When I read the first part of your statement, I thought you meant to use on those bozos who set bottle and cans on a finished layout- if the water hitting 'em doesn't do the trick, toss the water bottle at 'em. OK, OK, I'm only kidding........as for snow, I used to live in a state that relied on the sun to come up in the morning to melt the stuff (Texas). Anything over an inch or two shut the place down. Where I was born, anything under 6 inches was a light dusting. And I type this, we're getting about an inch of snow on the ground now (not enough to even build a decent snow midget). Spray bottles w/water and detergent are also good for shooing stray cats off of layouts and rapidly out of the layout room, but that's another thread......
Cats? LOL I do have a constant mouse problem. Sticky tape does wonders though. LOL I am seriously thinking of putting those things you plug in the wall socket and it sends some kind of pulse throughout the building and keeps bugs/mice away. Anyone use those?
4 to 11 inches of snow is childs play around here. Heck, we are expecting 3 to 7 inches of snowfall today so my wife and myself went out to the movies. lol Craig
Freezing rain and ice are starting to move into this area. Talking about maybe losing power to downed lines. Luckily got the gas heater going and some fire logs ready for the fireplace if necessary. Sounds like good weather to work on some modeling.
Yeah. Of mice, trains, and men: I have a dedicated trainroom with no mice (or cats) allowed, but the fully covered/enclosed 14-track staging yard in the garage has been known to attract little critters who decided to make a lint nest right on the lead between op sessions. Good thing I run with sound..... They also like to chew on wire insulation, a disaster in the making. I do need to have op sessions more often to keep the rascals out. Meanwhile, there are some good poisons and sticky traps out there... Regards, Otto
There is a great range of effectiveness (or not) for those things. The brand I used before no longer exists but was perfect in an apartment that was in a building that harbored a lot of critters. It was ultrasonic only IIRC. Expect these things to clear mice out in a week. Roaches may take a couple months for any eggs to hatch out. Then no more unwanted visitors. You should (continue to) set out some traps for a week because mice (and varmints) will be driven out of hiding. There's electromagnetic and ultrasonic types and combos. I'd vote for combos. And with the size of your room, you'll need more than one unit, maybe including one up high. The repellent only works inside; you'll still find varmints hanging around the outside walls of the building. So if you are prone to open the doors for a while, some of them will still wander in and hang around for a while.
We live in a townhome, and have a serious chipmunk issue in one of the shared walls between units. We bought four of those pulse things for the first floor, as the instructions say you need them in multiple areas to keep the frequency strong. Still doesn't work. It's been better (knock on wood), but I'm going off the fact that I've gone through three packs of DeCon probably being the more likely reason. I keep hoping the hawk that's ben hanging out in the back yard starts earning his salary. Matt "I've probably killed off all the rodents in a five mile radius" Jacobs
I work in the TV business (duh) and happen to work on a gardening call in show (Backyard Farmer -- the longest running localy produced television show in the world -- 58 years. You can watch on the internet.) Anyway, our "critter expert" a PHD, laughs at any of those devices... says there's never been a study that shows they do a thing. He always recommends traps.
Jerry, my wife at least feels better with the goofy things plugged into the wall. If that's any consulation.
Here's my problem....most of the time I am down there I have my weiner dogs with me. So thats one reason I dont use poison. The only damage mice do is on the layout (Eating trees/bushes) so I lay those sticky strips around the layout, which works great. I could probably get those traps that they go in and dont come out. Weiners will get on those sticky traps if I lay them on the floor. Garage layouts are really a pain! LOL
Cat's! That's what you need. They only knock down the trees, tear up the buildings, wipe out the bridges, sleep in the tunnels or on top of the trains in the hidden staging yard and at times chase those slinky, slimmy looking trains around the layout. Real rail fans...they are. I guarantee you there are no rodents. Grin! The raccoons, that used to hang out here have found homes elsewhere...thankfully. The answer to these issues isn't easy.
I will say the WORST intruder was an owl that decided to make the rafters home. It did a few 'bombing' runs on the layout and that was a mess to clean up. Luckily he missed anything important like engines and cars! LOL Took a fishing net to finally get him out.
