NEED SUGGESTIONS ON CONTROLLING SPIDERS IN TRAIN ROOM. I BUILT A HOUSE 1 1/2 YEARS AGO. MY LAYOUT WILL BE IN THE BASEMENT, THE ROOM IS ABOUT 28X31 THE WALLS ARE FINISHED AND IT HAS A DROP CEILING, THE FLOOR IS STILL CONCRETE. I WILL BE STARTING LAYOUT CONSTRUCTION THIS FALL, THE PROBLEM I FOUND IS ABOUT EVERY MONTH OR SO I HAVE TO GET RID OF SPIDERS AND WEBS, WHICH IS NOT A BIG PROBLEM IN AN EMPTY ROOM. ONCE I COMPLETE THE LAYOUT THIS WILL BECOME A MAJOR PROBLEM . WOULD APPRECIATE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON SPIDER CONTROL. ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION MY HOME IS IN SOUTHWEST OHIO. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY SUGGESTIONS AND HELP
RANDY
there is a rather effective product called spider-not. it comes in aerosol cans and you can find it on the web. just google spider-not. it has worked for me for years.
grizlump
hey randy, me again. i don't know where you live but if there are any hedge trees in your area you might try gathering up a few of those big green balls and lay them around on the floor. i put several in my garage each year and we never see any bugs in there at all. of course, if you get rid of the bugs, then the spiders seem to go away for lack of food.
insects etc. can be entertaining. years ago i had the cab doors open on a couple of P2K passenger engines and when the train went by, a bug bailed off the second unit and started across the tracks only to get cut in half by a freight train going by on the other main. never did hear from his lawyer.
Spider-not sounds great and its atributes sound simliar to what is recomended. The only problem I have is that if it so good they would be able to find retailers willing to sell it off the shelf. Just my parinoya.
John
Monkey balls. At least that's what we called them. They are green and bumpy, about the size of a softball. I think they're actually called Osage Oranges. We used to put one behind the furniture when I was a kid. Two in every room to keep the creepy crawlies away. We had a problem with black widows and these kept them away, whether directly or indirectly by keeping other bugs away.
Learn to appreciate the service spiders provide you by keeping the insect population in check. If spiders couldn't earn their living in your layout room, they would move out.
Mark
What ever you do don't look up Monkey Balls on Google.
Now the Osage Orange explanation come up and is easy to find.
markpierce Learn to appreciate the service spiders provide you by keeping the insect population in check. If spiders couldn't earn their living in your layout room, they would move out. Mark
Yep! Spiders are the symptom. You get rid of them then you'll only have other creepy crawlies to contend with. What is the point of entry?
grizlump9when the train went by, a bug bailed off the second unit and started across the tracks only to get cut in half by a freight train going by on the other main.
Stop-look-listen.
Any time is train time.
If you wish to get rid of the spiders, you will have to contend possibly with other pests...unless you treat all the arachnids and insects in such a way to get rid of them, and seal their usual access to the home, that they disappear forever. The problem is they come in on you half the time if you are a gardener. They sliip under siding, between gaps in weather stripping on the doors, climb up conduits and pipes and come in via the sofit and gable vents. The come in on clothing hung out to dry.
If you do manage to seal the accesses, and then do a prophylatic process to get rid of all things that go squeek in the night, be sure to repeat the process within 2 weeks....by which time eggs may have hatched. Or the ones you missed the first time will have stretched their legs and are foraging freely on their own.
Raid makes a three-canister fumigator that is called, oddly enough, Raid Fumigator. Comes in a small blue box. They are available widely except where prohibited by law. Check Wally's. I use them every mid-August when the crickets are the biggest and most active, and when their predators, the household spiders are also on the hunt.
Statistically, you are never more than three feet from a spider. In my house, closer to 14".
Two things I have heard of:
1. Get rid of the food source, they will leave for better hunting grounds. Regular use of standard bug spray should head you in the right direction.
2. Keep their webs swept away. They will get sick of building over and over, thus will go elsewhere. Since you have a little time, I'd try for twice a week and see if you make progress.
Good luck,
RBOLIN2828NEED SUGGESTIONS ON CONTROLLING SPIDERS IN TRAIN ROOM.
And don't forget to change their address from '3'...
You gotta get rid of all the bugs, spiders are actually the least desctructive varmints (though you should see the lil' buggers that come up from MY basement...the legs can be from to 2 to 3 inches from tip to tip).
Diatomaceous earth has been shown to kill spiders and other insects as it clogs their lungs. Just be suspicious of aracnids in bio hazard gear.....
I agree with selector about the Raid Fumigators. As I live in a small semi rural northern California town spiders are a given. I just did one of the Raid Fumigators in the train room/garage yesterday and have been removing spider webs today. Getting webs off of all the trees is what's really fun, Not! We seem to have to remove some spiders every day from the house also. Don't get me started on the dust. I believe someone on this forum once said, dust is not weathering. Though a very large long legged spider hanging over a tunnel portal does look kind of cool. Like a 50's B horror movie. Ken
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.
Spiders are a pest and removing cob webs from trees on the layout is no fun, but remember, whatever you do, you will not be able to get rid of the spiders. They will always be there, waiting for you ...
Seriously, unless you or any of your relatives suffer from a bad case of arachnophobie, you should not even attempt to battle them. Forget all those pest control aerosols - they do more harm to you than to the pest. Just learn to live with the spiders - and try to keep the area as clean as possible.
duckdoddger;
Spiders are not insects. Insects and spiders do not have lungs, just tubes that let oxygen travel to the cells in their bodies. Spiders and insects are both bugs though. An on a N-scale layout they are very noticeable.
sir madog:
We also have two species of very poisonous spiders the brown recluse and the black widow. I really don't want to be bit by one when working on or under the layout.
And we all thought that model railroading was just about running trains. LOL