Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Fullerton, California. I own some property in northern California(east of Redding, CA). I have always seen these big shiny black ants crawling all around the forests there, but in the past couple of years I have found the queens walking around on the ground. I have always wanted a colony of my own, and I tried with several different species but have never been successful. I have caught two queens in two old peanut butter jars about 6 1/2" tall and 4" wide. I don't have a photo, but I have studied it enough to find some information on it. They are Giant Carpenter Ant(Camponotus laevigatus) queens. And they are 5/8"(15mm) and are found in the forests of the Rocky, Cascade, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I do not have any more information about them other than that. I really need help from someone that has more experience in taking care of a colony or someone that knows more about this species. I have found some websites with for caring for ants but nothing for a colony or directly focused on the care of the species. I would like to know if it would be safe to move one of the them into a bigger container so the colony will have more room grow if so, I would like to know the substrate that should be used. Also, the entrance to both of the newly made nests have collasped during transport (is this a problem?) between the two locations. And I would really like to know the diet of these ants for obvious reasons. If any one can give me some advice, information, links or just plain help with taking care of this species and the colony I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Below is a basic site for rearing ants. I would suggest to do a search on myrmecology. I believe there are some groups/forums that deal with rearing ants & their colonies.
Link

Click on link, below:
Link