Busy, busy November

Busy, busy November. Usually at this time of the year I am moaning about the lack of orders but this year I have plenty of orders and so far it's been a really good month. It is probably helped by the fact that I do have an awful lot of livestock. I actually think that by moving all the animals indoors earlier this year I have had more time to care for them. The result being that I have bred more creepy crawlies than ever. I wanted to breed as many millipede species as I could, millipedes are mostly imported as adults and often do not reproduce in captivity. I have been really successful with several species and now have many captive bred youngsters. At the beginning of the year I bought a number of adult Bumblebee millipedes. Although they are a small species, they are beautiful and brightly coloured. The adults were very expensive but I thought if I could breed them it would be worth the outlay. I'm very pleased to now have a thriving colony. The African Red Legged millipedes have also bred very well. I am hoping to breed the Giant African Train millipedes, these are notoriously difficult but I have some very large, healthy adults and have seen plenty of mating taking place. This is certainly no guarantee as most millipedes will mate but generally never lay any eggs. I am trying not to disturb them too much but their cage could do with a tidy up. I am keeping them in a large Exo Terre vivarium. I love these cages but they are expensive and sadly cannot be stacked on top of each other. Space is limited in my bug room so I only have a few of these 'super cages', I am always moving animals around from one cage to another. The Train millipedes like to climb so I have plenty of branches in with them. I often gather bits and pieces as I walk Teddi in the local woods e.g. small branches, moss, pebbles, leaves. I find my millipedes really enjoy the mushrooms that grow at this time of year. I met an old guy on one of my recent walks, he suggested I cooked and ate some of the mushrooms that I had collected. I pointed out that although I like mushrooms, I would only ever eat the ones that I buy from a shop! I know very little about fungi and I have read the horror stories in the papers of sickness, kidney failure and sometimes death. I certainly won't be eating anything that I pick, the millipedes are welcome to them!

I did take some photos of my male/female (confused) Jungle Nymph stick insect this week but my hubby hasn't been around to help me put the photos on my website yet. He is working the weekend but is off at the beginning of next week so hopefully we can get together and sort that out. (I have just done it see above!) He will of course have a list of jobs to do on his days off. He is always saying that he goes to work for a rest. That is the trouble with working from home, although he also points out that it is actually my job and not his (he may have a point) but when do I ever get any time off? Talking of that, I'm sure I am 'preaching to the converted here' but I do wish people wouldn't ring me outside my office hours. The times are clearly stated on my website, Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm. I have my nephews kids after school on Thursdays and we had just sat down to dinner yesterday evening when first my mobile began to ring and then my landline. The three kids chirped up with "aren't you going to answer it" to which I replied "no". I seem to get more and more calls and texts in the evenings. Honestly I need to relax sometimes, relaxation doesn't come easily to me. I'm quite happy replying to emails at anytime but the phone is another matter. I generally ignore any numbers that don't come up with a name on my iPhone. When I have answered and tried to politely explain that it is out of office hours and could they call back tomorrow during the day, most of these people will still continue to ask me what they wanted to know and completely ignore the fact that I have just said I'm not working now! Very few people indeed ever call back the next day so it seems easier all round to ignore the ringing phone but it isn't easy and I sometimes miss important, non work related calls. It could be to tell me that I have won £70,000, which happened to a member of my competitions club last week (if only). 

I had a customer call to look at spiders last weekend and he went away with six of my baby snakes (he did take two tarantulas as well). I now only have four to look after and three of those are the ones that I had earmarked to keep myself so I was very pleased. I am continuing to force feed the seven baby snakes that have never fed unaided. They are taking the food fine but I don't know how it will end? I cannot hand feed them forever, it is stressful to them and time consuming for me. I have been reading up on the internet and there is no doubt that a proportion of hatchling Corn snakes are destined to never feed and simply fade away. Oh, it is too horrible, they still look so good, they are small but active - I'm on a mission! (I will probably end up letting my beautiful, healthy babies go and keeping whichever of the runts survives) 

On the run up to Christmas I will try and think up some more special offers to keep everyone interested and the stock flowing (less for me to care for over the festive break). My brainstorm of the *** tarantulas has been a success this week, I've sold several but still have many more to go. I have a few odd creatures that tend to stay with me as pets but space and time are limited so I think they should go up for sale on my website. I just need the time to organise it!!! I have an unknown black scorpion, an unknown tarantula (sold to me as a Curly Hair but it moulted and has red hairs), a Mysore scorpion who lost a claw in a bad moult but has moulted several times since and copes very well. I may also part with my huge female Imperial scorpion. I have been waiting forever for her to produce young, perhaps she's just fat. I will probably send her out and then hear that she has produced young a week later (I really would not want to know - there would be tears). That's the one I want to crack next. How on earth do you get a pregnant scorpion to give birth? I have several obviously gravid scorpions and they just get bigger and bigger. I have had them reabsorb the babies and some have even just died on me. I keep trying new things, I won't give up! 

Must go, Teddi needs a walk. I took her to meet a friend and his dog yesterday. My friend (who owned 'my' gym that closed last month) does an endurance, fitness thing, where you run across country pulled by a dog or dogs on a harness. He thinks Teddi may be good as she is a Spitz dog. I'm not so sure but he is welcome to give her a go. I've warned him that he may end up carrying her back. I have suggested that he takes her for walks to get her into condition before the next event. Anything to get out of dog walking! She is beautiful and perfect at home but a lunatic off the lead with other dogs. She will not leave other dogs alone and I spend all my time in the park apologising for her behaviour. Our daughter has long since forgotten that Teddi was supposed to be hers!