How Long Do Fire Ants Live?

Discover how long fire ants live and learn how to get rid of them from the experts at Fire Ant Control, LLC.

Red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) are known to attack people and animals, and can cause extensive damage to gardens and crops, air-conditioning equipment, cement slabs, and electrical wires. They have a very painful venomous sting that can cause serious health problems.

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. Careful application of our potent, food-like granular bait kills the ant colonies from the inside out.

Life Cycle of a Red Imported Fire Ant

Red imported 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.

This new queen tunnels into the ground and seals herself inside it to lay her first dozen or so “worker ant” eggs. The worker brood develops in 20 to 25 days, opens the nest (mound), and starts foraging for food to care for their queen as she turns into an egg-laying machine – laying up to 1,500 eggs per day over her lifetime of two to seven years! Worker ants typically live from 30 to 180 days after emerging as adults.

In addition to workers and a queen, mature fire ant 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.

Leave Fire Ant Control to the Professionals!

To prevent a fire ant colony from thriving, all queens must be sterilized to stop them from reproducing. Spraying insecticide on the nest is not enough to eradicate the ants. It may even cause the colony to disperse and start a colony elsewhere on your property, making control more difficult.

Fire Ant Control, LLC is recognized as a specialist in controlling red fire ants on any size or type of land. The potent, food-like granular bait we use contains an insect growth regulator that sterilizes the queen and is approved for use around people, pets, livestock, and on pastures, hay fields and farmland.

Extermination is not immediate but, once the worker ants have eaten the bait and carried it down into the colony, sterilizing the queen, the entire colony will disappear, and no new ants will be born. Within weeks, your property will be 85-95% free of fire ants.

Because new colonies can invade when ants fly off to mate and start a new colony, or when an existing colony expands into new territory, we highly recommend treatments every four months to keep these troublemakers under control.

Now that you know how long fire ants can live, it’s time to protect your property! Fire Ant Control, LLC’s granular bait is the best solution. Call us at (239) 312-8200 for a free estimate. Our services are fully licensed and insured and guaranteed to help control your fire ant infestations.