Settling in at last

Settling in and getting organised at last. My hubby took a day off work this week to help me get things better sorted in the new bug room. Although the weather is improving (at last), some of my lower shelves seemed to be getting a bit too cold at night so we have now used more heat mats. The mats are not the problem, I have loads of them from the old bug house but the plugs and thermostatic controls are in short supply. I could never have sorted it out but my clever hubby has managed to use extension leads and solve the problem. I have purchased a fly killing device. It was quite expensive but worth every penny, I am absolutely fed up with fruit flies everywhere. I have lots of millipedes and fruit beetles at the moment so the flies just keep breeding in their cages. One of the great things about giving up Praying Mantids a couple of years ago, was that I no longer needed to keep flies of any sort. Fruit flies are bad enough but Blue Bottles are a nightmare and they make such a mess (I have swallowed lots of fruit flies but only ever one Blue Bottle). The only thing that worries me about the fly trap is the bright UV light. I'm hoping it won't upset my bugs too much. I had originally positioned the trap in my office but it wasn't catching enough flies so I had to move it into the bug room. I have tried to position it away from everything but it isn't easy in a small room. I only have it switched on during the day. It will be on a timer, once I go out and buy another one!

The only real problem that I still have with moving my collection, is that of space. Other than the space issue everything is brilliant! I don't miss walking up and down the garden, I'm still doing a few walks a day as a lot of my equipment is on the veranda but I am gradually moving it all. I love being able to switch from doing some feeding and cleaning the bugs to updating items on my website and being able to instantly answer people's email questions by just checking on things next door. I have all my packaging equipment and everyday things that I need 'almost' in the right place now. I certainly need to tidy up more regularly, when I have finished packing orders for the day it is difficult to move for all the mess. I wish I had a darker vinyl on the floor, yes I can see escapees very easily but it looks dirty again almost as soon as I have cleaned it.

I have now managed to get most bugs grouped together on the shelving e.g. spiders together, scorpions, stick insects etc. I have all the cages that need spraying with water in one area, which is a real improvement and will make life easier when we go on holiday. We don't have anything booked but I really need a holiday. Our daughter is in Portugal right now, the closest I've got is posting bugs to the zoo out there!

I really do get lots of nice emails and I certainly appreciate the reviews that customers post on my website. I have had a couple of emails from people unhappy with the size of their tarantula spiders this week. It is impossible to give a totally accurate size on the website as they are constantly changing but I really do my best and am always happy to measure individual spiders when asked . The Mexican Red Knee is by far the most popular spider that I sell and consequently they will always be on the smaller side of my size scale. They are tiny as spiderlings and slow to grow. I hate getting negative feedback. I know I shouldn't take it to heart but these people are always happy to fire off an email but never want to pick up the phone and talk to me. I think the ratio is about 97% positive and 3% negative but I'm a perfectionist and want to please everyone!

I don't know anything about phantom pregnancies in tarantulas but when I get time I must consult my good friend Google. I fed my larger tarantulas earlier this week and noticed that a Costa Rican Chevron (Psalmopoeus reduncus) was carrying around an egg sac. She is captive bred and definitely not been near a male, how very odd? I also found another of my Cameroon Baboon spiders with an egg sac. This is both good and bad, I mated her some time ago but then realised that there are far too many of these spiders in the UK and they are proving very difficult to sell. I was talking to a reptile supplier at an exhibition and noticed that he had loads of Cameroon Baboon spiders on his stand and they were being sold very cheaply. He said a huge number had been imported as adults and the market was flooded. It's a real shame, mine are all captive bred and beautiful specimens but they have been waiting a long time for new homes.

Must get a move on now, some quick bits and pieces: Teddi, our Eurasier dog is very confused that I am no longer in the bug house at the end of the garden. She keeps sitting up there waiting for me, she will have a long wait! This is the first week that I haven't used a single heat pack. I have worried a bit and almost put one in some of my parcels but it is just too warm during the day, even though it can be pretty cold at night. I certainly don't  want to overheat the animals in transit. I began a six week evening course in French this week. I am determined to hold some sort of conversation with the guys from Arthropodia in October at the AES exhibition. I promised I would learn French, I have been listening to my language discs on my iPhone for a few weeks now. It's fun but it doesn't come naturally to me. I know loads of words but it is putting them together in a sentence that's the problem and the pronunciation is a nightmare. I have started selling cockroaches as a pack of 12 adults rather than the bulk buy offer of 50. Unfortunately I cannot find any sweet shops that do not re-use their plastic jars anymore and I cannot find any containers other than sweet jars that are suitable for posting large numbers of cockroaches. I still have some jars so I will keep going with the bulk buy offer until they run out.

Hope you have a good weekend and some nice sunshine wherever you are. We are planning to visit the Berkshire College of Agriculture on Sunday as it is their 'Lambing Weekend'. It is a super animal show with everything from Llamas to spiders. I went last year and although it was rather damp there were plenty of things to do and see.