Another week gone by

Another week gone by, I can't believe it is time to write my blog again! It feels like only yesterday that I wrote the last entry but obviously it was a whole week ago. My life is just so busy at the moment. I am pleased to say that April was my best month for sales in over a year. Last year, especially the Winter was a real struggle to keep things going. Long may the orders continue, thanks to you all.

I am feeling the huge benefits of being in the new bug room now. Everything is settling down and most things are in the right place and easier to find and care for. I was worried that the room may over heat in the sun but we have had a lot of sun this week (at last) and the bug room has remained a fairly constant temperature. I have pulled all but one of the blinds down as the windows are just below the ceiling and therefore some cages on the top shelves are directly in the sunlight. I probably will need an air conditioning unit as the summer goes on but they are easy to obtain (Argos sell a good one) so I will wait until I need it.  The units are quite expensive and I have spent enough on the bug room for now, plus I really don't know where I would put it.

Spring is certainly in the air, I had an Ornamental Baboon egg sac hatch last week and this week I have had another two egg sacs hatch. One a New Mexican and the other a Cameroon Baboon. I have left them all together at the moment (not the different species) but I will need to house some up individually soon or they will start eating each other. It is an awful job, especially with the Baboon spiderlings that run like lightening. I need to put a little peat, a little moss and a little hole in the lid of each pot and then transfer a spider into each one, followed by a micro cricket or two. It is at this point that either the spiderling or cricket jump out or if I'm really unlucky both. I will be carrying out this task with the pots in a deep box in the middle of my table, in the hope of heading them off before they disappear into the bug room. This is why my hubby spent so long completely sealing the entire room!

I have some very fat, pregnant scorpions but as yet no babies. I do hope they produce some soon, scorpions are notorious for hanging onto their young until the conditions are right. I just wish I knew what exactly those conditions were!

I really have made headway in the 'cutting back on stick insects' plan. I have one large net cage which is housed by the outside door, it is light and airy and the all the stick insects seem to be thriving. It could also be due to the fact that they are a lot less crowded than they used to be. I have a large glass tank of Jungle Nymphs next to them and then a cage of Privet eating stick insects and a glass Exo Terre tank of Leaf insects and that's it! I do not want to be collecting armfuls of bramble every couple of days by next Winter. I still have the Horse-head grasshoppers feeding on bramble but they don't eat much. I had expected some more would have hatched by now. I think they may have got a little too cold during the move. I had a light on during the day but I have also put a heat mat on them. It is on a thermostat so only heats up if the room temperature drops at night. Yes, I am at last getting things well and truly sorted. I should probably be more patient it is only one month since the move (it just feels like several).

A few bits and pieces then I must get going. I got bitten by a spiderling this week! It was a Borneo Black that had got out and was sitting on top of the Jungle Nymph tank. I picked it up and carried it around in my closed hand until I could find a pot to put it in. To my amazement I felt a sharp pain and realised that it had bitten me. It was nothing but I couldn't believe that such a small spider would penetrate the skin and cause a real stinging sensation. Will I be more careful in future? I very much doubt it. It was just odd as the body length of the spider was only about 1cm but at least I caught it!

I am still trying to organise my office and find a place for everything. Our front room is full of junk/treasures, depending on how you see it. Either way I am not good at throwing things out so I need to sort it somehow. I have decided to stop selling heat mats, they take up a whole shelf in my cupboard and I just don't sell enough of them to bother. I will be reducing the prices and once they have gone, I won't be replacing them.

Lastly (yes it is a moan) I do wish everyone would check their parcel properly before informing me that something is missing. By the very nature of my business and the length of time that I have been doing it, it is extremely unlikely that something will be missing. I am meticulous with my packing, most items are sorted well in advance and everything is laid out and checked against the delivery note before being packed. It is virtually impossible for something to be left out and if it is, I will come across it later as it will be in my packing area. I have had several people recently inform me that something is missing from their order. It is generally a spiderling or something very small that is wrapped tightly in newspaper for protection and insulation. It is awkward pointing out that I definitely packed it (I'm the only one here). Usually it turns up straight away but sometimes the packing has been thrown out. Only yesterday I had somebody inform me that an item was missing, I'm sure they were expecting the container to be larger, it was very small but certainly there! Recently I was informed that a misting bottle was missing, it turned out that someone else had opened the parcel and I was pleased when the guy let me know that it had turned up a week or so later. The bottle was only 60p but I knew it was in the parcel, I packed it! My hubby went to a jewellery company as part of his work, just before Christmas. He was fascinated to see that there was a camera above each person packing the orders. He was told that it was because so many customers said that items of jewellery were missing and then demanded replacements or refunds. They could therefore check the footage and prove that the items were indeed sent. I am a long way off this and I am positive that nobody is trying it on with me but I do wish everyone would assume the item is in there rather than assuming it isn't.

Anyway I'm certainly happy this week, the bug room is great, the sun is shining and sales are much improved. I hope everyone has a good bank holiday weekend and I will resume posting orders on Tuesday.