Hello & a question.

[snakeinthegrass]

Hello, my name is Ken & I live in sunny Scotland. I am an experienced reptile & tarantula keeper but have only recently branched out into mantis & stick insect keeping. Now wondering why it took me so long, they are wonderfully entertaining little creatures!

Perhaps someone can assist & tell me what  the enclosed pic shows. Found at the bottom of my giant african mantis enclosure.

 

[Cole 78]

Also, welcome to the Mantid Forum! It's a great, thriving community! Everyone heard is happy to have another member! Welcome from New York!

 

[Synapze]

Welcome! 

That looks like some type of pupae. Strange looking. Is your mantis an adult and female? 

 

[snakeinthegrass]

Major & Synapze, thanks for your replies. My first thought was eggs but there has not been any sign of a large egg case stuck to a branch which I thought mantids emerged from.

 

[Rick]

Welcome. Look like fly pupae. Is your mantis wild caught? These pupae remind of of the type of fly larvae that emerge from a mantis and then pupate. Does your mantis have a wound? In my pic below you can see these parasitoid flies killed the mantis upon emerging. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

welcome.

Somehow they look like fruitfly pupea. But I can be wrong... I hope it is not something like in the pic that @Rick  posted

 

[snakeinthegrass]

Mantises bought on line as females, L4 or L5. Both have shed at least twice. These are hard to the touch & appear to have antennae & have appeared in both mantis' enclosures. In fact having checked my female giant asian mantis has also got them in her enclosure. Also bought on line from a different source.

None of the mantises have a wound, very healthy, eating well. Quite sure it's not fly larvae, thank goodness. I have fruit fly cultures but their pupae are much smaller & do not have the antennae. Puzzling.

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Major Those are not ooths. They look more like fly pupae like everyone else has said. Strange! 

@snakeinthegrass Welcome to the forum! 

- MantisGirl13

 

[ausar318]

Welcome to the forum! 

As most have already said, they are definitely fruit fly pupae. They probably fell out of the cup when the mantids were being fed.

heres a pic of one of my cultures. you can see that they are the same

View attachment 11295

 

[Prayingmantisqueen]

Definitely not a mantis related egg.. I am leaning torwards ff paupae like @ausar318 is saying.

Welcome to the forum! We have lots of fun (and learning) here!

 

[Rick]

They do look like fruit fly pupae. Are you feeding them flies of any type? 

 

[Connor]

Definitely fruit fly pupae. These get knocked into my mantis enclosures all the time

 

[snakeinthegrass]

Thanks folks, you have definitely nailed it, fruit fly eggs it is>

 

[MantisGirl13]

Thanks folks, you have definitely nailed it, fruit fly eggs it is>

Good, I am glad we figured it out!

- MantisGirl13