Frey - (Poland)

I purchased 2 ooths from Frey around the 19th of August. I was wary of him as he is new, has no breeder feedback, is from Poland (hate to add that in here, but it seems to be a factor in some cases), and has posted in the classifieds for a nice species for a good price.

He was very pleasant to speak with in PM's and sent the parcel August 21. I received it 10 days later (today). He had given me a tracking number, and had checked at least once to see if it had arrived, so communication was good.

One of the ooths had apparently already hatched in the post, as there were 15 nymphs in the plastic bottle that was loosely filled with tissue. It is not the way I would pack to prepare for a hatch in transit, but it appears almost all of them are alive, with the exception of 1 definitely deceased, and 2 or 3 that look like they are not going to make it. Most looked weak and weary from the trip. But I'm hoping they make it. The other ooth looks to be unhatched and in good shape.

From my experience with him, Frey has been a truthful and reliable dealer with me in this transaction. I would likely trade with him again.

Becky Heacox



Edit: Adding pics of the hatched ooth versus the unhatched ooth. The hatched ooth is first. It has been misted along with the nymphs, and thus has water droplets on it. I apologize for the poor quality blurry photo of the unhatched ooth. But I only took one, thought it would come out better than that. But now the ooths are both pinned up in a net cage and have a great swarm of flying D. melanogaster fruit flies guarding them (from me taking them out to take pics). So this pic will have to do!

Hatched



Unhatched



This post has been edited by Katnapper: Aug 31 2009, 08:30 PM

Edit: Despite my best efforts, all nymphs have died.

I'm kind a jelous since I got only 3 nymphs, but still, i did receive main.

I got my ooth today. I am not happy with the packaging but Frey is true to his word. The ooth came, 3 nymphs already hatch out (1 got stuck on a tape). Hereby, I need to apologize for the doubt I put on him. He is a reliable breeder (he just need to learn to pack the ooth properly if he knows the ooth will hatch in 2-3 days)!!! I will deal with him again.

This is the package i received today:



I open it up and there is this bottle wrapped in paper:





I open up the bottle and found 2 nymphs still alive and 1 stuck on a tape:





Here is the ooth, looks hatched (with 3 holes)

freys ooth he sent me started hatching idont know when but 3 healthy nymphs are already out!! sorry about the whole other topic how do i delete it

now about 10 more are out

got my nymphs were in good shape

Hey i just got my Gongylus gongylode's ooth today looks healthy.

I wouldn't have sent an ooth internationally in a flimsy match box but that is just me.

Glad i got my ooth.

Grant

On Aug 22. I was approached by Frey about trading a couple of Oaths.

On Aug 25 I mailed the Ooths to Frey. Frey was to do the same.

On Sept 7 . Frey confirmed receipt of ooths from me.

January 8,2010 I received a package from frey that was mailed to Canada by mistake.

Charles

I ordered 2 ghost ooths from frey. They arrived very soon after ordering them and they look great. (good size and color) They were packaged well also. I'm can't wait to see a bunch of ghost nymphs. Will update when they hatch.

Rodney

Did a trade with Frey and when i sent it he kept asking if i sent mines and i told him yes but since he lives in poland or w/e and he didnt give me his address in english they sent it back and i sent him a message and nothing back and i never recieved the ooth we supposly traded i dont think he even sent it i woud not recommend this person to nobody!!!

I got a package from Justina today, which was mailed Priority on 280909 (insanely, 092809 in the US), with a valid tracking number making it the fastest mail from Poland that I have ever received. It was in an envelope, in a 35mm film canister, very well wrapped. The ooth itself appears to be sound.

Now here's the interesting thing. It appears identical to the ooth in Kruszakus's picture above. I wonder if the recipient of that ooth didn't get Omomantis zebrata instead of Phyllocrania paradoxa, the ghost mantis. If so, he made a profit on the deal! If not, we shall both get a Surprise Mantis!

As always, I shall post when the ooth hatches and notify Justina.

One more thing. The name that Justina uses, "Frey" is always masculine (a masculinization of Freya or Freyja as I'm sure the vast majority of you don't know), but this forum member is a woman. It is a grotesque discourtesy to call her a man, regardless of the supposed size of her hands!

I bought 2 ooths from Frey after the last transaction appeared to go smoothly. I finally received them today, along with some nymphs which appear to be L1 (in seperate containers from the ooths). Again, I would not have shipped them in the packaging method he/she uses; but it does appear to work, as 14 nymphs of 16 survived. The ooths look good. I have no way of confirming the identity of either the ooths or the nymphs, but I hope and trust they are indeed Omomantis zebrata.

I can only give my opinion of my experience with Frey. And in my experience, it appears I have received what I paid for.

Edit: Added pics





This post has been edited by Katnapper: Oct 15 2009, 09:28 PM

Update: 12/19/2009 - 7 of the live nymphs sent ultimately have survived, 2 reaching adulthood, and the others sub or pre-sub as of now. Neither of the ooths hatched.

Given the time and temperature variations involved in shipping ooths from Europe to the U.S., I have always thought that it is to the credit of European breeders and The Great Mantis Goddess (Blessed be Her Name) that so many of them hatch upon arrival. I have had successful hatches from a number of European breeders, but until recently, only Kruszakus made an explicit guarantee of hatching. Recently, a second breeder, Frey, gave a similar written guarantee, and as with Kruszakus, there was no need to invoke it. Her ooth started to hatch just now, so at the moment, I don't know what the hatch will be, but so far, things look promising.!

I had purchased 2 species from Frey at November 2009, one of sub adult sexed pair Schizocephala bicornis and one of sub adult sexed pair Ambivia undata; I was pay money to him/her at same time but I never receive any mantis from him/her until now, I was ask the shipping status of the parcel by PM, he/ she reply me he/she can show me the recipe of sended parcel but I never see that until now!

Very bad experience!!

Great seller, fast and honest, reliable 100 %

Happy purchasing again with her

Great seller :lol: fast , precise and honest

thanks Frey

I ordered some mantids, nymphs and an ooth from Frey on the 8th of this month. They arrived today, and given the fragility of Shizocephala bicornis, I had ordered two pair, I was not too hopeful,. To my surprise, they were alive and well as were six of what look like L1/2 Popa undulata, and the ghost ooth looks fine. I do not particularly like the idea of receiving adult mantids from Europe, but the price was very good, and given previous controversy about this seller, I wanted to see if her packing would be adequate to the task; obviously it was. It is also obvious that her husbandry is of a sufficiently high standard that the mantids were fit enough to survive the trip. So thanks, Frey!

I have recieved my package after 5 or so days to the us, frey has packed very well as these little popa spruca all made it safe and sound I cant stress the packing job enough it was such a great job and tons of food in there with them also! I will order from frey again in the future thank you frey for the extra little ones you added for free also (Chris)

I ordered an ooth from Frey and it arrive along with two nymphs, the one was fine , the other did not make it. The package was very well insulated, in fact it took almost five minutes to open it! The ooth looks fine too, a good size one and I will let u know when it hatches. I will order from Frey again and so far I find nothing wrong with this person!

Never did hatch and no replacements came.