Ants dying in test tube??

[SSchlueter]

I posted this in the wrong section.

Hi, my name is Sam. I am 9 yrs old and getting started with ant keeping. I have the AC starter pack. I put 3 ants which I think are queens in test tubes and they died. If they were not queens, would they have died? I'm not sure what is going on. I was wondering if you could help me figure out what is going on.
Thanks. Sam

[NKantsalberta]

Hi Sam,

Did you have water in the test tube blocked with cotton? No water will cause the ants to die of thirst

Did you have direct heat on the test tube? Too much heat will cook your ants, regardless of type

What did you use to block the test tube opening? If there was no air flow, they may have suffocated

Do you have a better description or ability to upload images of the ants?

[AntChuck]

Also you need to make sure to sterilize your test tubes before use. If they are new or previously used by yourself they can become contaminated and harm your ants. First hand knowledge of this unfortunately as I had a batch of tubes that killed every queen that was placed in them.

[SSchlueter]

Thank you for questions. I have followed AntsCanada way.

Yes, cotton in AC test tube. No heat, put in shoebox in my closet that isn't hot. I lost another one last night, definitely a queen. We looked under microscope and wing scars present.

I rinsed test tubes before using them with our water (well). I did not handle the queens but let them crawl into test tube.

Here is picture. Not sure what is happening. Thanks for help.
Sam

[SSchlueter]

picture again.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=807561ff2f&attid=0.0&permmsgid=msg-f:1667403015676407996&th=1723ce355eceb0bc&view=fimg&disp=thd&attbid=ANGjdJ-KQTRpg4vKZY54CSCZv5KmBfhRIF54oZkCrYLaAH_29DQmqID_FgRHIkUlIthJ-PKPxr15wb4rYmzkNXczjs7sSsnxRrCWF4l_co_ebVHoGHZT5YK0bGnUxSU&ats=2524608000000&sz=w1108-h580

[ScottSchlueter]

Hey all-
I am the Dad of the OP (Sam). I am trying to assist him. He went on a walk this morning and found a Camponatus queen. I cleaned a test tube with hot water and a small drop of Dawn dish soap, rinsed for 5 mins and let dry. We set the queen up as seen on the videos with washed hands and clean cotton. Thinking of air flow, we reduced the size of the *** SPAM *** that is used to plug open end of test tube (obvious balance with a big ant likely capable of removing *** SPAM ***). I will keep you posted but my fingers are crossed. Sam is getting very upset that he is losing queens for unexplained reasons.

If anyone sees anything wrong with our setup, I would appreciate comments. [I can't upload photo, says "Board attachment quota has been reached" even though I reduced pic size to 76kb].

Thank you.
-Scott