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May I ask why you thought to use hydrogen peroxide? It is not a harmless chemical. A very dilute 3% solution is sold to consumers but it still shouldn't be ingested by humans as it can cause vomiting and irritation of the stomach lining. Now imagine how much smaller a mantis is and the fact that...

Lol, that's great! Yeah two different females loved laying their ooths in that same spot no matter what I tried to coax them away from it. I have another pair of females that I plan to move from deli cups to a terrarium after their next molt, we'll see if they like that spot too. I...

Sounds like a plan. Lowering the temperature about 5 degrees will probably help as will adding more excelsior. When I put in excelsior it touches.all the sides of the cup and up to 2 cm below the lid. I do pack it fairly densely to give them more surface area but make sure it's loose enough that...

As far as I know. I've only kept R.basalis but other Rhombodera species have similar habitats so I would venture their needs are also similar. It isn't far off from basic mantis care anyway. R. basalis are very hardy and can tolerate some variation in their environment.

My ghosts seem to prefer laying on the 1/4" dowel rods I use on the lid of their terrarium to hold the screen in place. Overall they seem to like laying on branches of about 1/4" or slightly thicker but under 1/2" in diamenter. They also like laying high up in general, near the ceiling whenever...

I have a M/F pair of basalis currently and have also had the species several times in the past. My current male is adult and the female is one molt from becoming adult. They are long lived for a mantis and aggressive eaters. They are easy to hand feed with feeding tongs (6" long pointed tip...

(I accidentally hit 'Submit' mid-post and you replied before I was done editing so you didn't get the full advice, lol.) It might not be how many flies used to start the culture, especially if less makes it take really long to get started. It could be any of the reasons I listed or a...

Maybe it is. I culture fruit flies with the same fabric lids and do sometimes get a little migration of pupae along the edges of the lid but not even close to enough that it's blocking air flow. There are a few main reasons that overpopulation/migration might be happening: adding too many flies...

When I was a beginner this was one of my very first questions. I asked about heat treating branches because I had read about it on the dendroboards regarding frog enclosures so I tried baking the sticks in a 200° oven for an hour...and ended up turning the ends of the sticks into charcoal. I...

It helps if you wait until females display calling behavior, when they do this they are primed to mate and you'll see more tolerance of males. It doesn't seem to matter if the females are young or old at that point. It also helps to wait a bit longer than two weeks for a female's first mating...

Give her a large prey item to keep her busy before introducing him. Then try to put him directly on her back without her seeing him. Easier said than done, I know but  I've successfully done this a few times without the female noticing at all but it takes patience and slow fluid motions so you...

Male ghosts only live about 6 to 8 weeks once they become adults but females can live as long as 6 months after becoming adults so I wouldn't worry about speeding the males up or slowing the females down. They'll catch up to each other soon enough. Male subadult ghosts typically eat less than...

A fan will help circulate the air but it's not going to lower the temperature as much as you need. You can try adding a wet towel behind the fan but not blocking air flow to help cool the air by evaporation. It can lower the temperature in that small area by as much as 10°F. This is a crude...

I can't tell from the pic where her eye is injured but sometimes the pseudopupil will change size or look different day to day. If she really is vision impaired that may be why she's having trouble recognizing food. Try holding the fly directly against her mandibles to see if that triggers a...

Yep, you've gone crazy. Lol

You can zip the enclosure, that's not going to prevent her from laying. Even if you do startle her a bit, she'll just wait until she's comfortable again and has some privacy to do it.  I know it's exciting, especially the first time but don't sit there watching her, just leave her to it and...

@hysteresis I assumed you were trying to breed them but now that I think of it you've only been asking questions on how to get spikes to pupate/hatch into flies. But yeah, you might want to try breeding them if you can't find a cheaper source, can't be too much harder than what you are already...

Ah I see. I'm not familiar with import requirements, those are some expensive flies. I can see why you are trying to breed them yourself. 

Yeah if he's been done a while and doesn't connect anymore he needs a break away from her to eat and chill. You can place a branch next to him and gently coax him onto the branch from off her back. I'm thinking one of the reasons he won't dismount is because he doesn't feel safe, there's nowhere...

Good luck with your latest yield, hopefully you can keep propagating your own BBF supply but just in case you need a source of BB spikes that ships to Canada there's Rainbow Mealworms. They use FedEx and offer both Priority and Express options but not sure how much the shipping would come out...