We tested repellency of a high polymer absorber containing acetic acid and isovaleric acid to cats by adding citral to the absorber to prevent odors offensive to people. We evaluated the efficacy on free-roaming cats by comparing the absorber including citral (CITRT) with that excluding citral (NON-CITRT) in four temples of Onomichi City. We observed intrusion and defecation of cats in the temples for four consecutive months in a NON-CITRT phase, a control phase, a dummy phase, and a CITRT phase. CITRT showed some repellency to cats, but the efficacy was less stable than with NON-CITRT. We need to improve the repellency of the absorber by changing the mixing ratio of citral.

The Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), frequently contaminates cup-packaged instant noodle products. Such products consist of dried food materials, noodles, vegetables, meats, and soup powder. The larvae living in the cup can feed on those dried materials. In some cases, larvae may switch and feed on the best materials affecting their development and survival. We investigated the effects of those materials on the larval developmental period and emergence at 25°C, 70％ RH, and 16L8D. In the present experiments, the dried food materials and their combinations were as follows: cabbage+green onion+corn+meat+noodles (whole product); cabbage+green onion+corn+meat; cabbage+green onion+corn; corn; meat; and noodles. The mean developmental period for whole products was 37.7± 0.8 days (mean±SE, n＝40). There were no significant differences in developmental period among whole products, cabbage+green onion+corn (38.7± 0.6 days, n＝50), corn (35.3±0.5 days, n＝50), and noodles (39.7±1.2 days, n＝50). The shortest mean developmental period was for cabbage+green onion+corn+meat (28.1±0.3 days, n＝50), and the longest was for meat (50.2±1.8 days, n＝40). The emergence rate on meat was lowest (14％, n＝50); that on cabbage+green onion+corn+meat was highest (92％, n＝50). The above results suggest that larvae did not switch to multiple food materials constituting the whole product, while better combinations of food materials for larvae development exist in the whole products.

Forty-one lifeless cockroaches collected on a road in Minato-ku, Tokyo, from December 2011 through March 2016 were examined. The majority of the cockroaches were identified as Periplaneta fuliginosa, and one sample was P. americana. Thirty-five out of 41 specimens were found dead. The cockroaches are inclined to wander onto roads at night in the warm season and are crushed to death.

We investigated where roof rats died from anticoagulant rodenticides in a restaurant in a building. We found two carcasses around commercial kitchen equipment and one on a ceiling when the restaurant was repaired in 2015. The other five carcasses were found on the ceiling during our regular inspection for eight years from 2007 to 2015. Therefore, nine out of 11 rats in total died on the ceiling, a detectable place.