Tiny Ant Under iMac Screen!

I had the same problem. What I did was turn the computer off and shine a bright white light where the crack at the edge of the screen is. This attracted them out I believe.

{quote:}I have read similar posts in previous years but never discovered whether there was any way of dealing with it other than by an expensive visit to a repairer.{quote}

Hi Ian

If you would like to extract the critter from behind the glass yourself;

see > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep5GKKTtp9Q&feature=related

or this Ian > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHMHzq5E5I&feature=related

Dennis

Hi Ian:

That is not funny, but you might get some funny comments. Unless it dies under the glass (annoying permanent dot), I doubt if an ant could do any damage. I am hardware-challenged, so I would not even begin to know how it might be removed.

I have never had that happen, but I do spray (occasionally) bug killer around my doors and windows (not on the computer!). That may be doing nothing more than making me feel good, but I think it discourages them from coming inside.

Barry

OK, to get the obvious silly comment out of the way first, you have discovered a bug in your computer! 😉

However, unlike the one that legend says crawled into an early room-sized computer, shorted out some of its circuitry, & is supposedly why computer glitches are called "bugs," yours won't do any harm. You do need to treat the area to prevent more ants from entering your Mac, but unless the ant dies in a visible area of the screen, you don't need to worry about removing it.

(BTW, worker ants that you see crawling around don't get pregnant. Only queens give birth, & only do so after reaching adulthood, when they are too large to move around or feed themselves. So even if an adolescent queen has moved in, if you kill the workers bringing in food from the outside word, she won't survive long enough to turn your Mac into an ant farm.)

All late model iMacs retain the front glass in place with magnets. To remove it, technicians use oversized suction cups to simply pull it off. You could try this yourself if you have the tools, or pay a tech to do it, but it should be easy enough to pop it off, carefully blow or vacuum off the dead ant, & pop the glass back in place. You may be able to get a qualified tech to do this practically for free if you explain this is all you want done. A little humor might help set the mood for negotiations….

Scouts +(especially tiny ones)+ can occasionally penetrate the best defended lines looking for food, shelter or a place to move the colony. If you find more than just the one, it might be a good idea to pickup a small can of indoor ant spray to use around the baseboards, sills and other wall penetrations +(plumbing, telephone, cable and power outlets)+ to keep them outside.

I discovered tiny black ants crawling out of my MacBook Pro on startup for the past couple of days. I was told by an air conditioner repairer last year that ants can eat electronic boards. They can short out electronics. So ... I called my local Apple Store. They got a big laugh out of it, and said they can't take any computer with anything ALIVE inside it into the service center. They put me through to AppleCare who gave me the contact info for 3 other authorized service centers in my area. I called the first and they said to try this before bringing it in for service:

Leave the computer on without letting it go to sleep mode for several days. The heat should drive them out.

Meanwhile, I have an exterminator scheduled to treat the house this week!