MantidLord
Well-known member
Okay, so two days ago I went to Petsmart to buy some fruit flies. They only sell flightless fruitflies, and I bought two viles and went home. When I got home, I opened up one of the mantis containers where I had about 20 L1 Iris oratoria nymphs. I opened up the foam plug, and tried to tap the fruitflies into the container. But when I tried, about a dozen small fruitflies flew out of the vile. I quickly closed the container back up. After closer inspection, I realized that there were both hydei and melanogaster in the vile. Petsmart only sells hydei, and that's what the vile says as well. Yet there are smaller fruitflies in the viles as well. Not only that, but they can fly. The hydei still can't fly, they can only jump around. But since they're in the same container, I had to freeze the vile for a little while. That worked well yesterday, but today got even worse. I was trying to feed some more nymphs, so I put the vile in the freezer. I forgot about it, and about 20 minutes later, I ran to the freezer and took the vile out. None of them were moving, same as yesterday, so I figured they'd get up eventually and start crawling/flying around. Now its about 2 hours later, and they're still not moving. Not even the maggots are moving. So now I have to wait and see if the pupae will hatch as well, or die like the rest of them seemed to have done.
So, does anyone know if the flies will get up, or are they dead? Also, has anyone ever have this happen to them, should I tell the store what happened? I was actually kind of glad that they could fly, but not that I had to freeze them and not happy with the results. Any advice or opinions on what to do and about the fruitflies is greatly appreciated. Thank-you
So, does anyone know if the flies will get up, or are they dead? Also, has anyone ever have this happen to them, should I tell the store what happened? I was actually kind of glad that they could fly, but not that I had to freeze them and not happy with the results. Any advice or opinions on what to do and about the fruitflies is greatly appreciated. Thank-you