Large Scale Central

I hate 'em

General Discussion
#1

Looking at some of the layouts pictured here , I can’t help but wonder how many of them harbour SPIDERS .
!!!AArgh!!!
I hate them , to the point of abject terror at times (ever since I got chased by a BIG one whilst exploring old Jap
bunkers in the Far East)
I keep my stuff spider free as much as possible by liberal use of powerful insecticides sprayed into buildings about to be picked up . I also use chestnut oil on buildings before siting them . This does seem to work , but there is always the thought at the back of my mind that there may be one lurking , being immune to the stuff .
So what’s the worst thing you’ve encountered ?

Mike

#2

Roosters.
Truthfulley I would have to say ants. They climb all over my tracks and then end up getting run over making my tracks dirty. We also have the gypsy months they can be a pain in the A*# but they usually have a 7 year cycle so only deal with them every few years. As for spiders you should welcome them. They eat all the other bad bugs that invade and damage the plants on the RR. Spiders are harmless and dont kill plants like the bugs they eat. They are always welcomed on my layout.

#3

Mike,
Spiders are plentiful here. But don’t bother me…
One evening I did come across an 8 foot long King snake making himself at home on the GRR :open_mouth:
Ralph

#4

Wasps!! They build condominiums inside some buildings…

#5

All of my buildings get inhabited by spiders under neath and wasps inside.
I usually don’t mess with the spiders: these are those big “wolf” spiders, Mike. :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
But those pesky wasps get the boot.

I have more trouble with a friggin vine on my neighbor’s fence. It grows about a foot a day and is constantly crossing one of my mainlines.
If I forget to go over there everyday and yank it, I have a derail, big time.

#6

oddest critters I came across cleaning around the old outdoor layout were Salamanders, which was odd because there was no water elements for them to live in

#7

(http://www.bloodsprayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/kuching-giant-spider-bako.jpg)

There are times I am very glad I don’t live “down under” :open_mouth:

(http://ericndaniels.com/Demotivate/full/giant-spider.jpg)

#8

The spiders on my railroad are somewhat reclusive (fortunately not “brown recluse”), so I tend to let them be. I do wash out their webs when I water the railroad, though, so I’m sure if they knew it was me, they may have a differing opinion. Doesn’t mean I don’t get creepy feelings around them–especially the big ones–but “out of sight, out of mind.” I do have a resident garter snake who’s now just over 18" long who likes to scare the willies out of me every now and then. I don’t mind the snake, but the surprises I could do without.

Later,

K

#9

If the spiders leave me alone, I leave them alone… they eat BUGS! bitey bugs, crawly bugs, stinging bugs, and plant munching bugs…

Kim says as long as they are outside, they’re fine… if they come inside their butts are smooshed.

Whatever happened to those big old black and yellow garden spiders? I don’t think I’ve seen one in 15 years.

#10

When I took the lid off “The Vault” last weekend to blow wither debris from my tunnel, there was a very large (dime size body is large here) black spider quite at home on the underside of the lid along with some much smaller ones. Sorry to say that I did not let them live.

My biggest pests are squirrels digging for acorns that they buried or that ended up buried by nature.

#11

SNAKES, I hate snakes. But there are really on three types that I really hate.

Live ones.

Dead ones.

And sticks that look like snakes.

I don’t even like rubber snakes, and the only thing I hate worse than snakes are snake lovers. I figure if you kill the one, you’ll get rid of the other. You figure which is the one and which is the other. :wink:

#12

I hate prejudiced people. :wink:

#13

Australia, home of the cuddly Koala, the annoying Kookaburra, the boinging kangaroo, the wobbly wallaby and all ten of the world’s most venomous insects.

That’s right, of all ten of the most poisonous creatures on the planet, all ten live in Australia.

Even more live around the ege - the stonefish and the box jellyfish. There was disturbing TV newsreel of a young man who had been rendered unconscious by paramedics who was STILL screaming his head off with pain from the box jelly fish stings.

A cute and fuzzy-looking pink caterpillar will give you a jolt that might, if you slightly under the weather, drop you dead in less than five seconds, and a spider the size of a collar stud, that eats other creatures near the same size, delivers enough venon in one bite to slay a healthy hippo - about one hundred million times it own body weight.

tac

#14

My wife’s free ranging chickens. They like to scratch for critters near and on the track. It doesn’t seem to help the ballast, much.

For critters inside buildings, I’ve found that citronella oil soaked into a cotton ball and placed inside the building works for a month or two. Then I just refresh the oil.

#15

On one of my previous ground level layouts , we used to get a visiting cat who thought nothing of using wooden buildings as a scratch post . When he saw me coming , the little swine would rush off and hide in a tunnel , probably sniggering nastily , and thinking fondly of the crap pile he’d left , hopelessly out of scale somewhere where I would tread in it .
One fine day , observing the smug little bastard run into his favourite tunnel , I got my Megger out , connected it across the rails and wound it like a madman . Hah , he got the message alright , disappearing in a shower of ballast scratched up where he got wheel spin accelerating away .
The noise alone would have worked , Meggers are noisy , like a loud rechargeable torch .
After that , he used to slink past the bottom of my garden hoping that I wouldn’t see him . Occasionally I would remind him by winding the
Megger , causing a vertical takeoff that would make an astronaut envious .

ps , for those untutored souls who do not know what a Megger is , it is a device for checking cable insulation at about 500 volts , but low current , so not lethal . Pity really .

No animals were harmed in the making of this commercial .

Mike

#16
tac Foley said:
... the size of a collar stud ...
Ye gods, there's a blast from the past ... yes, they were part of my school uniform in the '60s ... we changed our dress shirts once or twice a week, but the collars daily ... do I miss starched collars? NO (and I don't wear a tie if I can avoid it)
#17

I also have a severe ant problem so I picked up a jar of Boric Acid at the pharmacy (no prescription required. I’m not sure if it kills them or repluses them, but they are GON*E! Of course after a rain they seem to come back, so I sprinkle a little more. A jar the size of vitamins has lasted a couple of years.

#18

I don’t mind snakes but respect them, spiders don’t bother me much and are good until they get baseball size or larger and hairy with multiple eyes…don’t care much for large centipedes/millipedes either especially fast ones.
Had a bat colony in my attic for years and they didn’t bother me much as they are good as well but when 7 of them (not all at once) made it into the living quarters one year that was enough, especially at 3am and the cat is going wacko…now I’m mad and war has begun. Learned a lot about brown bats that year and how to move them on. Good thing centipede parents don’t have to put shoes on their off spring…

#19

Lou…garlic works as well for ants. We have an ant problem each fall…they are trying to get into the house for the winter I suppose. A little garlic at the doorways etc. seems to keep them out.

#20

And it works on vampyres .