Help... Not an antkeeper, trying to save a Queen

[Tetellix]

Hello everyone,

New to this kind of forums, i've never kept ants or have any experience with insects but I desperately need your help.

While destroying an old wooden dog house, I found what seems to be a Queen ant (carpenter black ant maybe, I have no idea).
She was alone in a small hole of rotten wood with a few larvae (around 6) and despite waiting for about 30 mins no other ants came, i only found another big ant dead body nearby.

I didn't feel like leaving her on the ground, so I took her and the larvae i could grab (around 4) and put her in a test tube following antkeepers tutorials (water, cotton etc) and put her in a shoe box so she's in the dark at room temperature. She kept her larvae in her mouth for a while while i transferred her and now (a day later) seems to be either very calm or dying ?

My goal is not to start a colony, but since the house had to be destroyed i didn't know what to do with her... Should i wait, if it happens, for her larvae to grow and then release her somewhere in nature ? should i release her now ?

I live in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, France, a french cold island next to Newfoundland, Canada. I really hope some of you will be kind enough to help me.

[Attatexana]

The first thing to do would be to identify the queen; these are some of the common Camponotus ants in France: Camponotus ligniperdus, aethiops, cruentatus, fallax, lateralis, ligniperda, piceus, pilicornis, sylvaticus, universitatis, and vagus. Sorry if I missed a few I live in Texas.

[Tetellix]

The first thing to do would be to identify the queen; these are some of the common Camponotus ants in France: Camponotus ligniperdus, aethiops, cruentatus, fallax, lateralis, ligniperda, piceus, pilicornis, sylvaticus, universitatis, and vagus. Sorry if I missed a few I live in Texas.

I just want to mention that Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is french but it's not located near France at all, so the ants are probably different from those you'd find in France. We're really close to Canada.
As for identifying the Ant, I really have no experience in that.
Would identifying her help decide if I should let her out somewhere or keep her for a while ?

[Attatexana]

Maybe, however the web is not giving me answers on to which species live in Canada it just brings up AntsCanada related stuff.

[Attatexana]

Sorry about that it is cool you live on a island. Any exotic ants there (Like in Australia)?

[Attatexana]

I would say that this point go with your gut and resource areas good for her release and maybe you should keep her for the first year because only a very slim percent of Camponotus survive the first year. Also you might as well take this opportunity to give yourself the great chance of raising your very own Camponotus colony it is a great and unforgettable experience.

[Tetellix]

Thank you for your quick answers, I appreciate it a lot.
I don't think we have any really exotic ants here, as it's quite cold year long, but again I don't know much about any of this.

Here are two pictures, the first one where I found her, the second one in her test tube. Maybe this will help ?

I can't say I haven't considered keeping her, it's truly amazing, but I feel i lack the knowledge and confidence to raise a colony (always been a little scared of insects, heh). She seems to have settled down and stopped pulling on the cotton, her eggs/larvae are still there. Does it mean her test tube set up is "okay" ?

[Attatexana]

Looks all good and don't worry you will do fine I can't find her species anywhere and I have look at many sources so I would keep her she must be rare. Do you have any similar ants nearby? If so do not leave anything out.

[Attatexana]

Also I appreciate that like most people you did not just kill her. Are you an AntsCanada fan.

[Attatexana]

Thank you for sharing this it seems it is a pretty rare ant there are no web documents about it. So maybe it is exotic to the Canadian region.