I was repainting a room in my house and decided to move my Sonos One SL that has been sitting there for about 8 months, never really moved it before. As I lift it up, ants come swarming out from under the bottom of the speaker. I’m completely shocked and have no clue what to do. Do I put it in the freezer in a bag? Do I spray insecticide on it? I don’t know what to do that doesn’t destroy the speaker. I looked this issue up and it seems like a common problem as well.
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Userlevel 7
+22
Ants like the nice warm Sonos innards.
I’d just set it somewhere new ants can’t get to it and hope the ones in it now get hungry and head out. Adding an ant trap might help. I’d not do a bait as you do not want them to go back in and die.
Good brand: https://www.amazon.com/Terro-T3206-Spider-Insect-Count/dp/B01JS1LJE2/ref=sr_1_14
I think I’ve seen one other thread about this in the last 12 years I’ve been a member of this community, so I have to wonder about how “common” the issue really is.
Userlevel 7
+22
I’ve never had the problem, mom has tiny tiny little ants looking at her Play 1 but she caught them early, before they nested.
They like her cable-modem too.
It is common enough that my Sonos 1 has a nest inside. Ugh. Been noticing the tiny ants for a couple of weeks, spent some time watching them this afternoon and I was like, “Nooooooo, those little effers…..” Sure enough, hundreds or even thousands of them. Not sure what to do. I am sure they find my moving it and wiping it down with bleach/water to be unfriendly but I din’t know if they’ll move out or just wait me out.
I find that the ant traps are very effective at eliminating a colony of the small guys. Yes, the traps use toxins that are bad for ants, but they are not so bad for humans unless the human insists on eating the trap. Normally, ants live outside, even if they feed inside, and a dead colony is not an issue for the home owner. If the colony is living inside the speaker I’d not want the colony to die in place.
I’m not an ant whisperer, but I think that if a colony feels threatened, it will move. Maybe you could move the speaker close to a location that the ants might prefer, making sure that an acceptable food source is nearby, then make the speaker environment uncomfortable, by heating it with a lamp. I’m not interested in roasting the speaker or the ants, I only want to suggest to them that the speaker is not a great home anymore. Cooling the speaker would probably work too, but this is much more difficult to accomplish. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere where winter is approaching, you could simply place the speaker in a cool area and provide a nearby warm area that the ants could discover and move into -- such as a slightly heated cat litterbox. After the ant colony has moved, dispose of the litterbox contents.
I once read that ants don’t like vinegar. I experimented with this and found that they will not cross a stripe of vinegar and will try to work around it. The stripe had a very short lifespan and had to be “renewed” often. Ultimately, I thought stripes were too much trouble. This suggests that you might have some success placing a dish of vinegar such that fumes migrate toward the speaker -- encouraging the inhabitants to move out.
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