Camponotus Sp. Queen acquired, some questions

[Bolten]

Hello folks. Been following the youtube channel for almost 5 years and caught what I thought was a queen way back then that never laid eggs (or if she did she ate them before I saw them). Never saw a queen ant since (though I was not really looking to be honest).
Until the other day at work, I suddenly saw a couple dozen male Camponotus alates on our floor-to-ceiling windows just chilling out not moving, and saw none for about a week until I caught this gal in the same spot. Thanks to SYUTEO over at the Identification Center for helping ID the species and gender.
I've had her since 8/21 but she has yet to lay eggs. I had her in a black plastic souffle cup with holes punched into the lid for the first 3 days until I got a test tube set up. I wetted the end of a Q-tip which i cut off the paper stick and put in the souffle cup, but it seemed to dry rather quickly. She has been in the tube for 2 days now. Any tips or suggestions would be welcome!

She seems be tucked in tight to the cotton at the end of the tube, opposite the side with the water. Is it possible the cotton got too moist and the tube is too humid? I live in Southwest Florida (Ft Myers to be specific) so it is naturally always pretty humid, and it's considered a "sub-tropical" area so idk if hibernation would even be a thing here? It is summer time so it's always around 80-105+ degrees, even at night it's usually 75-85 degrees. We keep the appartment at around 77/78 so maybe it's too cold in here? Or it's just too soon?

photos are here:
https://imgur.com/a/hGZ41fi

[AntsLuxembourg]

It could be too early. The question is always the same. Fertile or not.
What you can do is to offer her a nice dark place where she is undisturbed. Only check once per week. As long as she isn't pulling on the dry cotton, it should be fine.

[Bolten]

Hey thanks for the quick reply. I tucked her inside a shirt on a box in my closet as you can kind of see in the photo, keeping the door closed. Might be some noise from the TV going through the wall, and I occasionally go in there once a day for a shirt but I usually don't even turn the light on (the test tube is covered up either way)

[AntsLuxembourg]

Sounds good. The noise shouldn't do anything. Unless you turn on the Bass to the max and make her Party Hard. ^^

[Bolten]

Still no eggs. Have checked on her three, maybe four times in the past two weeks for maybe 10 seconds each time, just to see if there were eggs and if it looked like she was pulling at the cotton. The test tube cotton on water side is starting to grow mold, so I will likely put her in a new tube tomorrow.
Just got home after little less than a week out of town and checked on her.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Yeah maybe it is the testtube. Try a second or third one.

[Bolten]

Still, no eggs. She has been in a nice new test tube since I posted last. Looks like 1 wing came off but otherwise she just runs back and forth when i pull out her tube

[CombinedHalo467]

possibly infertile tho i dont know hope it turns out

[AntsLuxembourg]

Most likely yes. I thought it could have been this.

After a newly mated queen settles into her claustral chamber (or test tube) how long does it take for her to lay eggs?
In most cases, it takes a queen anywhere between a few hours to a week to lay eggs. Some queens, especially those caught prior to winter, i.e. hibernation season, may hold off laying eggs until after hibernation. These queen ants will start laying eggs by Spring.

https://www.AntsCanada.com/ant-biology/

But since you caught the queen during august it seems a bit unlikely and quite a long stretch. :/
You can try to keep her and wait some more.