Hi,
Recently I built and planted some super trees on my layout and a few days afterwards I noticed that several of them were cut to pieces and a some clues left behind. Living in north Florida we are no stranger to insects but I never encountered this before. The armatures were straightened and painted. Spray adhesive applied and then coarse turf added with a touch of paint randomly sprayed. Has anyone ever had any experiences insects damaging your scenery and what did you do about it?
HO Scale beavers?
Sorry couldn’t help myself. That’s a new one on me.
Is there a cat in the vicinity?
Are the suspected insects giant palmetto bugs or grasshoppers or trantulas (yes, yes, not insects but close enough) or something? Super trees are not very small, and I don’t think aphids or mites would knock one down.
Or are mice considered insects nowadays…
I think I’d set up a trail cam. [:-^]
Mike.
Mike is as bad as I am.
Well, maybe. My HO scale beavers always seem to be cutting down the same tree.
Maybe it was installing NEW trees that attracted them?
Fellow Floridian here.
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Raid Max Roach Baits are your friend. The big ones. Hide them in all your tunnels. They will last for years.
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I have heard several stories about people mixing Borax with the plaster to thwart the nasty Palmetto.
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I have never tried the Borax because of the tremendous success with the baits.
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Always keep one mouse trap and one rat trap baited and armed along the wall.
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-Kevin
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I suggest traps also.
Mike,
Your Beaver pond scenery is fantastic! I want to do a similar scene in the future. Thanks for the idea. Kudos!
Scott.
Ditto!!
Dave
Scott,
I appreciate Dave and yours kind comments. That’s my $3 beaver pond, as that’s what the resin moldings cost me buying it from the Illini Railroad Club’s odds and ends table at last year’s Lincoln Square Train Show. It’s a Musket Miniatures Rustic Rails HOC3886 kit. Never seen one before, but maybe one can be turned up at the usual sources.
Here’s a few more pics of the beaver pond.
I cut a hole in the existing river to fit the pond casting.
The pond and lodge casting, which is separate from the pond so you can position it as needed. You also get 3 beaver castings.
Fitted in place, I used Sculptamold to blend the pond into the riverbed.
Then some painting and highlighting for tthe scenery base as seen in this overhead shot.
Then I mixed up some “water” and poured it on carefully to blend the “wet” together.
Could it be a mouse looking for nesting material?
I have a spider problem i cannt solve
Put the lights in your train room on a timer, set to come on and off at random times. Run those roaches/palmetto bugs to death!
A friend of mine lost an entirely “forested” mountain over the course of a couple of days to an invasion of mice in his basement. He knew it was mice because of the unmistakable evidence of the mouse digestive process that was visible everywhere. Evidently his two big dogs just yawned while watching the feast. He never actually saw mice until he put down traps. Problem: we kept stepping into the traps during operating sessions.
Sticky traps of the sorts used not just to catch mice but also insects and scorpions might at least tell you what enemy you are hosting on the layout. My only experience with insects on the layout (other than pillbugs and spiders both of which I regard as honorary insects) were rather tiny things which seemed to enjoy an unusually slow-to-dry batch of Sculptamold I had slapped down. I am told some guys add some Lysol to their Sculptamold to not only deter mold but to make it unpalatable. Supposedly open boxes of fresh Borax deter spiders and some insects.
Dave Nelson
I had a Chipmunk in my basement caught him that evening, they love peanut butter. I also cant get rid of spiders mine are cellar dweller spiders harmless just dont like them. I have no use for any creature with more than 4 legs.
Known as daddy long legs, in this part of the country. They actually eat other pest, like centipedes, and other spiders.
Mike.
Your significant other will probably grant permission, even be enthusiastic, for a professional insect-prevention service. The ex wife and now the GF freak over bugs.
For mice, don’t get those poison traps. They run off and die between the walls and stink for a couple of weeks because you can’t get them out.
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I agree. The good old spring traps by Victor work the best for me.
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-Kevin
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Alsways been my thoughts on mouse traps too. GF wanted to put poisen bait out when it became obvious we had mice, coming in via the chimney and then runnign around the wall and hoarding stuff under the oven (it became obvious when things burst into flames while trying to bake something). For one, we have 3 dogs who can be very determined if they smell soemthign that might taste good, and second, if they take the bait, they will then be dead and decaying somewhere in the walls. Dumb idea. I found a new take on the classic spring track, these are little plastic boxes that contain the spring mechanism, so when the trap is srpung and there’s a now dead mouse inside, you can jus tpick up the whole thing and dump it in the trash, never getting near the dead critter.
I hate sticky traps too, simply because of how horrific they are. It’s oen thing is all they are doing is catchin insects, but a mouse or rat trapped in one dies a horrible death. Rather just have the spring trap snap its neck and end it instantly.
Same dogs compeltely ignored the mice making their runs from the fireplace in the living room around to the kitchen and back. Cat wasn’t much better, it was weeks in when in the moddle of the night we were woken up to the squeals of a mouse in distress. Cat was playing with it, chasing it up and down the hall, catch and release. Never killed it, just got bored and let it run away.
I get field mice and voles in the pool all the time, they fall in and then keep swimming until they tire out and drown. Generally overnight. I did find oen still trying to stay up one mornign but the thing did everythign it could to avoid the net I was trying to fish it out with. They can swim pretty fast. I finally got it out and put it in the grass, it was still breathing but too exhaused to move. Dunno if it ever got away or if one of the hawks spotted it and got an easy meal.
&nbs
Actually, I have a rodent problem but not involving trains. Rodents are the wiring in my car. Fortunately, insurance is covering it,