Ants In My Computer?!??
This is not an april fools joke, I am serious, there are ants coming out of my keyboard.
not en masse, but I've got about 6 so far, and there seems to be more every time I leave the Pbook unattended for a few hours.
Could this be fatal for the computer in anyway? what if I squish one while typing? what could they possibly be after? and why was I foolish enough to let it get there in the first place? and how can I clean under the keyboard?
~1.25ghz Aluminum Powerbook
not en masse, but I've got about 6 so far, and there seems to be more every time I leave the Pbook unattended for a few hours.
Could this be fatal for the computer in anyway? what if I squish one while typing? what could they possibly be after? and why was I foolish enough to let it get there in the first place? and how can I clean under the keyboard?
~1.25ghz Aluminum Powerbook
Comments
#2: Ants will not short out your keyboard because everything is coated and insulated.
#3: I do suggest cleaning your keyboard.
I remember a few years ago there was some big computer, was supposed to be the fastest system in the world to date that they could not get to run properly no matter how hard they tried. After checking and re checking software for weeks they went inside and checked all the hardware before finally finding a cockroach in the computer, after removal of the cockroach the system worked as it was supposed to. Brings new meaning to the phrase [bad pun]computer bug[/bad pun]
just search for ants...
I was worried about this after I moved into this house with no fly screens on the windows. There are lots of bugs inside and they all show an inordinate amount of interest in both my computers AND the iPod. I remember an AtAT story about bugs in a cinema display. What is it with insects and Apple products???
Compressed air sounds like the go wobot. Although they can be persistent little buggers. Weird shit.
Originally posted by crazychester
What is it with insects and Apple products???
And I paid extra for Apple to work out all the bugs in their hardware!
Naa, I think because of all the clear plastic you can see the bugs easier. Also with Apple's products being small and compact they tend to be warmer. That also attracts some bugs.
Basically they get in from the side of the house and through little gaps in teh hardwood floor. The room is clean, it's just that the TV is nice and warm compared to the rest of the air conditioned room. SO when they got into the TV, enough of them died (from whatever, probably spiders) and ants tend to come back/send out scouts to collect their dead (they get reconsumed). Ants leave chemical trails.
I once drew highway lines on my kitchen wall when we had a worse ant problem a decade ago. They actually drive on the right. There were even specific rest areas. I kid you not. (Well the rest areas were merely trails from mistaken ants - again, where one ant goes, the rest will try to follow.)
I put a strip of duct tape across their little highway and they all bunched up on both sides of it, having no clue where to go. (The movie A Bugs Life alludes to this
I found that by sufficiently destroying their trail they stopped coming. And make sure to collect any dead ants and deposit them outside away from the house. I'm serious, they will detect the scent of their fallen comrades.
I can't recall what I used to break the trail. i seem to think it was rubbing alcohol but obviously be careful what you use on what surface. Test it first on a section that isn't visible.
Destroys their scent trail, and they hate the smell of it. Seriously.
My wife went into the kitchen one night a few years ago when we were living in a less than stellar place, and there were hundreds of huge (1"+) ants all over the kitchen. We swept, we scrubbed, we tracked them. They were coming from under the door to the back yard. Okay, I hit it with silicone caulking thinking 'this will do it'. They found a crack in the wall next to it. *sigh* Obviously I needed to block them on the outside. Tried scrubbing with 409. Nope. Tried Windex. Nope. Finally, my dad mentioned that Lemon Pledge worked for him once - I tried it, and they never came back. Also, it's waxy, so it stands up to light washing and/or mild rain.
Originally posted by DMBand0026
Brings new meaning to the phrase [bad pun]computer bug[/bad pun]
actually the term 'debugging a computer' came from some university or something like that when computers were first becoming popular. there was a moth stuck inside the computer, causing problems, so they took it out and labeled the computer "de-bugged." i was skeptical at first too, but that story is 100% true.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...00/h96566k.jpg
The person who discovered it:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/p...-h/g-hoppr.htm
My, how far we've come
Originally posted by johnq
Yup, here's the first computer bug (seriously):
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/i...00/h96566k.jpg
The person who discovered it:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/p...-h/g-hoppr.htm
My, how far we've come
Am I the only one who finds it incredibly amusing the woman that found the first computer bug's name is Grace hopper?
Coincidence??? I think not! (cue Twilight Zone music)
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Am I the only one who finds it incredibly amusing the woman that found the first computer bug's name is Grace hopper?
Obviously not!
(damn you, damn you, damn you)
(bastard!!!)
*Hadooken!*
Fortunately theres never been the Roasted Ant smell permeating out of my computer.
Originally posted by CubeDude
Fortunately theres never been the Roasted Ant smell permeating out of my computer.
Smelled a lot of roasted ants have we? (don't tell me I can guess - they smell a bit like roast chicken right?)
Last year sucked, I had ants, spiders and moths in my room. It was like the frigging Amityville Horror.
The spiders were of course there because of the ants and the moths. The moths were there because I had used an incandescent bulb in a 3rd lamp (Japanese paper ball thing, which they thought was Sol, the Sun apparently) by the window and over my desk, rather than my usual compact fluorescent bulbs in my usual 2 lamps.
Got rid of that, so no moths.
Good floor scrubbing with Murphy's Oil Soap made it less attractive to the ants, by then it was Fall and they all died/left.
Next year I'll be in Bangkok fighting mosquitos and scorpions...