Learning Center
Fire Ants
Image
Fire Ants

Learn More About Fire Ants

Fire ants reside in colonies, which often can contain more than 100,000 ants. The average lifespan of a worker fire ant is five months, whereas queens can live up to seven years. In a day, queens can lay thousands of eggs, with fire ants going from larva to adulthood in approximately 30 days. When a colony has a well-fed queen and the colony grows rapidly, queens may leave the colony with worker ants to establish new colonies nearby.

Pest Identification

Size

1/4 in.

Color

Reddish-brown to reddish-black

Body Structure

Head, thorax, and abdomen with a stinger on end of the abdomen.

Characteristics

First introduced to the Southern United States in the 1920s, fire ants are characterized by their copper color and painful sting. Although commonly found inhabiting a sandy-looking mound in your backyard, fire ants are also drawn into the comfort of your home by sugary and fatty foods. Regardless of whether you see them indoors or out, they are a threat to the safety of your loved ones.

Habitat & Behavior

Fire ants prefer warm, dry surroundings and are often found in open fields or un-shaded lawns. Fire ant mounds can grow to sizes of more than two feet in diameter and almost a foot high. That said, fire ants may also build shallow mounds within soil or piles of mulch, making the colonies less easy to detect with the naked eye. Fire ants are intensely protective of their queens and will aggressively attack any animal, including humans, who come in the vicinity of a mound. Fire ants attack the invader by first clamping down with their mandibles and then injecting venom via their stingers.

Are You Having Issues With Fire Ants?