Radiating out from the mound are underground tunnels that open to the surface several inches to several feet away. These are passages that worker ants use to leave and return to the colony. Workers forage for food on the surface and bring it back to be processed. Workers are produced by queen ants that are little more than egg-laying machines. A typical queen may lay more than a thousand eggs a day and may live for 2 years or more unless food is limited.
Most colonies have only one queen.
Eggs hatch in about a week into legless larvae that go through several growth stages. After 6 to 12 days as larvae, developing fire ants enter a transitional pupal stage that lasts for 9 to 16 days. The white or clear forms that are found in fire ant colonies are developing immature stages. These stages are moved by workers up or down in the mound, depending on the external temperature and moisture conditions. This means that they cannot maintain their body temperatures by internal mechanisms the way warm-blooded animals can.