Orkin Exterminator & Termite Control

Fire Ant Identification: What Does a Fire Ant Look Like

Fire ants can be identified by their dull red body coloration, which ranges from reddish brown to reddish black. Fire ants also have a stinger. The bite and the sting that these ants deliver give them their name.

Fire ants build visible soil mounds often in sunny areas. Their mounds can be as large as one foot tall and two feet wide, and can be dome-shaped. Fire ants are most active during the later hours of the day, when temperatures are humid but not hot enough to inhibit the fire ants' natural biological patterns. They also avoid darkness and shade, and are more likely to appear in open fields and lawns than in forests. If mounds remain undisturbed and the colony rapidly multiplies, fire ants may send additional queens to begin new mounds nearby, thus expanding the colony in number and breadth.

These aggressive insects feed primarily on living insects and dead animals, though upon infiltrating a home, they are drawn to fats and sweet foods.

Fire Ant Facts

What Do Fire Ant Eggs Look Like

Fire Ant Anatomy

Fire Ant Queen

Fire Ant Life Cycle

Red Ants

American Red Fire Ant

Black Fire Ants