ants nesting in my vital equipment

[Jasmin]

I live in the wet tropics, ants nest in more or less anything. They particularly love electronics, they've nested in PSPs, my computer tower, my friend's laptop, all non-moving parts of my air compressor etc...

There are ants nesting in my 15 minute battery recharger. They are mean.

How should I best remove all the ants , eggs, etc from it (I can't get it open without breaking it, so it's more of a matter of 'how do I get the ants to take their eggs out, then conveniently die somewhere, really) without damaging the recharger? some of the ants went when I repeatedly tapped the case with my fingernails, but they, so far, refuse to take their eggs out. the eggs are on the coil that makes the electricity go into the batteries. (yeah, I don't really understand how it works..) Shaking does not seem to move them. I imagine they'd squish if I turned it on.

Currently, I have access to assorted poisons, but am iffy about the idea of leaving the eggs in. can anyone think how to remove the ants?

[HunterKiller_]

That's pretty serious ant infestation...
I doubt there can be anything done about the eggs... Maybe you could try isolating the charger in a container to starve them, that could force them to move out?

[Jasmin]

That's pretty serious ant infestation...
I doubt there can be anything done about the eggs... Maybe you could try isolating the charger in a container to starve them, that could force them to move out?

thankyou, that seems like a good idea :)

[Crash]

Use earplugs when you sleep, or something

[Sepulverture]

I can't get it open without breaking it

All electronics can be disassembled. Put yourself in the mindset of one of the engineers who designed or built it. It had to have been put together somehow, the circuits weren't etched and then dipped into a vat of plastic. Reverse engineer it (kind of). Get a few different kinds of small screw drivers, a butter knife, and a few minutes of time to kill and take out the screws, use the butter knife to coax any plastic tabs holding the main sections together out of the slots that keep it together, and it will come apart. Before you do all that make sure it's unplugged of course, wouldn't want the kind of jolt associated with stuff like that, and when you're done disassembling it all the capacitors inside of it should be completely discharged, at which point you can just take any of your spray poisons, spray it on the little bastard, wait for it to dry, spray it with a cleaner to remove the poison, put it back together and if you went about everything carefully it'll more than likely be in good working order when you're done, just make sure any liquids you used to poison/clean it up are completely dried before trying to turn it on again.


Or you can just abandon all hope and cry yourself to sleep. Whichever you like better.

[Uziel]

just search "get rid of ants" with google...there are a lot of tips.

http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-ants/

[cmoreland]

use your air compressor to blast them sombitches out of the electronics and hire an exterminator.

[JAG.]

very good suggestions above, but if you want a little pay back, then get creative ;)

freeze them.. smoke 'em out. however moisture and smoke can harm electronics. so stick e'm in a vacuum chamber and suffocate them. or buy an ant eater of some sort. plenty of insects and other animals that will eat ants.

or keep it simple, get a can of compressed air and blow them outta there. then secure the unit so they wont come back.

or just go to their place and invade their stuff like they did to you.. - JAG

[CaptainInsano]

onetime, many years ago, I was sitting in my college dorm room with 2 friends and we were playing Sega Dreamcast. I noticed a few ants crawling infront of the TV speaker, so I got up whack at them.

Next thing that happened... more ants began to appear! More and more, dozens more were crawling out of the speaker. They kept coming. Hundreds and HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of ants suddenly came out of the speaker and engulfed half of the TV. It was like something out of a scary movie and brings a chill up my spine to this day.

that is all.

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Ants lay down smell trails, like little invisible roads with different attaction force. If they come inside it's because the attraction force of that road was stronger.

Sometimes it works to put honey outside the house, this way the roads leading inside won't seem as interesting.

Doesn't help if they're already nesting inside though. I'm actually enjoying making artificial ant nests. You can make one with a CD case which you strip, tape, then fill with dirt and sand. If you throw ans in they'll eventually try to nest, even without a queen. There's also these gel-based ant nests you can buy.

[Jasmin]

Use earplugs when you sleep, or something

heh! well, giving the stuff they're nesting in, that might just be the safest way :)

All electronics can be disassembled. Put yourself in the mindset of one of the engineers who designed or built it. It had to have been put together somehow, the circuits weren't etched and then dipped into a vat of plastic. Reverse engineer it (kind of). Get a few different kinds of small screw drivers, a butter knife, and a few minutes of time to kill and take out the screws, use the butter knife to coax any plastic tabs holding the main sections together out of the slots that keep it together, and it will come apart. Before you do all that make sure it's unplugged of course, wouldn't want the kind of jolt associated with stuff like that, and when you're done disassembling it all the capacitors inside of it should be completely discharged, at which point you can just take any of your spray poisons, spray it on the little bastard, wait for it to dry, spray it with a cleaner to remove the poison, put it back together and if you went about everything carefully it'll more than likely be in good working order when you're done, just make sure any liquids you used to poison/clean it up are completely dried before trying to turn it on again.


Or you can just abandon all hope and cry yourself to sleep. Whichever you like better.

*grins* the problem is, they appear to have run substantial amounts of superglue over all the closing points, but i'll try again now I'm less freaked out about the ants- maybe i'll spot a way to open it.

just search "get rid of ants" with google...there are a lot of tips.

http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html
http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-ants/

thankyou! For some reason, that idea hadn't occured to me :)

use your air compressor to blast them sombitches out of the electronics and hire an exterminator.

hey, that hadn't occured to me! thankyou

very good suggestions above, but if you want a little pay back, then get creative ;)

freeze them.. smoke 'em out. however moisture and smoke can harm electronics. so stick e'm in a vacuum chamber and suffocate them. or buy an ant eater of some sort. plenty of insects and other animals that will eat ants.

or keep it simple, get a can of compressed air and blow them outta there. then secure the unit so they wont come back.

or just go to their place and invade their stuff like they did to you.. - JAG

heheh! yeah, i have an air compressor laying about, that might work- i've already got a lot of very fat carniverous plants, coutesy of the ants

onetime, many years ago, I was sitting in my college dorm room with 2 friends and we were playing Sega Dreamcast. I noticed a few ants crawling infront of the TV speaker, so I got up whack at them.

Next thing that happened... more ants began to appear! More and more, dozens more were crawling out of the speaker. They kept coming. Hundreds and HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of ants suddenly came out of the speaker and engulfed half of the TV. It was like something out of a scary movie and brings a chill up my spine to this day.

that is all.

Erk... glad to know i'm not the only one with ants in my stuff

Ants lay down smell trails, like little invisible roads with different attaction force. If they come inside it's because the attraction force of that road was stronger.

Sometimes it works to put honey outside the house, this way the roads leading inside won't seem as interesting.

Doesn't help if they're already nesting inside though. I'm actually enjoying making artificial ant nests. You can make one with a CD case which you strip, tape, then fill with dirt and sand. If you throw ans in they'll eventually try to nest, even without a queen. There's also these gel-based ant nests you can buy.


I don't mind watching ants either- the cd-case nest idea sound pretty cool. The only ant-nest I intentionally keep around, though, is the one they've made in my sugar jar.. clever little buggers, they can nest and eat the in same stuff.