Question about building materials! (Also a question about feeding)

[AntSquirrel]

So, I know some ants are sensitive to various chemicals. But I won't be able to buy a fancy setup for my two small but growing colonies. (One tetramorium caespitum, the other camponotus modoc) I very much want to make really fancy and pretty setups, that will likely end up being as much art as they are ant nests. Are there any paints, glues, and other building materials that are both safe and easy to get? I'm hoping to use some sort of clay to build the majority of the land in my formicariums, so it can harden and keep the details I'll put in. Also, are fake plants generally safe? Or are there sometimes problems with dye? Each colony only has four-six workers right now so I have a bit of time to work on these.

Also! Soon they'll need food, as in the next batch of workers will make about ten. But I can't risk any escapes right now or I may not get to keep these ants. Would it be okay to place their test tubes in small containers with no decorations and put straws in the cotton blocks in their test tubes so they can access the food in the container but outside their test tubes? And how often do I feed them?

[Antloverhuman]

Feed them once a week with protien and sugars and i guess the setup you are considering is fine. Just make sure that the straw size is the same as the size of the workers so not alot of air passes and disturbs the colony.

I used regular cement to make my ant nests used regular school glue to fix the acrylic glass on (but i later used more cement and created a boundary around the acrylic as cement absorb water and weakens the glue). But tetramorium could chew through cement so u would have to use a different material
Thats all i know