While many people might believe that Fire Ants originate in North America, they are in fact native to South America!

A vicious adversary in a tiny body, a colony of fire ants is quite capable of bringing down a foe, thousands of times its size. When its nest is disturbed, the fire ants attack and sting as a group. Most of the fire ants in the United States today come from varieties imported, albeit accidentally, from Central or South America. There are thousands of species of fire ants in the world. Fire ants live in underground tunnels. This is also where they find most of their food. Fire ants do not eat solid food, which can make them very difficult to eradicate. Although some people do keep fire ants in captivity, usually for research purposes, to most people, fire ants are considered vicious nuisances. Fire ants can spread very quickly. The two imported varieties of fire ants are far more dangerous then the native breeds. Therefore, it is important to attempt to spare the native breeds as they keep the imports from spreading. Fire ants can spread at a great rate and are quite able of re-infesting areas in which they had been eradicated. The reason they can spread so quickly is that they can fly and can drop into a new area. Fire ants breed between 600 and 800 feet in the air. After damp weather, breeding males and females fly into the air and mate. The male then dies and the female starts her new colony. This new queen can lay up to 1,500 eggs per brood. It only takes a fire ant 30 days to grow from an egg to an adult. Damp weather is a signal for fire ant activity. Not only do they breed in the damp spring and fall, they also use this time to expand their home and clear blocked tunnels. They then build a large mound of loose soil above the nest. It is from this mound that the mating couples depart. After the nuptial flight takes place you may go outside and find a queen. If you are unable to get materials to make a colony you may use a 3-liter soda bottle. The substrate can be moistened sand or soil. A rock or two may also be placed in the enclosure. It will take the queen about a day to adjust to captivity. The next day the queen will usually dig a two inch chamber with a sealed the entrance. Sometimes she will lie strait though she will bend to clean herself. In captivity you may feed earthworms to your Fire Ant colony. They have protein, which is needed to help the queen lay eggs successfully and it also makes the worker ants stronger.

Only a quarter of an inch long, the fire ant is a very small insect. They are reddish in color. They dwell in underground nests that are about two feet wide and can reach one and a half feet high. The colonies can have up to 250,000 workers. Fire ants are very aggressive and will sting any intruder to immobilization. The workers live up to 180 days, while queens can live up to six yeas.

Fire Ants originate in South America and it is theorized that they were brought to the United States on ships from South America that docked in Mobile, Alabama in the 1920s. The invasion was first noticed by Professor E.O. Wilson.

Fire ants should not be kept in the plastic ant colonies sold in hobby shops. Instead, they should be housed in artificial colonies made of petri dishes. When handling fire ants, it is essential to wear thick rubber gloves coated with talcum powder. Be very careful to keep hair, clothes and jewelry away form the colony when working with the ants. Some tips for keeping laboratory colonies include: Provide water in water tubes plugged with cotton so the cotton becomes saturated; feed the colony honey water; provide the colony with two frozen crickets or mealworms daily.

There is currently no special breeding information in our databases for this animal. To submit breeding / propagation information that is specific to this animal please click here.