How big can an ant colony get?

It depends how you define a single colony. For most ant colonies, no, because the queen/queens will eventually die, and with it, the colony. but Black Crazy Ants are an oddity because they can go through a process called double cloning, fertilizing their own queens without crazy inbreeding issues. so if you want to look at it genetically, they are all one giant colony. of course, they'll still attack each other, so not a great definition. read more

A single colony can bud into an area as large as a street block in less than six months. Each individual bud can contain 2,500 workers. To get rid of ants, ‘budding’ can present a major barrier because multiple colonies act cooperatively and form back into a single colony after attempts to eliminate ants. read more