My pupae hatching/feeding method.

[Synapze]

I hatch my fly pupae individually in several 1 oz plastic condiment cups with lids. Once one hatches, I put the small container in the freezer for 1 minute to stun and feed to my mantids... also a good time to remove the empty case to keep the enclosures clean. I then place another pupae in the container and move it to the end of the line.  When the pupae are fresh, I continue to use one fly per cup and as the pupae hatch rate declines (2-3 weeks average for me depending on dealer) I increase the number of cups. When I get about 10 unhatched cups of pupae lined up, after 4 days it's safe to assume hatching is unlikely. I then put all remaining pupae in one large container for a while to see if there are any late bloomers. Sometimes you'll get lucky!  I had one order with an estimated 90% hatch rate. I wish that was always the case.

PS: Always use tongs! If you've ever witnessed how the pupae are prepared you'd understand why and they have the potential to make you very sick. ?

 

[Mantis Lady]

I saw a fly culture in the pet store. it looked gross. I didn't buy it.I can imagine they are in something very dirty.?

 

[mantidmomma]

I feel like I will NEVER get this right!  LOL!  My last batch would not hatch when placed in the habitat with my mantids. I was able to hatch them in another cup and do the freezer method to get them where they needed to be.

I recently bought another batch from another person.  I have not had ONE hatch!    NOT ONE!  LOL!  I have 20 deli containers outside in the heat, none of those have hatched. I have the same in the third floor of my home. None.  And the same on the floor we spend the most time on. Still none!

Since I have had this twice with different suppliers, I am certain it is something I am doing wrong.  Any suggestions???

 

[Synapze]

My house stays a fairly consistent 78°. My sunroom around 80-90° with higher humidity. I've tried both and found no difference in rate, so I just stick to room temp. I may just be lucky... it's certainly not expertise. I'm hoping someone will offer some tips because I'm about to take on 10 more mantids and my luck might run out. :

 

[Ocelotbren]

I do something similar although I hatch a bunch out into a deli cup with a water dish and a food dish (cereal crushed into a powder) so that they last a while.  I put the whole thing in the freezer to stun them and pull out as many flies as I need each time, topping up their water and food as necessary.

Mine are always at room temperature and I don't really do anything special to get them to hatch.  I store the pupae in the fridge until ready to use them.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

I do something almost identical to @Ocelotbren

With bluebottle fly pupae I've had pretty good luck, they usually have a hatch rate of 70 to 90%. I've only had one batch not hatch any bb flies at all (the seller refunded my money.) With houseflies and stable flies I'm lucky to get a hatch rate of 50% because they tend to be really sensitive to cold, they don't last very long in the fridge. I do try to hatch out as many as possible once the hatch rate starts to decline.

I always wash my hands extremely well after handing fly pupae just because they smell weird...kinda like old dog poop. (That's probably not too far off from the truth.) 

I tried to culture flies using a "clean" method that involved a moistened grain bed and milk soaked bread to encourage them to lay but it didn't work. I made four different cultures and two of them become completely covered in mold within a couple days. (The milk/bread is where the mold originated.) The other two only lasted as long as flies do when fed but they never laid any eggs. I wish they were easier to culture without being completely disgusting.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

@mantidmomma

As for how to hatch them, you don't do anything special. Just leave them out at room temperature (70° to 80°F) for a few days. They usually hatch within 12 hours to 3 days, although my last batch of bluebottles was hatching literally 5 minutes after taking them out of the fridge. How long it takes depends on how developed the fly is inside the pupa. The warmer they are the faster they tend to hatch so if you need to rush the process keep them at a higher temp. If I need flies fast I set the cup on top of one of my light hoods where the temps are between 80° to 82°F.

You probably didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes you'll get dud batches and you probably just had the misfortune of having it happen twice from two different suppliers.

 

[Synapze]

I do something similar although I hatch a bunch out into a deli cup with a water dish and a food dish (cereal crushed into a powder) so that they last a while.  I put the whole thing in the freezer to stun them and pull out as many flies as I need each time, topping up their water and food as necessary.

What is the best way to pull out the number of stunned flies you need? I have a hard time working with multiple flies at the same time, that's why I use the single pupae per deli cup method. About a day after I pretended to give good advice on hatching flies ?, the whole system broke down and I ended up with the original container they arrived in about to explode. That would be considered apocalyptic in my household. 

 

[Ocelotbren]

@Synapze I use feeding tongs to grab the flies one at a time by a leg or wing.  It's pretty easy as long as you freeze them to the point that they are quite asleep.

Haha an explosion of flies in the house would not be fun!

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Synapze I use feeding tongs to grab the flies one at a time by a leg or wing.  It's pretty easy as long as you freeze them to the point that they are quite asleep.

Haha an explosion of flies in the house would not be fun!

Wow! An explosion of flies would be very bad in my house! I usually transfer my flies using a piece of toole, but I do it a trickier way because I can have the time to spare  

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

I use long pointed tweezers to remove the stunned flies. Besides the food and water I also put excelsior in the cup with them to give them something to climb on and I can usually pick one off pretty easily.

Before I got good at removing individual flies I used to hobble them by cutting off the tips of their wings with tiny scissors while they were still stunned from the cold so that if I had indoor escapees I could catch them again easily. (I have a fridge in my garage, I would remove the wing tips out there.) Removing the tips of their wings didn't seem to affect their lifespan and the mantises don't eat the wings anyway. That worked pretty well until I got more practiced at being able to pull them out quickly before they woke up. I stopped doing that once I realized it was kinda pointless because I had so few escapees by that time.

 

[hysteresis]

I use a small art paintbrush.

Best case, I sweep the stunned fly along. Worst case, the fly takes air.

LOL JK.    It might climb onto the brush and I just tap it off as required.