number one pest-related threat, the importance of effective rodent control continues to be underestimated by home and business owners, as well as by federal, state, and local governments. Further, because rodent biology is erroneously thought to be a “settled science” academia and the pest management community has neglected needed research into the behavior of commensal rodents. The E2M2C™ program is dedicated to correcting these deficits, and continues to make great strides in that direction.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
As part of the Envronmental Protection Agency’s once-every-15-years-review, that regulatory authority is moving full-steam-ahead to tighten regulations governing rodenticides and dispensing devices associated with them. The earliest the changes envisioned by EPA could have been announced and implemented as early as July 2024. Knowing this, we recognized and acted upon the “writing on the wall” well in advance. Accordingly, since mid-October of 2023 we double up our reviews and revisions of the external and internal architectures of our E2M2C™ devices, their labeling, and the choice of expendable rodenticide and pesticide products deployed within those E2M2C™ devices. We took those steps not just to reflect the letter, but also to apply the spirit–as we understood it–of all the regulatory changes that authorities on this topic appeared to consider most likely to pass muster.
Compliance…
To the best of our knowledge our E2M2C™ devices have always been more than fully compliant with existing labeling requirements, and have always been the most effective, secure, and tamper-resistant rodent control devices in use anywhere in the world. Still, nothing’s perfect, and everything can be improved upon, so we are proactively implementing important additions and revisions that increase the informative nature of their exteriors, and that make them even more effective, secure, and tamper-resistant. Some of these revisions will be visible on the devices’ exteriors, while others–being strictly internal–will not be noticeable.
Eliminating Risks of Pathogen & Ectoparasite Exposure…
In addition to the above considerations we have continued to re-assess the risks associated with exposure to potential pathogens and ectoparasites with which used E2M2C™ devices may be contaminated. Any such contamination, if not dealt with properly, poses infection risks to individuals who come into contact with the E2M2C™ devices’ internal surfaces as well as any loose debris contained therein. From the very commencement of the E2M2C™ program we’ve taken strenuous steps, not just to mitigate but to firmly eliminate those risks, in order to protect the public and our technicians.
Protecting Our Technicians…
Technicians who sanitize and re-provision the E2M2C™ devices are most likely to come into close contact with those pathogens and ectoparasites. Our latest assessment further formalized our risk elimination procedures, based on the latest information available on the prevalence of specific pathogens and ectoparasites associated with commensal and native rodent species, not just limited to those regions of Texas where the E2M2C™ devices are currently deployed, but worldwide as well. Sequestration procedures used with each used E2M2C™ device, the application of specific pesticides and euthanizing agents, and the implementation of definite quarantine intervals, together ensure any ectoparasites and pathogens within the used E2M2C™ devices are fully neutralized and rendered before each E2M2C™ device is opened in the lab.
Protecting the Public…
Protecting the public from risks associated with rodent-borne pathogens and ectoparasites focuses on the design parameters associated with our E2M2C™ devices. It is not possible to eliminate pathogen exposure for the public completely, simply because–within the typical outdoor environment in general–environmental pathogens are naturally endemic. However, the internal architecture of each E2M2C™ device specifically ensures that surfaces more likely to be contaminated with pathogens are not accessible unless the device is opened. The objective, then, is to prevent those devices from being opened by the public. Rigorous security measures are, therefore, employed with each of our devices to prevent unauthorized persons from opening them in the field, so pets as well as human adults and children cannot gain access to the interiors of any of our E2M2C™ devices without forcefully demolishing those security measures.
Stay Tuned…
Stay tuned for updates on the latest decisions made by EPA regarding new regulations on the use of rodenticides throughout the United States.
NTOI ELIMINATION, RODENTICIDE CHOICE TRENDS, & EXPANDING FAVORED FORMULATIONS
We constantly monitor rodenticide consumption in our E2M2C™ devices for evidence of choice trends regarding specific rodenticide formulations. Such evidence is difficult to tabulate, for a number of complicated reasons that add time to the process. Over the past two decades little evidence of choice trends had been noted; what was true in 2003, for example, held just as true in 2023. In 2024, that changed. One formulation in particular began to show definite reductions in consumption, compared to other formulations in the mix. This discovery led us to modify the mix of rodenticides by reinstatement of one formulation we’d ceased using years ago. That latter formulation was found to be rapidly compromised by non-target-organism-intruders (NTOI), such as ants, crickets, roaches, slugs and snails, reducing the effective life span of the typical E2M2C™ device placement interval.
NTOI Contamination & Control
NTOI contamination is one of the major causes of device dysfunction and rodenticide senescence. All species of silk-weaving spiders, for example, plaster the E2M2C™ device interiors with webbing, and the webs of some–black widows in particular–are so strong that they often prevent rodents from actually accessing the rodenticides. Yes, believe it or not, black widow spiders are able to construct such strong cobweb structures (in WW-II they were used in Norden bombsights because of their strength and durability) where they reside that they effectively obstruct pathways to an E2M2C™ device’s rodenticide stores. But black widows are not the only non-target organisms that reduce the effectiveness of rodenticide dispensing devices.
Crickets, Anerican and smoky brown roaches, and a long list of ant species actively consume the rodenticides and contaminate them with their feces. Terrestrial mollusks–slugs and snails–not only consume the rodenticides but also envelop them in a gooey slime that renders them unpalatable to rodents. Furthermore, the full range of observed NTOI love to use the E2M2C™ devices for nesting purposes, so wherever the devices are placed the local NTOI often congregate there.
Absent a separate means of eliminating NTOI activity in the E2M2C™ devices, provisioning them with rodenticide formulations favored by NTOI was asking for trouble. Realizing this, we ceased using those formulations that NTOI were noted to find especially tasty. We discovered, however, that the number of rodenticides NTOI were attracted to was quite large, to the point that unwise choices of rodenticides used in the E2M2C™ devices could make the devices unpalatable to rodents within days after placement. This discovery severely restricted the range of formulations we could use. At first, because the formulations available that NTOI tended to ignore happened to be those most favored by rodents, our concerns about NTOI were low in our priority list. Now, with at least one of those formulations appearing to fall from grace, we were led to search more energetically for a means of eliminating NTOI from the E2M2C™ devices altogether.
After much work and a long list of failures–somewhat mimicking Thomas Edison’s search for a good lightbulb filiment– we succeeded in that search in late 2024. Since then we’ve been treating all E2M2C™ devices with a special mixture of pesticides that keep all of the NTOI we’ve noted out of them. Some of our clients have commented since that this has had a positive effect on pest elimination inside their homes and stores. This finding adds weight to an earlier finding, decades ago, that effective pest management on the perimeters of homes and businesses (“effective” meaning one that eliminates true pests without negatively affecting beneficial organisms that prey on those pests) practically eliminates the need for pest management in the interiors of those venues.
Negative Trends Affecting Rodenticide Choice
Simultaneously, we became aware of indications that one of the rodenticide formulations we were using was being passed over by visiting rodents more often than in the past. Like humans, every rodent has a somewhat unique food preference, so none of the rodenticides we use is totally ignored, though some are consumed with greater gusto than others. The aforementioned formulation has been the mainstay of our rodenticide arsenal, primarily because–in times past–it “always” showed consumption by visiting rodents. Now that wasn’t happening so much. This did not make the E2M2C™ devices less functional, simply because we always provision them with at least three different rodenticide formulas. Even if one or two are passed over, the third usually gets taken. Still, reduced favorability of any rodenticide reduces the E2M2C™ devices’ effective placement interval, and we want that to be as long as possible.
Beginning on 1 February 2025 we began adding a 4th rodenticide formula to each E2M2C™ device. The three formulas previously included remain, along with the 4th, though the one showing reduced choice is now reduced from 2 to a single packet. The new formulation we’ve added is part of a family of rodenticides that is readily contaminated by certain NTOI, specifically fire ants. Though that family of rodenticides has a history of excellent acceptance by rodents, fire ant contamination had seriously reduced its life in the field. Now that we are addressing NTOI issues, effectively eliminating fire ant intrusions into the devices, we can resume using members of that rodenticide family. We’re anxious to see how the new formula is accepted over the next few months.
Positive Trends Affecting Rodenticide Choice
While we’re talking about d0wnward changes in rodenticide acceptance, we should also mention upward changes we’ve noticed. One of the three original rodenticide formulas had, until recently, shown no more than a mediocre acceptance rate. We continued to provision the E2M2C™ devices with it because–while it never seemed to be one that rodents were “wild” about–it still loped along with an acceptable rate of consumption. During 2024 we noted a positive uptick in consumption of that formulation. I’ve queried the manufacturer to see if they’ve changed anything that might account for that change, but they claim no modifications have been made. Inexplicable changes in rodent tastes may be the deciding factor. We are glad to see this uptick, as we consider that formula to be a “Goldilocks” rodenticide–i.e., one that is just right–because it is highly lethal to rodents, but carries a very low risk of secondary poisoning.
We’ll discuss more on this subject soon…
THE HANTAVIRUS THAT KILLED GENE HACKMAN’S WIFE
The tragic demise of Gene Hackman and his wife that recently hit the news began as a compelling mystery. The mysterious causes of these deaths have now been revealed, with Gene’s linked to heart disease, and his wife’s linked to respiratory failure caused by a hantavirus infection. The implication is that, except for the timing, both deaths appear to have been caused by remarkably different etiologies. Those knowledgeable about hantavirus infections, and the fact they are almost always associated with rodent infestations, will immediately recognize the possibility that both deaths stemmed at least partially from a common source. I am presently preparing a paper on this which will be posted here before long.
Stay safe,
Jerry