Wandering Violin Mantids?

[CustomNature]

Does anyone know where in the heck I can get ahold of some Wandering Violin mantids?? I'm willing to pay good money for the little guys, as well as Orchid mantids. If any of you guys have them for sale, be sure to let me know! Thanks guys!

Chinese Mantis​

 

[CustomNature]

oops, wasnt supposed to have two pics! :wall:

 

[Sheldy]

Where do you live?

If your in america your kinda screwed.... Although if everything goes well deshawn may have some in about months.

 

[CustomNature]

dag nabbit

Yeah, I live in America. I dont recall if mantids arent shipped over seas because its illegal, or it's unsafe for the insects?? Which is it? Also, if I really have that hard of a time getting ahold of them, I might look into getting the proper permits to recieve over-seas items. I think the ole government would hand them out to just about anyone as long as you give them the money they wantted.

 

[Sheldy]

Give Deshawn a try for your mantid needs, he doesnt have violins, but he has some species atleast! www.mantiskingdom.com

 

[Wade]

The vague way the USDA regs are written, almost any insect could be defined as a pest, but I don't think they regard mantids that way at the present time, as we have plenty of other neat exotic mantids available. My guess is that they don't ship well and a transatlantic trip is just too much for them. Still, it surprising somebody doesn't have them.

It seems like I saw them on a list some years ago, but at a very high price, like $65 each. Quite an ivestment for delicate, short lived animals.

Wade

 

[luther]

Is it really hard to get WV's in America? Shame.

Here, drool over one of mine while you wait.

 

[Sheldy]

Nice image!

Violins seem to have gone from very rare to very common this year in England! Wonderful, if you like them, or like me have a tank for them that is so big you could fit inside it!

Tough luck for the americans not being able to get them, i hear that they have "unicorn" mantids, which i cant remember the latin name for - similar to violins, except not as communual, and a much greater pain in the ass, or so i hear.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Unicorns are a lot hardier than WVs and even take a longer time to grow (hatch Sept.-Oct. in the wild at are adult around the following August). Rather impressive looking too for a mantis with a long life cycle. They eat crickets and big things though which of course makes them a ton easier. I've had Gongylus, they are magnificient but not if you like something hardy or something that eats anything other than flies. Adult unicorns have bright green wings which is another plus. The only drawback to unicorns is (as they do have an appetite for huge prey animals) they should be seperated after hatching because they eat each other like there's no tomorrow (and if you don't seperate them there isn't

One thing about US hobbyists is they tend to only want what's not around at the time. Probably because then they don't have to pay for it . I guess it is always more fun to want what you can't get...
People begged me for unicorns for years --there have been pics up on my US Insect site for years, I think I took this one in 95 or 96?-- and while they aren't hard to get rid of they aren't gone as fast as one would expect based on previous requests. Deadleafs people have begged for and now I have them on a regular basis and they are all taken but not nearly as fast as I would expect. Even when orchids and WVs were common over here they didn't go very fast. As soon as the unicorns are all gone I'm sure everyone will be saying how they want them 'soooo baadly' :liar: