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Get ants off your keyboard
I am writing this with the bitter experience of having my laptop infested by fire ants for more than a week despite me trying several cleaning methods—some of which by now I’ve known are quite risky and would have damaged the machine (remember we talked in the past about the right way to clean computer keyboards, which does not include fluids!).
So how did it attract ants in the first place? Well, when I used to work in an office I was a big fan of eating at the desk—a seriously bad habit I tell ya—and the cleaners hated me for it because when they came they’d pay special attention to getting all sorts of crumbs aside from dirt and hair from my keyboard.
But not once did ants get to join in the fray.
Now I’m working from home and continued with the merry habit of snacking while in front of the laptop, and one day I was munching on my favourite M&Ms.
I thought “no harm, no foul” as I was holding on to the wrapper to push it towards my mouth with the candy in it instead of dipping into it by hand.
There were no obvious traces of crumbs either so I patted myself on the back for a job well done.
Or not. A few hours later just before I wrapped up work one day an ant came treading by, followed by a pair several minutes later.
How cute, I thought. They must have thought this was the way to the colony, but how can they build a colony inside an electronic gadget?
Are they not disturbed with someone tapping the keys for hours and don’t they get fried from the electricity inside? So there’s no way they could take house inside my laptop, I thought.
Wrong. The next day there’s already a steady line of ants streaming underneath the “enter” key which is the widest, at the same time not-so-often tapped key.
The number one culprit in my situation is food crumbs of course and even if you don’t see them when you look around your work space, they may be too tiny and scattered for your eyes to see as ‘food’ material, but to an ant’s well-tuned senses, these may as well be screaming “food!” and have neon lights plastered all over them.
And yes, during that time it had been raining for several days which made them more likely to get inside houses to seek shelter and food.
Ants love small protected holes and cavities, including the ports and crevices within keyboards, mobile phones and other electronic appliances because all of these provide a space where they can’t be vacuumed, stepped on or swept away.
So I have their food from the crumbs I’ve been unknowingly scattering around, plus a warm and cosy nest underneath the keyboard and this makes it a perfect recipe for an ant invasion.
So what did I do to get them off? I thought, if I wipe them everytime they get on surely they’d get tired and just move somewhere else?
Well unlike humans they don’t have a sense of shame, so everytime I kill some more simply pop out from nowhere and take their place.
I tried sweeping them away as far as I can see the trail but they only created another trail, still ending up at my keyboard. By then I’ve already stopped eating in front of the laptop but it seems it’s already too late, they’ve already made a home out of my two-month-old device.
By this time certain keys were already getting too soft to be typed on and had frayed edges.
No way I was gonna let them ruin 500 quid worth of my time and effort so something had to be done!
First I gave the laptop a thorough cleaning before taking it back to the shop to have the entire keyboard replaced, now this is what I’ve actually been avoiding because I haven’t got the time but it’s the price I had to pay for my slovenly ways. Durable Laptop Cleaning Kit in
Protective Case
Once the laptop got sorted I cleaned the entire room and never, ever ate anywhere near the laptop is, and until now we still have a cordial relationship.
