My carpenter ant colony takes up two bookshelves. They have two "outworlds" or places to find food and do ant stuff. They have three nesting spaces. (More about the setup in the alt text. )
Glass on antkeeping enclosures often has a hazy look. We use "fluon" to keep the ants from climbing out. It basically makes a powdery slippery layer near the top of the glass that ants struggle to climb. I wish I could find a solution that didn't look so messy.
The nests are built that way in advance. I can't give the ants wood enough for them to "free dig" because... they'd dig right out and get into my bed probably.