New colonies do not make a conspicuous mound for several months. Older colonies may have mounds up to 3 feet in diameter. Mounds are usually found in open sunny areas such as lawns, pastures and fields, but may also be found in logs, around trees and under pavement. There may be 20 to several hundred mounds per acre. Occasionally fire ants can be found nesting on the roof or debris on the roof or in an electric receptacle, but most often they are found in the ground.
Fire ants feed on many things, including insects, oil from seeds, meats, grease and honeydew.
The ants cannot eat solid food, and must extract or liquefy the food source. This liquid food is passed to the other ants in the colony including the queen and the developing young ants or brood. Worker ants search for food up to 100 feet away when the temperature is between 70o F. and 90o F. during the day or night. When temperatures exceed 95o F., fire ants only forage night. Fire ants are very typical of ants in general.