Here is a technique you can try. It requires some patience but usually results in a pairing within five to ten minutes.
Get a bucket full of sand or soil and a tree branch or piece of dowelling(1/4" diameter) and about three feet long. Push the tree branch (dowel) into the soil/sand at a 30-40 degree angle off vertical.
Go into a room where there is enough light to see but not so much that light will distract moths. If I sit at my kitchen table, there is enough light (no fixtures on in the kitchen) filtering in from living room for me to proceed.
I take the female moth from her cage and hold her between the thumb and index fingers of my left hand at the juncture of thorax and wings with wings folded. This should be done at her normal calling time. She will likely stop calling when you first disturb her, but she will shortly resume. I move her so that she can grasp the stick(dowel) with her legs, but I don't release her even after she has a good foothold.
I'm right-handed and take the male with the same grip in my right hand. I pass his antennae right by the female's scent gland as closely as possible without making contact and then move him and allow him to grasp the same stick/dowel so that his abdomen and the female's are "belly to belly".
Once the moths have paired, I will hold them for a minute or so and then carefully release both moths to their holds on the stick/dowel. They should remain this way, undisturbed for the next 20 hours.
If you find that the stick is getting in the way of the pairing, put the moths belly to belly, and then, after they have coupled, bring them to the stick. With a little coaxing,you can get them to release each other (foot and leg hold) and grasp the stick or cloth or wire screen.
My wife is very tolerant, but she does not like moths flying around inside the house. I have a large wire cylinder/cage that I use to surround/cover the pair so that if they separate when I'm not around, the moths are still entrapped. I use this same large cage to enclose my smaller outdoor mating cages where wild males have flown in to mate with caged females. I bring these cages in before daybreak to protect moths from birds. I just put the smaller mating cage on the floor and carefully lower the larger cage over top and use a flat cardboard cover.
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