Are these fruit fly pupae?

[jojolobro]

Are these fruit fly pupae? If so, how long does it take for them to hatch? The entirety of the last generation is gone and I have nothing to feed my nymph right now. Sorry if this is a stupid question, new to the hobby.

 

[Connor]

Those are ff pupae. They usually take a couple days to hatch from what I’ve seen. Sometimes the don’t hatch though. Especially if the culture is dead

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

It depends if it’s old pupae from the earlier part of the culture. If that’s fresh pupae it will hatch soon. Is there any fly media left in the cup? You should see maggots squirming around the top of he media and know if there is more to come.

 

[jojolobro]

Definitely fresh pupa. Maggots squirming around in various places. Disgusting. There's still media in there but they depleted it FAST. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Connor]

If there are still maggots there will probably be more flies soon.

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

Yea when is the last time your mantis ate?

 

[jojolobro]

About 3 or 4 days ago. I have wax worms but they aren't interested.

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

How big is your mantis? Is it’s abdomen plump, or is t skinny?

if you have to cut the wax worm in small pieces. Place a piece on the tip of a toothpick and place it carefully at the mantises mouth, it should eat it and hopefully grab onto it.

 

[jojolobro]

Thanks for the advice. I woke up with about 10 or 15 hatched. I was able to feed them. I'll take more precautions in the future by getting more when I get low or they start to die off.

 

[RichOrr]

My frog friends are always advising making a couple of cultures per week. If one crashes, then you have a spare. Make sure your tossing or moving the culture after 4 weeks (for melanogaster - not sure on the time for Hydei) to a different location as you may get mites and you don't want them getting into the newer cultures. There are some really good FF medias on the market to make your own (if you don't already) including Repashy and Glass Box Tropicals.