finally a good use for fire ants...

[JohnRoberts]

http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2013/12/fire-ant_colony_molten_aluminu.html

This is a video of pouring molten aluminum down a fire ant colony to make art and have some fun killing fire ants. I wish I had thought of that...  8)  I really hate fire ants..

JR

 

[Dylan W]

This kind of thing is really cool (and probably a quicker death for the little guys than poison). There are youtube videos showing how to make a DIY crucible and heater out of a trash can and some tiles... you don't need much aluminum. Would be a pretty cool thing to have in the house.

Here's one they did with cement. Even more incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFg21x2sj-M

 

[Kingston]

Cool. I would have thought any metal cools down too fast and blocks the path to be able to reach the outer perimeter of the nest. I had seen that termite/cement version before, but it's not quite as living room friendly.

 

[helterbelter]

What the ........
That cement version...... I'm glad I don't have an antnest that size in my backgarden !

 

[JohnRoberts]

What the ........
That cement version...... I'm glad I don't have an antnest that size in my backgarden !

Or more than one...  :'(  I poison them about once a week, and change up the poison every year or so because they adapt...  Sometimes I kill one colony and a new one just pops up a few feet away.. no doubt the same ants. When I poison one colony I try to spread around poison over several feet away.  Who knows how big they could be underground after decades. 

JR

 

[AErige]

Somehow it reminds me of that : http://thefutureofthings.com/4511-termite-inspired-architecture/
I once saw a tv show where researchers were studying termites mounds casts to see how the structure was designed by those little bugs to regulate the inside air temperature the way it did and how we could get inspired for our own houses. pretty fascinating 

 

[pucho812]

That's cool, I never knew fire ant hills were that expansive.

 

[gemini86]

Check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lFg21x2sj-M

 

[desol]

I'd like a cast like that...