Why do ants love living inside keyboards and how to keep them away?

[kitnoman]

So I just spent almost an hour, opening and cleaning my keyboard. I don't eat in front of the computer, normally. Or at least, I make sure my hands are clean before typing or even just touching my keyboard and mouse. Are any oil or liquid I can slap or spray on my keyboard that would keep ants away?

[Lunar River]

Ants congregate where food is.

 

First try to find where they are getting into the house/room and seal it.

Second clean everything on your desk, make sure there is nothing for them to seek out.

 

You will need to keep an eye on things over a few days after you clean up to make sure there aren’t more scouts getting in otherwise the problem will repeat.

[whispous]

If you have ants in your keyboard, the issue isn't that you have ants in the keyboard - the issue is that you have ants getting into the room. Ants are not meant to be setting up shop inside your home.

[Needfuldoer]

I've cleaned up some nasty placemat-keyboards in my day. The worst was a Cherry that ended up chock full of crumbs in a matter of weeks, then the ants moved in overnight. The morning shift came in to find the entire desk swarming with ants. I just grabbed the keyboard and chucked it straight in the dumpster.

 

The best thing you can do is spray your home for ants so they don't get inside in the first place. If you've got scout ants in your keyboard, they're exploring too far. 

 

22 minutes ago, Lunar River said:

You will need to keep an eye on things over a few days after you clean up to make sure there aren’t more scouts getting in otherwise the problem will repeat.

If you can figure out where they're coming in, mix up some borax soap with a little sugar and leave it near their path. Ants can't digest borax so it kills them, but slowly enough that they have time to bring some back to the colony. (Terro bait traps work well too, in my experience. I believe they just use borax as the active ingredient.) Borax is safe to handle and safe enough to use around pets and small children, if that's a concern.

 

In the immediate short term, you'll see more ants around the bait. That's actually a good thing, because they're bringing more bait back with them and poisoning the entire colony. You'll never get rid of them if all you do is kill the scouts.

[Bitter]

Ants don't like keyboards ants like food. Clean your space and don't eat by your PC.