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.
In addition to workers and a queen, mature colonies contain males and females capable of flight and reproduction. These individuals are generally called reproductives. The average colony can produce about 4,500 reproductives per year. On a warm day, usually one or two days following a rain, the workers open holes in the nest through which the reproductives exit for a mating flight. Mating takes place 300' to 800' in the air.