Pupating in the Medium

[LauraMG]

I've read in the culture instructions and through trying to search for an answer that pupating in the medium means it's dry and should be moistened up somehow. However, a lot of my hydei have pupated in the medium already and I don't want to drown them out. Is it bad to have them doing that? Or is it just something that's going to reduce the life of this culture?

 

[SGcvn69]

Good question! I am seeing the same thing and would like to know the answer too!

 

[nickyp0]

i have run into that a few times and what i do is i put all my 32oz containers of FF in a three level storage bin the kind you get at walmart and put a thin lair of water on the bottom to keep the humidly up i don't have any problems. will post pics of in in the morning if it helps

 

[Ghostie]

My medium seems pretty wet still using a normal lid with no holes but a small sponge hole and sponge plug.

No action in there yet though.

 

[Rick]

Pretty sure some will do it no matter what. The medium will go down and expose them eventually. I don't think you can prevent it totally. I have seen that in mine for years.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I mist mine.

 

[LauraMG]

So, it's not a big deal that ALL of them have pupated in there? I think I can see one pupae that actually made it out.

 

[Rick]

So, it's not a big deal that ALL of them have pupated in there? I think I can see one pupae that actually made it out.

Most of mine crawl up the sides and pupate. I've never seen ALL of them do it in the medium. The medium should go down though. Hydei are a pain anyways.

 

[LauraMG]

Hydei are a pain anyways.

Ha! Wish I would have known that before hand! :lol: I won't really need them for much longer unless that ootheca hatches

 

[Rick]

Ha! Wish I would have known that before hand! :lol: I won't really need them for much longer unless that ootheca hatches

They take forever to mature and the failure rate is 100X higher than mels.

 

[LauraMG]

They take forever to mature and the failure rate is 100X higher than mels.

Fantastic. Only reason I have the hydei is because my local Petco was out of the mels, so I drove to one of the OKC suburbs and they had hydei cultures. I have told myself they're better because they're larger and can feed the mantids longer. I guess I'm just lying to myself...