The people that were doing this weren't using concrete...
They were using molten metal.
this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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I wouldn't think concrete is thin or viscous enough
Additionally, thin pieces of concrete are very brittle. It is much more common to use molten aluminum.
Believe they also look for hills that have been moved out of, but I'm sure that's not always true
Hmm, would this work with any clear material so you could see the ants as they suffer? I mean, for uhhh... science?
You'd pick up a lot of sand... Normally you'd use a metal like aluminum. You can sandblast that clean.
But clear means epoxy. That stuff doesn't hold up very well under sandblasting. It can be done, but expect mistakes.
"Normally"!? I thought it was a one-time thing for that famous youtube video.
There are thousands of ant hill sculptures in the world.
The two main ways of making them are either aluminum or some sort of concrete or plaster.
Aluminum is used more often, due to the ease of extraction from the ground, and the fact that you can clean it with a garden hose or pressure washer.
Cement or plaster are used when accuracy is desired, but those sculptures need to be removed from the ground with hand trowels and brushes, and will likely need individual parts to be reinforced or braced to prevent breakage.
Both methods can be used to study the structure of and ant hill. But aluminum far more common for the more artistic versions of the sculpture.
Aluminum is great because it has a relatively low melting point, and a casting furnace isn't all that expensive.
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Yeah, hearing about this technique for the first time was a ride. Like, yeah, it's kind of cool? But also, you're doing a genocide.
Fire ants deserve it. Fuck em.
Invasive ants can overwhelm and genocide native ants.
A lot of the castings I've seen have specifically been done on invasive ants for this reason.
I wanted to comment on fire ants for this (which are an invasive one). Anyone who has experienced fire ants would not feel sorry for a genocide on them.
It's impossible for fire ants to be invasive in general.
They're invasive to SOMEWHERE. We don't all live in the same neighbourhood.
They are invasive in most places except for a relatively small part of South America
TBH if you live somewhere where fire ants are native, MOVE.
I'm not going to let the ants win.
Classic US defaultism. They often have problems understanding the concept of the world wide web.
Invasive fire ants aren't just a US problem. They're one of the worst invasive species in the world.
They also never said anything that would suggest they were talking globally. They just said they were an invasive species of ants.
We don't all live in the same neighbourhood.
My immersion is ruined.
you're doing a genocide
Yes, if you are dumb about it. Actual scientists doing this use abandoned colonies or move the colony first.
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I always thought it was extremely hot aluminum poured into them.
It could be any liquid that hardens later on. I've seen aluminum and concrete.
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Could be worse. Could be the guy filling them with copper or whatever molten metal it was on YT.
I would probably prefer getting almost instantly fried by molten hot metal than slowly suffucate in liquid cement
I think I remember that setting concrete has an exothermic reaction going on so you could be cooked as you suffocate.
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