Why Are Ants Invading My Laptop and How Can I Stop Them?

[Panthera Leo]

Hello,

A colony of Ants attacked my External Hard Disc (I couldn't find any source of food in it) After removing the Hard Disc from the desk (i.e. the attacked place). The Ants began attacking my Laptop.

By colony I mean a tremendous number of Ants.

Please note that I am living in Thailand and there are plenty of small and medium-sized Ants here.

I will highly appreciate your guidance and comments in solving this disastrous problem.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Q_Goest]

Hi Panthera,
I'm no ant expert, but I know they follow a chemical trail, so I suspect they're finding their way to your computer along a single 'ant road'. You can wash the 'road' away with soap and water. Then put an ant trap on the road. Happy hunting!

 

[Proton Soup]

if you have found where they are coming from, then a dusting of boric acid will poison them without poisoning you.

some baits are highly effective too, and will kill the queen when they return the food to the nest.

i can't imagine why they are attracted to the computer equipment unless you've dropped some food on it.

 

[Borek]

I recall reading that some species are attracted to some types of plastic.

There was a story of cars that were exported from some more northern country to tropics, where ants (or were these termites?) immobilized them eating plastic isolation from cables.

 

[Panthera Leo]

You can wash the 'road' away with soap and water. Then put an ant trap on the road.

I have already tried water and soap but it's of no use!

I have covered the area with salt...! It seems to work the Ants are not entering anymore but they are not leaving my Hard disc nor my Laptop.

Thank you for your kind reply.

 

[Panthera Leo]

I recall reading that some species are attracted to some types of plastic.

There was a story of cars that were exported from some more northern country to tropics, where ants (or were these termites?) immobilized them eating plastic isolation from cables.

This sounds really DANGEROUS...

This might be the case because Ants are entering my Laptop from USB ports!

What did the car manufacturers do to solve this problem?

 

[Borek]

From what I remember they used different formulation of plastic for isolation. Nothing that you can do on your own.

 

[BlueEvent]

We had ants invade a large paper shredder. It kept going off by itself, as if someone were shredding small papers. Upon inspection, we saw many ants climbing in and out, and occasionally triggering the shredder. When we turned the shredder off and left it off for awhile, the ants abandoned it. I thought it was about the small heat generated by the machine being left on and ready, but maybe it was the plastic, or both. We treated for ants and they have not reinfested the machine. But think of it, self-shredding ants!

 

[Dream Lad]

You could wrap your external hard drive in plastic moisture-tight put it in the freezer. I tried this with my wireless router once after hearing about it on a tech podcast.

 

[Panthera Leo]

We had ants invade a large paper shredder. It kept going off by itself, as if someone were shredding small papers. Upon inspection, we saw many ants climbing in and out, and occasionally triggering the shredder. When we turned the shredder off and left it off for awhile, the ants abandoned it. I thought it was about the small heat generated by the machine being left on and ready, but maybe it was the plastic, or both. We treated for ants and they have not reinfested the machine. But think of it, self-shredding ants!

Wow...! That is a mass ANT Suicide, They were probably the depressed ones of the colony!

You could wrap your external hard drive in plastic moisture-tight put it in the freezer. I tried this with my wireless router once after hearing about it on a tech podcast.

At the moment my mother has used "Calamine" which is an Antipruritic cream (Against bug bite), and the number of Ants has highly reduced I guess its due to the smell.

Thanks for your contributions

 

[FtlIsAwesome]

I have covered the area with salt...! It seems to work the Ants are not entering anymore but they are not leaving my Hard disc nor my Laptop.

Isn't cinnamon powder a strong ant deterrent? Try that.

I recall reading that some species are attracted to some types of plastic.

Let's hope that they don't learn how to eat metal.

But think of it, self-shredding ants!

The best kind.

 

[Simfish]

LOL I asked the EXACT SAME QUESTION on reddit.

Too bad it didn't generate many interesting replies though. They told me not to worry.

 

[Panthera Leo]

LOL I asked the EXACT SAME QUESTION on reddit.

Too bad it didn't generate many interesting replies though. They told me not to worry.

LOL

So, What did you did with your computer to stop Ants EATING it..?

 

[Insanity]

Isn't cinnamon powder a strong ant deterrent? Try that.

I have used cinnamon powder as an ant deterrent and it does work. They will avoid contact with it, and you can create a barrier they will not cross, unless they are in panic mode.