Test tube set up-what went wrong?

[Helianthus]

Hi-
I'm new to ant keeping, and I'm trying to get my first colony started. I found five tetramorium queens without wings last week and put them in test tube set ups just like I saw on YouTube, etc. I checked them today and found three of the queens dead. One had a little pile of eggs, but the other two were just plain dead. I wonder what I did wrong? I used filtered water in a plastic test tube and kept them in a dark closet that stays at 80+ degrees. I think the end of the cotton dried because I put too thick of a wad or maybe I didn't push it deep enough? Maybe there was just something wrong with the queens to begin with?
Thankfully, two of them are looking fine with a pile of eggs.

[Alexander]

You would have to post a picture to be sure

[MaxGen]

It happens, they could have been injured prior to you catching then, or when you handled them catching and placing them into the tube.

You still have 2, so you are doing it right so far...

[AntsLuxembourg]

I heard ofrom some people that this actually can happen that the queens just randomly die for no reason but it could have multiple reasons.