# Surprise!



## PhilinYuma (Aug 12, 2011)

In the short time that I have been a member here, I thought that I had heard all the Idolo ooth stories, almost all of them bad. There was the infamous Villosa scandal in which he was supposedly selling WC ooths which didn't hatch. It turned out that in many cases, the failure was due to the fact that the ooths were made of Styrofoam! Then there were Frey's WC ooths none of which hatched so far as I know (except for one which hatched for her!), not surprisingly. Another batch of WC's in which Chun was possibly the only winner or was that from Villosa's genuine batch?), and Mantisfart's one-man war on Ian, then an Admin here, for offering WC's for sale, though he was very careful to point out the rsisks. There have also been regular, if infrequent

So when my partner sent me four very fresh looking Idolo ooths on about the 1st of this month, I didn't even check to see if they were CB and stuck them, two to a pot ,in the back of the hatchery. What's that you say? Get to the part where they hatched? Hey, this is my story!

So guess what? When I made my first check of the ooth this am, both the ooths in one pot had hatched into either Idolo nymphs or small goats, it's a bit soon to say.They are amazing, huge and plentiful, and I guess that i will keep enough to make a series of mounted ones to represent each instar.

This means that the scarcity of this species in the US is likely to become a thing of the past. Until recently, CB Idolo production was controlled by handfull of mostly German hobbyists who have been selling these for interesting prices for years at Hamm, and arguing that the collection of WC ooths in Africa may lead to the extermination of the species. If I were a cynic, I would say that they...but I am not, so I won't. Now, though, Polish commercial breeders are turning them out in the thousands until the effort is no longer finanvcially attractive. I suspect that breeding will still be a problem for a while in the U.S., though, although Sporeworld et al are going a long way towards correcting this and will be get my vote for this year's Mantid Forum Medal of Excellence.

The sad thing is that I am not particularly attracted to these dim witted, unathletic giants. I'll hold onto them until L2, despite their size, and if there is anyone out there who is interested and still doesn't have any (perhaps not by now!), drop me a line, and I'll make a list on Word against the time that they make L2, I'll probably give preference to exchanges, though. Now if only someone could do the same thing for Orchids.

Meanwhile, the financial value of my bugroom has just reached an all time high, so off I go!


----------



## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 12, 2011)

Your so lucky! I want Idolos so bad but they are just so expensive.


----------



## d17oug18 (Aug 13, 2011)

+1 on that, good luck and good job.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 13, 2011)

Good story Phil!


----------



## sporeworld (Aug 14, 2011)

Hahah!

I am very optimistic about their CB sucess!

I, for one, am glad that they are a bit pricey. At least until we get them better situated.

To all the budget-minded people out there interested in these goliaths, send me a PM. When the next generation hatches, I'll know who to contact first.

Looks like maybe Orchids are the next project, huh...?


----------



## Frey (Aug 14, 2011)

Sporeworld said:


> Hahah!
> 
> I am very optimistic about their CB sucess!
> 
> ...


At least  

Next project will be one of the most expensive type of mantis :

Orchids and Yellow Orchids (Paramyhenopus davidsoni) and maybe Toxodera  

Phil, enjoy with these goliaths


----------



## massaman (Aug 15, 2011)

Just hoping that the yellow orchids are bred and sold in the U.S and I refuse to buy them overseas as it seems either scammers claim they have them and dont or some other breeders have them but are not selling any in their possession as they are trying to breed them!


----------



## tier (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi

_Parymenopus davisoni_ Wood-Mason, 1890 (thats the correct name) were newly imported from Malaysia by a German guy. He sold some nymphs, some people bought them and almost all are doing fine with them, causing this species to be available in Germany now - pretty cheap by the way. At least I would sell them for much higher prices, just because they having been rare and highly searched after in the last years. But not because they need so much space, electricity, food and care like _Idolomantis_ which will never be sold cheap by any breeder who invests soooo much into breeding them. Of course people who import them and are not able or willing to keep dozens of them to make sure to be successfull in breeding them but only in selling them as soon as possible (to make sure they dont have the high investment into breeding them)can sell them cheap. Other European countries whose inhabitants visited the last farewell in Hamm also already have _Parymenopus davisoni_ as they were offered by some German breeders in high amounts. They are doing pretty fine this time, in opposite to the last time when they were in culture in 1999-2001 (when only a single German was keeping them).

A lot of new fotos and new breeding sheets are already spreding on the internet nowadays.

regards


----------



## tier (Aug 15, 2011)

Ahh, by the way: This is the homepage of the guy who imported the new stocK:

http://www.pr-tropic.com/

Its available only in german language, but you will find out that

"Start" means start

"Spinnen" means spiders

"Fische" means fishes

"Chamäleons" are chameleons

"Gallerie" is gallery

"Reiseberichte" means documentations of travelling/searching the animals

"Events" are ...well, guess!

"Abgabe" menas offers/to sell and "Links", "Kontakt" and "Impressum" means links, contacts and impressum.

The most interesting are of course the documentations of travelling/searching the animals. If you wanna use your google translator or another translating engine in the internet, you will find out where and when and how the guy found the yellow orchids in Malaysia.

Have fun,

bye


----------

