Back by popular demand!
Back by popular demand! It seems that everyone (100% of those who replied) would like my blog to revert back to once a week. I was going to compromise on once a fortnight but I have been told that many of my customers enjoy reading the blog at the end of each week. Obviously nobody is forced to read it, I don't send it out in an email but it will be here each Friday, should you wish to read about the trials and tribulations of my life. I do try to stick with bug related stories but I have a habit of going off at a tangent, hence I do tend to refer to my blog as "the weekly whinge".
I have plenty to whinge about this week! My lovely next door neighbour (who took in so many of my parcels and made endless cups of tea for me) moved away, into sheltered accommodation yesterday. That loony dog of mine managed to pull me over in the park again. I was sitting on a bench, talking on my phone when she took off after an approaching puppy. Before I knew what was happening I had been yanked forward and landed on top of Teddi before hitting the wet ground and being covered in mud. To top it all I have hardly taken any orders this week. I know it is the BTS show this weekend but surely not everyone is going? It is a great show but mostly spiders and I have a wealth of other animals just waiting for new homes - I really don't want to keep them all as pets! I will be going along to the show and buying lots of new stock, I must admit that I am pretty low on tarantulas at the moment, especially larger specimens. I have pre-ordered some spiders and several new beetle species. If you see me at the exhibition do say hello, it is always a friendly event. I'm not sure exactly where we are going as the venue has changed this year but hopefully the sat nav will know where we are going!
I am actually writing this blog a day early as tomorrow (Friday) I will be going up to London to collect some new bugs. I'm not too sure what but the list looks good and I will choose when I get there. Although I run a mostly postal business, I much prefer picking out my stock in person wherever possible. On that note, I cancelled last Saturday's open afternoon because I 'thought' nobody was coming and our road has been completely taken over by the gas company. I know it is essential that they run new gas pipes to all our homes and down the entire road but we live in a cul-de-sac and it has been a nightmare for several weeks now. I am in and out all the time, trying to get the car out of my drive and around barriers and men working is a pain. Anyway it turned out that people did want to pop over so I had a pleasant afternoon with a lovely family and an old friend who has being buying bugs off of me for many years (when I say old, I don't mean in years, he is just about to get on the property ladder by buying a barge on the Thames and it is called Virginia!). I love boats so I have been promised an invite once he moves aboard.
The bug room seems pretty full so I'm not sure where all the new stock will go but I'm sure it will fit somehow. I just hope that I have lots of orders next week or I will be in a pickle. My Kilimanjaro spiderlings that I mentioned in my last blog did indeed moult into lovely little 'fast moving' spiderlings. I have a job ahead of me this afternoon as I need to get them potted up and fed before they start eating each other. Unfortunately when I checked my Pumpkin Patch with her egg sac, it had disappeared. I was really disappointed, she is a pretty spider but I must admit that I think the egg sac may have been infertile. I do however have a Trinidad Olive with a nice healthy looking egg sac.
I have lots of millipedes in stock but for some reason they don't seem to be selling as well as they were in the Winter. The African Banded babies are getting quite big now and I'm not sure that they are all the same species, that will teach me to keep several species together. All I really know is that the adults were from Ghana. It will be fun seeing what they all turn into.
Well I'm sure I could go on and on but it will have to wait until next week. My tummy is rumbling, I need some lunch and then I must get on with the spiderlings. It is Thursday so I collect my nephew's three children from school and sadly none of them like bugs. There is no chance that they will want to help me house up baby tarantulas when we get back here. It really isn't fair, why am I the only person in my family who likes bugs! They will be interested to see our new Blue Tit family in their nest though. You may remember that the nest box has a camera that is linked up to my computer monitor. I just love watching the babies feed and the mum and dad constantly searching for food. They are costing me a fortune in mealworms (well them and every bird nesting within a mile radius of our house I think).
Lastly my website guy is reorganising the tarantula section on my website. Hopefully it will be much easier to search for a species and the sizes that are available. I should have more news on this next week and I am working on a local project idea. It is hopefully unique and something I can do when orders are thin on the ground. I would also like to encourage more people to pop over and choose their bugs. So many ideas, I just need more hours in a day to bring them all to fruition!