Kristi -
they are called sugar ants around here but who knows what they are.
It was aphids on the fred ives and roses. i brought ladybugs in and the aphids went away but the ants that were farming them were still there. They started cutting wounds into the plants then sucking up the juice. They really really like the chalk sticks and young prickly pear pads other then that they dont eat anything.
When we took out the front chimney in my home it damaged the plater on the inside of the room. In the process of repair i removed 5 sq feet or so of plaster and found a massive ant nest between the layers of paint and wallpaper and the plaster. They had a entrance in the mantel and another one 6 feet away in the driveway slab outside!!! An hour after i found in the wall they started pouring out of the driveway!!!
