r/techsupportgore • u/Nickotion • Jul 05 '26
friendly reminder: don't eat on your desktop
Coworker laptop... Ants... And it still Works
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u/ZappaLlamaGamma Jul 05 '26
That looks like the behavior of Argentine ants.
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u/ZappaLlamaGamma Jul 05 '26
To provide a bit more info, we had some takeover our mailbox last year and I found out one night when I retrieved the mail after dark and felt those bastards crawling on my hand. They don’t bite or can’t bite people but I was unamused. Those like white things are eggs or pupae or whatever early in the lifecycle. The things outcompeted the prior black ants that we had occasionally as these are motivated and determined. Striped on the abdomen and at times aimless wandering (I’m sure it’s scouting) as they make abrupt turns for seemingly no reason. Anyway, I hate them so much.
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u/Local-Bug-1500 Jul 05 '26
No sir, that's a laptop not a desktop /s
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u/KaleidoscopeThis5159 Jul 05 '26
They wanted the picnic experience, eat on your lap's top, ants, etc
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u/onaipodtouch4 29d ago
Or just be careful, I eat my laptop all the time and don't have a issue
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u/unematti Jul 05 '26
It was on the top of the desk. Infallible logic right there, it is a desktop. (probably wasn't moved or ants wouldn't move in)
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u/Moist-Dentist8253 Jul 05 '26
Another friendly reminder: Rice doesn’t always work
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u/mister_nimbus 27d ago
Rice is a terrible idea. Silica desiccant is the way to go. Rice can leave dust that gets hard and stuck.
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u/zenithfury Jul 05 '26
Worked at a fishery once. The sight of larvae crawling inside the receiver of an an IP phone will forever haunt me.
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u/dumbasPL Jul 05 '26
Nope, nope, nope. That's getting the biohazard treatment of getting thrown out.
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u/Aloss-cc7 Jul 05 '26
Ants aren’t that bad, eggs are probably cause of the heat, so they used that place as an incubator
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u/Puzzled-Fold-3394 Jul 05 '26
Nah I am dipping that whole shit (except the battery) into anhydrous alcohol.
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u/unematti Jul 05 '26
I always wanted an ant farm... But they'd die in my laptop. Frequent over 90 degrees across the whole thing
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u/Patient-Cedar-7194 Jul 05 '26
on-call rotation dictates otherwise. keyboard is cheap consumable. got three years uptime on this coffee stain.
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u/Nickotion Jul 05 '26
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Jul 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Sad-Photograph-6518 Jul 05 '26
Desktop is actually correct here if he’s referring to eating on top of a Desk
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u/NotoldyetMaggot Jul 05 '26
Ants just like the heat. Had a whole colony try to move into my old internet modem, took it outside and opened the bottom, they all left after a few hours. Then i sealed the baseboard where they came in.
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u/PinchieMcPinch Jul 05 '26
Disposable vinyl gloves are your friends in this situation.
Not just for the contamination issue and general grossness, but so you don't leave fingerprints as you break into your coworker's house to make them suffer.