Every day when I go into the train room I have to remove the cob webs. Is there an answer to this? Has anyone ever used bug bombs in the train room? Will I need to cover the layout, if so will the chemical get into the layout under the cover and do the job? They are real bad insine the treatle where they are very difficult to remove. They are also bad inside the tunnels, when I first run the trains, I have to stop the trains after they come out of the tunnels and clean the webs from the front of the loco. Any good advice? Mike
Mike,
The spiders like damp places. How wet is your basement? If you don’t already have one, a dehumidifier would be a good start. Even so, I do get the occasional cob web “hammocked” in one of my trees.
Tom
I’d try fly paper strips and some ant traps. The spiders are there because there’s a food supply. If you can cut out the rest of the flying and crawling things, the spiders will realize they’re getting hungry and move up to your kitchen.
Mike,
I’ve used bug bombs but not in a layout room. However, on the few I’ve used they all say to put your silverware under cover.
It may tarnish your track so plan on either taping the rails or cleaning them after using the bug bomb.
If you use one be sure to keep the spray directed away from the layout. I did our 24’ travel trailer because of ants. I set the can on the table with a newspaper underneith to protect the table but the spray shot up to the plastic cover on the A/C unit on the ceiling causing it to turn yellow.
Bill
My train room is in the back yard in a room all to itself, but because of the rains we have had this summer, the humidity is very high everwhere. I can’t even walk around outside the house without running into them. I like to leave the train room door open a lot of the time because it gets so stale in there without some air moving. Thanks. Mike
I have used them several times. You need to get the brand Hot Shot that states on the box “no mess”. I have never had a problem with anything on the layout after using this kind.
Ha, I wish I knew. Sometimes I don’t even notice them until I get a picture, then they stick out like a sore thumb.
The few guys I spot in my train room are always underneath the benchwork. Always a surprise when I climb under for some work there.
Be glad you don’t live in Alabama. I get beetles the size of Sherman tanks. No kidding. [:)] I had one get on the tracks when I wasn’t looking and it derailed the train and sent a brand new SDP-35 straight to the floor. Luckily, it was fixable, but that was one beetle that made it into bug heaven early. [}:)]
This might be an unorthodox solution but chameleons love to eat spiders and bugs of just about every description. They are native down here and I caught a few and they now live in the basement. They don’t cause any problems with the layout because they are shy and will hide as soon as they hear you. Haven’t seen a beetle or a spider since my chameleon buddies have been at work. They’re kind of cute too. [:D]
A solution for clearing your tunnels could be a clearance car. I’ve seen models of these. They have flexible “fingers” mounting on a frame at the front of a flat car or gon. On the prototype, these are used to make sure there are no obstructions within the clearance gauge that the railroad specifies. Sounds like it could take out the webs, if you pushed it ahead of a loco.
On the bug bombs, if the one mentioned that is “no mess” works, be sure and get it. Most bug bombs put out a fog that can affect plastics, as well as coat your track.
Bug bombs can also cause an EXPLOSION if not used with care. Read the instructions carefully, but they usually require that all pilot lights to gas appliances or any other source of flame be extinguished before you use them. Don’t ruin your layout by blowing up the house around it!
Mike, arachnids are durable little critters and it takes special insecticides to git’em; I do not recall ever seeing a bug bomb designed to kill spiders - they may be out there; I just have never seen one. They do make sprays which are designated as spider git’ers but they are relatively thick and leave a residue.
The reason you are having a problem this summer is because the rain has spawned a lot of food and that food source is allowing a lot of spiders to survive. I never kill a Black Widow unless I encounter it in a place where I am likely to stumble into it; instead I break down their webs and in about four days I have my neighbor yelling "WHERE IN THE ‘AITCH’ ARE ALL THE BLACK WIDOWS COMING FROM?’ A spider that is having to build a web is a spider that can’t catch prey and that leads to hunger and they will take their web building activity somewhere else. Make a concentrated daily effort at breaking down webs whereever you find them and shortly they will catch a train to healthier climes.
Get yourself one of these dust sticks that looks like a stick of cotton candy. Dust around the outside of your train building; dust around the baseboards inside your train building; dust against the ceiling; - you can use a broom for these three; dust under the layout; dust on top of the layout. I will guarantee you they will go other places. Keep in mind that that location may be your house and you’ll have to do the same thing there. You are going to have make this a frequent chore but you will never keep them away by spraying.
I had em bad! I use water based foggers. (point them away from your layout) Shouldn’t have to cover it. I use Ortho Home Defence to spray a perimeter around the room on the floor. If your in a basement you can spray this up in the rafters too. (and under your bench work) I was getting a bunch in my hard shell mountains. A couple handfuls of mothballs inside took care of that. I HATE BUGS!!![:(!]
I do this little routine every two months and have no problems anymore.
Raid markets fogging bombs available at Wal Mart. Three bomblets per package and the box is blue IIR. They leave no residue, and your layout will not know the difference.
BTW, these are made in Canada, but cannot be sold here due to government regs. So, you get 'em, and my Dad, a snowbird, brings me some every year.
Spiders are not immune to the Raid bombs. Some cellar spiders, the ones like Daddy Longlegs but that have the long thin body, can withstand the poison, but it makes them sick. All other spiders are vacuumable within four hours of application.
Since there is no place for spiders to apply cobwebs, I’m spider free. I have on occasion found a spider in the rollaway cart used for storing magazines though. I once saw a friends layout that had a few cobwebs down main street, as if an HO scale Dr. Octopus was throwing pedestrians at an HO scale Spiderman. If you have seen the movies, it would make sense. All you would have to do is put a pedestrian in a web or two and you have the aftermath of a scale Spiderman.
Spiderman, Spiderman, gets webs all over the place,
on the front, of my trains, very, annoying…
I also saw a movie in which someone shot a Bugbomb with a rifle causing the floor to explode.