Help! queen abandoning colony

[antnest8]

Hi it's not often that i post for help but a colony of mine (the red dragons) which is a camponotus noveboracensis colony has a queen that won't stay in the nest!. i when't into my room and looked at the setup like always they had blocked the entrance to the the test tube with dirt. i just wondered how the colony would react if i squirted water near the nest entrance. so i did and then i looked onto the card board i had covering the test tube and just sitting their is their queen. seeing this i brushed her off of the cardboard and then turned the test tube around to face her. next i pulled out the cotton and the straw that were in it so their was room for the queen to walk in and she did. i thought that was the end of it so i fed them because i felt sorry for the ruckus. the colony accepted the queen back so i knew that the colony did not kick her out.

after watching for a time i saw the queen slip out of the tube again and this time i watched her. She just ran around for a while then settled down then ran then settled down and the finally found a good spot to rest. By now i am freaking out because without the queen in the colony they would die eventually. so i dripped water on her. eventually with the water a corralled her into the entrance area of the test tube but instead of going in she walked out and then tried to climb the walls with no avail. So here i am with a disobedient queen who will not join her colony. does anyone have any idea's how to fix this?

[antnest8]

so i was able to get her in the test tube and loosely plug it with cotton. she was fine a resting in their for like an hour. Then she got out Again . after this i decided to leave for the night and wait. So i just woke up and the queen was found right next the to entrance of the tube with 2 workers. then when i opened the lid they started to run away to the other side of the terrarium. the colony has a big brood pile of ~20 small larvae and 1 big larvae and one pupae. so i have time.

i have a couple more ideas like
1 place a new test tube in so the queen will move in and then the colony with her.
2 try and get her back in the test tube and plug the hole tighter with the straw
3 switch containers with another small colony of mine
4 Fail-Safe: trap the queen back in the test tube and make the colony a test tube grown colony.

[antnest8]

ok wow. i switched the containers with the other colony so now they are in a test tube connected to a test tube portal. i trapped the queen in the tube and she is wanting to get out still. i hope she settles down enough to lay eggs. other than that i provided another test tube for them to move into. hope it works out.

[PwnerPie]

She doesnt like that home. Give her another place to settle and let her choose, her colony will follow. My queens sometimes run around, normally end up in a worker dragging her back, haha. I wouldnt worry about it, just give her options. Alot of campnotus queens arent a big fan of test tubes, they have trouble getting proper grip.

[antnest8]

i have another test tube attached and the colony always has at least 1 worker in it. so i guess that's a good sign