I did it, I saw one!

I did it, I saw one! I went on the reptile walk last Saturday. It was a cool, overcast and windy day, my invitation had the wrong time on it so it took a while to join the group, as they were already off exploring but after a rocky start it was amazing. Thanks to the very knowledgeable local wildlife ranger, we saw lots of slow worms, several common lizards, a baby grass snake and last but not least an Adder! I actually only saw the tail end disappearing into the undergrowth but I was ecstatic, I have wanted to see an Adder in the wild for so long. As soon as the ranger said "there's one", I was over like a shot. Now that I know where to look I will certainly go back and search again. I learnt a lot on the walk, I'm amazed that British reptiles sometimes have their young in September, I cannot imagine that many survive the winter, especially the harsh winters that we have had over the last couple of years. That reminds me, I really must find time to look at four wheel drive cars next week. I have little interest in cars but as soon as it snows in this area our village is cut off. We are perched on top of a hill so whichever direction you are going or coming from you will need to climb a steep hill and an ordinary car cannot do it. We had to be towed out of our road on Christmas day last year, if it wasn't for a kind neighbour we would never have made it to our son's for lunch. We live in a cul-de-sac and you guessed it, it's on a hill. The rest of the journey was pretty hairy so a four wheel drive car is a must this year. We probably won't have any snow this winter but that suits me fine!

It's been a real week of ups and downs. I have a stinking cold and have been rushed off my feet. I had a collection of spiders arrive on Wednesday, there are some beautiful specimens among them, various sizes and almost all captive bred. I spent Wednesday afternoon housing, feeding and labelling them and then entered them on the website yesterday. I also received some new stick insects and Horse-head grasshoppers yesterday. Next week I have a new lot of spiders arriving on Tuesday, they will be mostly captive bred spiderlings. It really is all go in the bug house. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day but I do need to look at re-arranging my bug house and sorting out heat mats for the dreaded winter (I really fancy hibernating and waking up next March).

I have been having a bit of a nightmare with PayPal. I haven't got enough time to explain it all but I am not happy! I have only ever had two charge backs and I am very tempted to name the two despicable, dishonest, losers (I said I wasn't happy) on here but for now I won't. If someone says that their order has not arrived or it turns out that they didn't actually have any money in their bank when they ordered, then PayPal automatically takes the money back from me. I then have to jump through hoops to reclaim 'my' money. On both occasions I have had to prove that I sent the goods and that they were received. This I have done but PayPal still closed the cases and said that I had lost! To cut a long story short, the first one appears to have been a case of fraud and eventually I got my money back. The second one is ongoing, I cannot afford to lose £60, if she really doesn't have the money then at least she should have the decency to return the goods to me! Anyway the point of this is that PayPal tell me I should only accept orders from 'confirmed' addresses. This is easier said than done, quite a few people ask for their order to be sent to another address, where someone will be in to receive the animals. This is absolutely fine but those people need to change the address on their PayPal account when they place their order. Some addresses are showing as unconfirmed even when they match, it seems the card that is linked to the PayPal account is registered to another address in these cases. It is all way too complicated, I have put a note on my home page and on my terms page saying that I may need to cancel orders from unconfirmed addresses. In reality I'm not really sure what to do. The vast, vast majority of my customers are great people and wouldn't dream of trying to diddle me. I have had some lovely emails this week, thanking me for orders and saying how great their spiders are.

I know I do ramble on but one thing just leads me to another. I try hard to look after each and every one of my animals. I want them all to be happy and healthy and I'm sure that's why I have so many repeat customers. It takes a great deal of time to look after everything (7 days a week at the moment), I never keep spiders communally, they will always eat each other if food becomes scarce. I so often receive Poecilotheria spiders with a leg missing and it always turns out that they have been kept together and people tell me "it's fine because they will grow back". I don't think it's fine, I wouldn't want to be nibbled by my neighbours and it sometimes takes the poor spider two or three moults to fully recover. I can't sell on a spider with a leg missing, my 'hospital area' is full to capacity at the moment. That reminds me, I have never had so many adult male spiders! They are absolutely beautiful but mostly such obscure species that nobody has an adult female to breed them. I have reduced many and some are going for less than I paid for them but if they don't go to a new home I will have them for the rest of their life.

Just a couple of points, the Spider Gallery is not working. Most people seem happy to buy a spider without seeing a photo of it, the gallery spiders are not selling any better than the regular, large size spiders so I have reduced those spiders in the gallery and will be shutting it soon. I may reopen it and try again when I have a bit more time. I'm not sure if the 'paying directly into my bank account' option is worth continuing. I had to stop accepting cheques because most people were using it as a way to hold their order until they had the money to buy it and in many cases they didn't have the money and therefore didn't send the cheque. Quite a few people have chosen the 'transfer into my bank' payment option but then not transferred the money. This means I have stock held up in the system and eventually I have to give up and cancel the order. Some people have transferred the money fine so I will leave it for now and see what happens.

Lastly I was researching on Google a few evenings ago and came across a You Tube clip that said my name. I was intrigued as I have never made a You Tube clip in my life. It was brilliant! This young boy describing my website and saying how great it was. I had such a good laugh, what a cute kid! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv3hNdM-BUo