How Long Do Ants Live? (Lifespans Explained For Australian Species)

As their name suggests, fire ants are a copper-brown colour and have powerful stings. They are considered as highly invasive and become very defensive if provoked.

 They can grow between 2-6mm in length, and you’ll find different sizes within the same colony. Queens live for up to 7 years, and can lay between 2,000 and 5,000 eggs per day.

 Workers have a shorter lifespan – they’ll usually live for a few weeks to months at best.

An introduced and highly invasive species, a single colony of Argentine ants can infest vast spaces covering several hectares, making outbreaks challenging to treat and reinfestations quite common.

 Light to dark brown in colour, and growing 1.5-3mm long, queens can live for several years, and workers between 10-12 months. Each colony may have multiple queens who can lay up to 60 eggs each day, with eggs taking 2-3 months to develop into adults.

With the ability to relocate their nests and start a new one from the ground up if they feel threatened, Pharaoh ant infestations have a reputation for being hard to control, with baiting techniques usually preferred over surface sprays.

 They’re often found nesting in warm areas such as wall voids containing electrical conduits, hot water plumbing and heating ducts.

 They have distinct yellow to amber colouring and red/black stripes on their abdomens, and grow up to 2mm long.

 Each colony will have multiple queens, each living between 4-12 months. Male pharaoh ants live for only 3-5 weeks after mating.

 Depending on humidity and temperature, the egg to adult life cycle will take around 38-45 days. Adult workers have a short life span of around 9-10 weeks.

Not to be mistaken for termites, carpenter ants prefer tunnelling into moist, decaying wood such as old tree stumps and logs rather than timber in your home. However, do watch out for them if you have windowsills, eaves, roofs and doors that are exposed to moisture. They’ll leave behind small piles of sawdust.

 Carpenter ants can be identified by their black, orange or brown bodies and grow between 2.5-14mm long.

 It normally takes 3 to 6 years to establish a colony, and queens can live up to 25 years. Workers normally live for around 12 months. Adults will normally take between 6 and 12 weeks to fully develop from the egg stage, but low temperatures can slow this right down to around 10 months.

At Allstate, our pest technicians are trained to identify common pest ant species and understand how their behaviour can impact the type of treatments we use to stop an outbreak.

Because how long ants live can affect treatment strategies, we customise our approach based on their life cycle. We’ll start off by conducting a thorough inspection of all entry points and potential nesting sites, then apply the following treatments either directly to the nest itself or in active areas: 

Surface spray

Airborne insecticide sprays can be applied around building perimeters and disperse over large spaces, offering a fast treatment for large areas. They’re also able to penetrate hard to reach, enclosed spaces, such as ant nest tunnels and tiny entry points such as cracks and holes.

Control dust

With its fine consistency, ant control dust can also be sprinkled directly into small access points. This includes gaps, into ant nest openings, as well as roof spaces and even your fuse box.

Ant baits

Tamper proof ant baits can be used to lure in ants, who carry the insecticide back to the rest of the colony. Although this method can take longer to control an outbreak, it can be tailored to target the specific pest ant species, eventually preventing the ant colony once and for all.