A week of highs and lows
A week of highs and lows, some people love me and others are less than happy with me. Please note I am doing my best, I am just so busy with both work and my private life, I seem to be on a constant merry-go-round! There are lots of changes taking place and I'm not keen on change at all (I obviously cannot go into details in my blog). I have had some really nice people calling to collect orders and look around over the last couple of weeks, this is something that I would like to expand on. The weather can only get worse as winter approaches and it is great if people can collect their orders. Now that the bugs are indoors, I can make people far more welcome, we can sit and chat over a cup of tea. In the old bug house at the bottom of the garden, there was nowhere to sit and nowhere to make tea!
Everything seems to be thriving in the bug room. I'm still trying to get the heating right, some areas are much warmer than others and the outer door is a pain. I'm not sure it can wait until the spring to be replaced. It is so damp that I think it will rot away before then. I need a plastic, well insulated door. A porch would be good but there is no room or funds for that!
It is the AES (Amateur Entomologists Society) annual show tomorrow. I have been attending this show for more years that I would care to remember. It is by far the largest show of the year and it is always great to get together with old friends and have a good chat. I have a very sensible shopping list, comprising mostly of sought after spiders and I will try very hard to stick to it. My hubby will be coming along but he is much softer than our daughter. She wouldn't let me get away with buying anything 'non work' but hubby can generally be got around if I beg enough. However I 'know' I must take care and not bombard myself with too many new bugs as I am already having trouble keeping on top of caring for everything I have. I must keep in mind that November and December are the lowest sales months of the year for me. Approaching Christmas people have far less money to spend on their hobby and of course the schools and universities don't want to take on any new animals before the festive break. Unfortunately we also have an important family party to attend tomorrow afternoon! I am very good at rushing around (plenty of practice) but it will be difficult time wise as we will need to take my new animals home, get changed and rush out again. Sadly neither the show or party are particularly close to where we live. I can't let my hair down as I will have all the new purchases to feed, house and catalogue on Sunday morning!
I picked up a 'Christmas Delivery' leaflet at the Post Office yesterday. I hadn't thought about it but as Christmas day is on a Wednesday, my last posting day will have to be the Thursday before (which is certainly earlier than I would like). Talking of Christmas again, one thing I was determined to get right this year was my Christmas cards. Last year's card wasn't really a success, my great-nieces looked lovely but all the bugs that we arranged on the mini Christmas tree were just too small to see properly. This Wednesday I had it all written in the diary to do the photography and yesterday hubby helped me order them online. It was the usual chaos of bugs walking off, flying off and generally wrecking my carefully put together set. It took ages but was great fun and I think the result is pretty good. Please don't get too excited, it is as daft as ever but so many people have told me that they enjoy my cards that I just had to do it. If I ever get the time I would like to do some more birthday cards (I am not thinking of selling them! Just giving them out to bug loving customers/friends)
Updates from the bug room:
I have now sold three snakes, most are now feeding well (I wouldn't sell any that haven't yet fed). I do still have a few that won't feed whatever I do and believe me I have tried everything, even dipping the pinkie mouse in tuna fish. This was a tip from a very experienced snake keeper but my little babies were having none of it. I tried giving them a bath and letting them have a nice swim. They seemed to enjoy it but were no hungrier afterwards. It is such a shame as once they have had their first meal I have had no problems at all. Every one of them has then eaten the next time it was offered food. They are so cute that I will do my best and keep trying. I am a little worried about becoming too attached, I can keep a couple but not 17! I have a friend who will sex them for me but they are too small and delicate at the moment.
My part male and part female Jungle Nymph stick insect is still going strong and moulting ok. I can see some colour appearing so it will be interesting to see how much of the body will be green like the female and brown like the male.
My pair of Avicularia spiders have been living together for a couple of days now. I haven't seen any mating but hopefully it has taken place at night. I don't want to push my luck so I will separate them today and then keep an eye on the female. I don't have any egg sacs at the moment. I will be looking out for adult males to go with my adult females tomorrow. I am useless at sexing spiders, I sent a 'definite' male to a customer last week and he then phoned to say it wasn't a male. I was so confused! It changed entirely after a moult and looks nothing like the adult female. I think it 'must' be male but it seems not yet fully mature. It is all very odd but the guy was extremely nice and he is coming over to visit me with the spider when he can fit it in with work, sadly he doesn't live locally. With the price of postage now, it isn't easy or financially viable to simply return something. Goodness knows what will become of Royal Mail after the sell-off. I'd love to think it will be improved but somehow I doubt it!