Ants can easily get inside the laptop through small openings or entry routes like vents for the CPU fan and build their nests inside.
How to Remove Ants From Laptop Keyboard? You can remove ants from the laptop keyboard by removing the dirt and debris between the keys and cleaning the food stains. Moreover, play a game or install software that generates heat and makes them feel hot so they will come out. Furthermore, isolation and sealing, use of ant bait, cleaning internal parts, and shaking movements can help remove them.
It is essential to remove ants from the laptop as they can damage internal parts due to short circuits, as the conductors are present at a close distance.
Furthermore, the short circuits can lead to the malfunctioning of the laptop in addition to electrocuting these tiny insects.
It can be surprising for some people to see ants crawling within the keys of a laptop or coming from inside the casing through the USB port.
Moreover, it becomes essential to remove these insects as they can damage the internal circuits badly, leading to a loss of functionality.
Put an ant bait
You can use an ant bait to allure them as they can smell the odor of sweet food items and come out of the nest to get it.
Sometimes, the crazy ants form their nests inside the casing due to the hidden and warm area providing a suitable nesting spot and reproduction platform.
A whole colony can be present inside the keyboard casing if you find one or two ants coming out of it. Ant bait is the perfect solution to kill all of them at once instead of shaking.
A few insects will come out only if you have shaken the laptop or disturbed its habitat. Mix one part of boric acid powder with two parts of sugar and put it close to the device on table.
It will take some time to be recognized by these tiny creatures, but you can get better results as the sweet and toxic bait can kill all the members at once.
Isolate the laptop
These are social insects that prefer to live in a colony by performing nest tasks. However, they cannot survive in isolation and begin to look for the colony to become a part of it or die immediately.
You can keep this device in isolation to make them feel uncomfortable so they will leave space inside the keys or the casing.
Fill the container or a bucket of water and place a supportive platform inside to put a device on it.
The height of supportive objects needs to be suitable as the extra height can lead to the falling of the device.
Put it on the support carefully and put a spoon or a fork connected to the laptop at one end while the other end remains on the ground or table.
This spoon will act as a bridge for these insects to come down when they feel isolated.
This method works for many people, but you have to perform it carefully to protect the device from falling inside the bowl.
Seal the laptop inside a plastic bag
You can remove ants from its keyboard by suffocating them, as they can only survive for almost 20 to 24 hours without oxygen.
Disassemble the device, put the components inside a plastic bag, and seal them inside for 2 to 3 days at a minimum.
Choose a thick plastic bag to suffocate fire ants as they can easily chew the thin plastic and come out of the bag. These insects cannot live without food and water for more than a week.
Moreover, it is a time-taking process and can only be considered for removing ants when you do not have to use it for many days.
Disassemble the laptop
They can build nests inside the laptop keyboard and begin to live there due to warmth. Accordingly, they can reproduce inside the casing as the conditions are ideal for them to produce eggs.
Using a hair dryer can help remove them from the outer surface, and playing a game can only cause discomfort for adult ones.
The eggs can be present inside the casing that can turn into adults or contaminate the inner space. So, you have to disassemble the structure by unscrewing the nuts to expose all the parts.
Look for the presence of eggs after removing the battery and blow them out of the system. In addition, you can clean them with electronic wipes after removing the adult ones.
However, it is better to disassemble the device only if you have experience dealing with it; otherwise, it becomes difficult to reassemble it as you can damage its parts during this process.
You can take it to the nearby professionals who are good at opening these devices and reassembling them quickly without damaging any internal components.
Remove dirt and debris
Many people do not bother cleaning laptop screens and keyboards, which leads to the accumulation of dirt between the keys and openings like USB ports and CPU fan vents.
These are attracted to dirty surfaces as they naturally live in the soil and dirt. So they will get attracted to dusty laptops and begin to navigate between the keys in search of food.
The field ants like to live in the dirt, get food from the dirt particles, and live in areas like lawns and potted plants.
So, you can get rid of them by blowing the dirt and debris using a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer that will blow out fine particles and make keyboards unappealing for them.
It has to be operated at a lower speed and for a few minutes, as it can dislocate internal circuits and capacitors when you keep it close to the device for long.
Furthermore, maintain a distance of 2 to 3 inches while vacuuming to avoid heating the internal components.
Clean the food stains
It is a common practice to keep the laptop in the lap while using it on the bed. The food particles fall directly on the keyboard while eating snacks or drinking juices.
It leads to the formation of food stains on the device that can attract insects, mainly if the stains are of sweet food material like chocolates or biscuits.
Moreover, they have strong smelling power that can detect these food particles through their olfactory receptors and get attracted to them.
You can avoid the entry of these insects on the keyboard by wiping the surfaces using electronic wipes to remove the food stains immediately.
Furthermore, it can help disinfect and clean all sides of the laptop, including the screen and areas between keys, making them free of stains and shiny.
Play a game
Ants feel uncomfortable in hot places and leave hot spots immediately, as it can make them die. Accordingly, you can keep them in hot areas to force these insects to come out.
It is not ideal to keep the laptop in direct sunlight or a preheated oven in a plastic bag as it can damage the internal structure in addition to removing these insects.
Moreover, you can generate heat by installing software as its internal components will generate heat due to its compact size and make casings hot.
In the same way, playing a game can also lead to overheating of internal parts and hot casings, making inner areas unsafe for these insects to live there.
So, you can see them coming out of the openings after some time as they cannot live in an uncomfortable situation posing a threat to their lives.
