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The ones I've kept normally lay on both dead and living plant material, but will happily lay them onto cardboard, paper towels, or just on the sides of their containers. By carrots I mean the carrot leaves, and not the root we use as vegetables.

Interesting! Most of the species I encounter here in California diapause over the winter as eggs, maybe it's because we have wet winters and dry summers?

Most assassin bugs will lay eggs that overwinter to hatch the next year--the species you're most likely to encounter will usually lay them in a clump. All you need to do is keep the eggs from dessicating before they hatch. Instead of using dill, I suggest transferring Anise Swallowtail...

Invertebrate sperm can often by kept alive within the female for as long as the female is able to remain healthy enough to maintain them. For example, honeybee queens only mate once and can continue producing fertilized eggs for around a decade.

Mantises can be a bit particular about where they lay their eggs. Phyllocrania seem to have a preference for thin sticks, so provide plenty of those like Sarah said. I'm pretty sure that mantises don't really get eggbound as frequently as people think--it's more that they're looking for just the...

The length of time before molting varies depending not only what stage it's at, but also how well-fed they are and what temperature they're kept at. You can expect a well-fed nymph to molt into L2 within about a week after hatching. You can extend this time considerably if you're not providing...

Most species should be separated within 24 hours of hatching to avoid deaths due to stress and cannibalism. You can keep them in disposable plastic portion cups that are big enough for them to safely molt in--twice their length in width and three times their length in height is a good minimum...

Crickets often are not prolific enough if you have enough pets to feed. Many cricket species are seasonal and will halt development until they experience cues that tell them it's almost breeding season. Acheta domestica is one of the many tropical species where their breeding seasons are nearly...

You generally want to be careful what you use to start a terrarium and what you add into it to ensure you don't introduce pests, predators, parasites, and pathogens. Usually the substrate is some sterilized mix and not something you've dug out of the yard, plants are terrarium-suitable and free...

I've had best luck placing them on the tip of my finger and then putting their faces against the end of the female's wings. They jump right on. I've had less luck picking them up by their thorax and placing them on the female since they tend to become very skittish from being manhandled. You'll...

If you intend on doing a enclosure with a system designed to be somewhat self-feeding, I recommend trying soldier flies. They will feed on decaying organic matter like old vegetables and other compostable materials and the flies will become prey and will not pose a threat to the mantises like...

Banded crickets are only resistant, not immune to the virus. Acheta domestica is very susceptible, so you'll see entire colonies die off. With banded crickets, you'll have just a few die off at a time after exhibiting symptoms. It's quite possible for organisms to be infected with an illness and...

I do not recommend a predator and prey system with the prey being an omnivorous organism with the opportunistic tendencies to go for any available protein sources. In the case of mantis and roaches, you will find the tables will quickly turn as soon as the mantis molts and becomes vulnerable...

The larva-like state we see in newly hatched mantises is considered a protonymph. Many hemimetabolous insects, insects that have nymphs instead of larvae and pupae, have this brief stage after hatching out of their eggs. It is not until they molt out of their protonymph exoskeleton and become...

I've since added substrate so that I could keep some dwarf isopods for mold control. The little ones don't always finish their food and the substrate-less setup was getting rather moldy at the bottom. There's very little ventilation since I've kept a piece of plastic completely covering the...

Those are not bananas, but I do see the resemblance. Those are Bifrenaria harrisoniae, a type of orchid. They produce thick storage bulbs.

The Variable Checkerspot Butterflies have begun to emerge from their chrysalides.

The first nymph hatched yesterday, and a second hatched today. Despite containing well over a hundred eggs and having seen the female mate several times with multiple males, only about a dozen looked developed when the ootheca was held against a strong light.

In most insects, the hardened exoskeleton darkens as the sclerotin hardens even in albinos, so the only real way to tell whether or not some of them are albinos is from the lack of pigments in their eyes since that is the only place you tend not to find non-melanin black pigments. Since insects...

I like both new world and old world tarantulas, but have a preference for arboreals as you're more likely to see them than terrestrials that are properly housed and hidden away in their burrows. I'd also say new world terrestrials are preferable over old world terrestrials. Old world...