Ants!

I was preparing for bed last night, and took out the humidifier tank to top it off. In it were perhaps a dozen ants!! Most drowned, one or two alive. How would they possibly get in there! This is the second time this has happened. Yuk!!

Has anyone else had this happen?

I ant believin' this.

'tis true! The only way I can think of it happening is that they crawled into the mask, somehow got through that little flap that closes on exhale, and walked through the hose into the tank. There were some ants on the wall near where I hang the mask during the day, but I didn't see any in the hose.

TRUE!

carpenter ants are attracted to water and wet locations. You may have bigger problems then them being in your machine. Were they the little ants you see on the sidewalk, or the big black ones?

Well, first I thought of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNgJBIx-hK8

Then this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szL62FNNiBc

But it must have happened like this ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTjQMtbViU

Or maybe like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A042J0IDQK4

I'm glad you're all having fun with this, but it is icky!

Oh -- they were little ants. Does that mean carpenter ants?

katcw wrote:I'm glad you're all having fun with this, but it is icky!

Oh -- they were little ants. Does that mean carpenter ants?

Carpenter ants are about a third of an inch to half an inch long, a little less than a centimeter.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef603.asp
They eat wood, but are usually found in living trees. They can sometimes be found in homes. That's a bad thing. They end up killing the tree and move on. I remember them from a public garden where I once interned.

You don't have carpenter ants if they're the tiny black ones.
Ants like that often show up in homes for a couple of reasons:
1. Recent ground disturbance in your neighborhood or yard (garden culltivation, for instance)
2. Drought.

In most cases, it's just a game of patience. Find their entry route - usually a small space in a window, and paint that spot with a dab oil. (Peanut oil, olive oil, Vaseline.) It's probably not good for the finish on your window, but it's safer than a lot of the chemical products that are out there. That's what we've done successfully in the past.

In your water tank, and your mask....yes that is icky.

DreamDriver, we had ants last summer, and I resorted to laying ant traps (the little boxes) at the entry point. I didn't know about using oil, that's a much better alternative.

I just read a 'natural' way to handle ants is to put down a bit of cornmeal. They evidently eat this, but can't digest it so it kills them..... Haven't tried this, but it may be worth a shot. Better than chemicals.

The small tiny ants sound like sugar ants.
They are attracted to sugars/sweets and are usually found around areas where crumbs are left behind (quite often in the carpet).

A good cleaning around the area and in behind tables/night stands will help, but we have them here as well and I've found a few drops of a product called "Ant-B-Gon" works extremely well. You put a few drops near cracks (try watching to see where they come from or where they go) and they take this stuff back to their nest.

katcw wrote:Has anyone else had this happen?

YES, I found ants in the short tube and hose - now I close all the holes (tube & hose) in the morning.

I found a dead silverfish in my tank once;
and the window in my humidifier was fogged over most evenings;
I started taking the tank out during the day, and returning it, newly filled (and inspected/cleaned, at night.
I don't know how far into the works that condensation can go, (or little nasties)
but I'm not putting my precious Autoset in any danger.
--mmm, must have Precious, must keep her safe.

Happened to me last night...opened my machine up and there were dozens on little ants inside and larva! I believe they are attracted to the water and the vibration/noise of the machine

Be careful. For some reason, fire ants seem to like electrical fields. Here in fire ant country, we're often finding fire ants in air conditioners and other electronics, shorting out or otherwise screwing up the equipment.

I don't know if it's unique to fire ants, but I'd be careful to keep the ants out of my CPAP machine.

rested gal wrote:Well, first I thought of this...

RG, I think you have a link for everything.