The Florida Harvester ant is a highly active diurnal species well adapted to the hot and dry habitats of the southeastern United States.

Colonies are near exclusively found nesting within well drained sandy soils in xeric shrublands, grasslands, woodlands, and intact coastal dunes.

[6] On the surface the flat mound is free of peripheral vegetation and is decorated with detritus and charred plant matter, the purpose of which is poorly understood.

Alongside the nest also exists short foraging trails which extend into the surrounding area, usually in the opposite direction of any neighboring colonies.

P. badius is associated with a couple known organisms - a few well-known being the parasitoid eucharitid wasp Kapala floridana and the introduced Texas horned lizard, which thrives in Florida due to the stable populations of these ants.

Hundreds of excited workers can be observed in a frenzy around the vicinity of the nest disk during this time with many attempting to break apart copulating pairs.

Queens are fully claustral and do not venture out to feed when founding, instead solely relying on their fat reserves and wing muscles to sustain themselves and their brood.

Like most species belonging to the genus Pogonomyrmex, P. badius is equipped with a stinger capable of delivering a highly potent and painful neurotoxic venom adapted for defense against predatory vertebrates.