How Do Fire Ants Reproduce?

Learn how red imported fire ants reproduce and other interesting facts about the ants and their colonies from the experts at Fire Ant Control, LLC.

How Do Fire Ants Reproduce?Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) are a well-known pest throughout the southeastern United States, infesting crops in southern states and spreading westward into California and northward along the east coast.

Fire Ant Control, LLC, headquartered in Bokeelia, Florida, and our sister companies serve the entire imported red fire ant quarantine area of the southeastern U.S. and are capable of treating up to 1,000 acres per day.

Here are some interesting facts about these detested troublemakers:

  • Fire ants mate during flight – about 300 to 800 feet in the air. The male dies soon after mating, and the mated female drops to the ground, sheds her wings, and searches for an appropriate place to start her colony.
  • The new queen tunnels into the ground and seals herself inside her nest (or mound) to lay her first dozen or so “worker ant” eggs. The eggs hatch within about 10 days, and the workers become adults in about 20 to 25 days.
  • The adult worker ants open the nest (mound) and start foraging for food to care for their queen as she becomes an egg-laying machine. If well-fed, she may lay up to 1,500 eggs per day. The workers add on galleries and chambers to the nest as needed to accommodate the growing colony.
  • Worker ants typically live from 30 to 180 days after emerging as adults. Queens live from two to seven years.
  • In addition to workers and a queen, mature colonies contain thousands of males and females capable of flight and reproduction. These fire ants eventually leave the nest to mate and form new colonies.
  • The oval-shaped nests/mounds eventually average 10” tall, are about as wide as a dinner plate, have no visible openings, and may extend up to 25 feet away from the mound.

Get Rid of Your Fire Ants

If you’ve seen only a few fire ants or mounds, you may think you have them under control. Think again! South Florida is particularly prone to year-round fire ant infestations.

If your property has been infested with single-queen colonies, there are probably 40 to 150 mounds and about 7 million red fire ants per acre. If you have multiple-queen colonies, there may be 200 or more mounds and up to 40 million red fire ants per acre!

Without a reliable fire ant killer, you are at risk of being attacked. When gardening, pruning or mowing in your yard, you may accidentally disturb a mound and be aggressively swarmed and stung by fire ants.

The terrible pain from the bite will subside, but some people are allergic to the venom, and others may go into anaphylactic shock, a condition that requires urgent medical attention to prevent a deadly outcome.

At Fire Ant Control, LLC, we guarantee that our proven treatment will rid 85-95% of the fire ants from your residential, commercial or agricultural property for four months at a time, or your money back.

Understanding how quickly fire ants reproduce should encourage you to get in touch with Fire Ant Control, LLC to start controlling them with our proven solution. Our services are fully licensed and insured. Call us today at (239) 312-8200 for a free estimate!