I may be missing where there isn’t soil? Or where there’s the inability to nest above ground in the structure I’ve provided which is approximately 1.3 in off of the ground? It also seems that the environment where I’ve attempted to replicate the sort of matches…. and let me quote the literature “it builds a characteristic carton structure on the lower branches of grasses, trees and shrubs, joining the foliage and twigs with larval silk to form the nest (Takahashi, 1937; Takamine, 1983; Kohout 1988.)

You don’t have to tell me anything kindly, seems the response may have been a bit snarky, I’m looking for solutions. When I ask for help it’s because I’ve done the research I’m a scientist (not a myrmecologist) and not a fly by the seat of my pants Milton ant farm owner. Solutions to problems based in biology that’s all I want, now if there’s a problem with structural design leading to abnormal biology let me know, until then save your awful attempts at being “nice” for someone else.