I am looking for puppets for sale wide mouth half bodies for behind stage work cartoon like or animals. I m busy with a large sponsorship campaign in south Africa and am looking to get some wonderful new puppets for our shows.. Thanks in advance anyone who can help

no one knows of a shop or supplier darn it? ive googled but don't find what I am looking for

It could be the search term you're using. The only people I know of who use "wide mouth" as a term for puppets are bloggers, not puppet sellers. Try searching for "muppet" or "foam puppet" or "people puppets" or something along those lines.

Your local UNIMA centre should have more info about local sellers. They represent puppetry in SA.
http://www.unimasouthafrica.org/

thank you so very much will take a look there

I have tried contacting unima they seem a little iffy to be honest

I have tried contacting unima they seem a little iffy to be honest

What do you mean by 'iffy'?

UNIMA is generally a good place to start if only because they tend to be the only organisation directly created for puppeteers. Each centre can differ in the amount of information they have or can offer, but usually they have a good mailing list and a publication that gets sent out to members. I believe South Africa has one of the largest puppet festivals, certainly the best known on the African continent (from where I stand which is on the other side of the world and which I see now has old info on their website). Granted they do not sell puppets, but they might be your best bet at getting a message out to their member puppeteers.

If they are not very helpful, then you can try the mailing list at Puptcrit.org, where puppeteers from around the world gather. It's a more diverse bunch of people and some of them may be near you or have contacts in your area.

Oh - and someone else you might want to try:
http://www.puppetrynews.com/
Gary Friedman. He's an Australian now, but originally from South Africa. I know he does a great deal of traveling so he may have current and/or old contacts he could pass on. His website may have some useful links too.

What about eBay or Etsy? There are always puppets on there...

I was just going to mention Etsy. They have some great stuff on there.

Thank you I have been reading all your advice and found a couple of suppliers on esty that postage wont kill me lol and I have actually had some sponsors send money so its going well thanks for all the hard work

Not sure what you mean exactly on 'wide mouth' but I make and sell.  You can find some of my work at PuppetSmithArts.com".  I have a lot more inventory right now, I am just waiting until after PUPPETCOrN'.  Then I'll post them on Etsy.