More ups and downs!
More ups and downs! On the good side my mother in-law's stent was fitted in her heart yesterday and I have nearly reached the magical 500 likes on Facebook but on the down side my poor daughter was ousted from a job she loved yesterday and is now unemployed (I would love to rant to the world but probably best not to). Great relief that I finally found the Giant Asian scorpion who has been on the loose since last week. I was actually panicking that she could have got out of my 'sealed' bug room. I had visions of her going next door to greet our new next door neighbours and their workmen (building an extension). I can't imagine where she has been hiding. Animals are frequently going walkabout in my bug room but they are generally located very quickly. The room isn't that big so goodness knows how a 6" black scorpion could hide for a week! I had the room apart several times but as you can imagine I have a huge number of tanks, boxes and various cages so there are many nooks and crannies.
I am continuing in my quest to breed more scorpions, most are sadly still imported from the wild. I now have several pregnant females and clutches of babies. One of my smaller desert scorpions gave birth this week but instead of carrying the young around on her back I found them scattered in the box. It looks as if she may have got scared by something and run around but again I am concerned that the box was slightly moist and this could have been the problem. I generally keep these scorpions on sand and almost bone dry. Most of the babies are alive but they are completely white and soft skinned at this time. They are very vulnerable but I will do my best with them. I don't really expect them to survive but I can be a terrible pessimist at times, especially today as I am thoroughly annoyed about my daughter's treatment and I didn't get much sleep last night as my mother in-law is staying and there was a real risk of her bleeding in the night (what has happened to the NHS when they can't even keep a 79 year old in hospital for one night after a heart procedure?).
I am making a real effort to keep my spiderlings a bit drier at this time of year as the plastic boxes seem to sweat in the heat of the bug room but of course it is a balancing act as too dry will surely kill them. I wish I could still get hold of sphagnum moss peat, it is by far my favourite substrate but I have had to switch to the darker peat (full of hard lumps and the colour makes it difficult to see if it is dry or damp) or coir (produces fungus once it is damped down). As I am writing this it has occurred to me that perhaps I could get a water meter that they sell in garden centres for plants. I can picture one that has a probe you dip in the soil. That's another great idea that I will consult my best friend Google on later. I spoke to a customer this week who swears by clay cat litter as a substrate for spiders. It sounds interesting but I would have thought it would become solid once it gets damp and possibly trap the spider? Any thoughts? Perhaps cat litter mixed with the 'rubbish' peat that I still have two sacks of?
Well as you can tell I have a lot on, a lot more than I can share with the world! So I am going to get cracking with the multitude of millipede cages that need sorting today (after I have walked Teddi in the rain). I often mention my nephew's kids in this blog so I will just say that poor Katie has broken her arm this week! Our days out during the school holidays will be much curtailed as she will have a cast on for the entire holidays. My hubby has been away all week on a driving course in Wales with his work. He has just sent a text saying he can't wait to get home this evening. Is he mad? I'd ask to stay another week if I were him!
On a brighter note we have booked a week away in Cyprus for September, I sure as hell need something to look forward to! There will be more snake hunting and of course I will be taking my new bat detector with me (they have fruit bats in the hotel grounds). The bat detector is brilliant, I was sitting in the garden last night with bats flying around me and to think that I never knew they were there until I got my amazing 'little black box'. I must write a review for the guy's website that I bought it from. I'm always asking people to review the items that they buy from me so I need to practice what I preach (however rushed off my feet I am).