So much to say, where shall I start?

So much to say, where shall I start? Many thanks to those people who sent such lovely emails in response me being upset last week. I won't listen to moaners anymore, I feel loved indeed after the letters of support that I received! I'm plodding on with adding more info to my website and my web guy has noticed a couple of things that need tweaking on the site. Firstly my postal charges are not obvious until an order has been placed. I am finding that some people order one small item and then abandon their order when £8.00 postage appears. The postal charges will be displayed on a banner soon and then it will be clear from the start. Another thing that needs sorting, is the fact that if I want to alter prices for a certain order or customer I cannot at the moment because the price is fixed, but this too is in hand. I'm not sure what I can do about the next oddity. I am finding that most people who place an order and state that they are paying by cheque/postal order, don't actually send the payment. This is very strange but I am just cancelling these orders after a week and I have added a note to my terms stating this.

I had yet more baby tarantulas come in yesterday and I'm pleased to say that they are all now on my website. I have some photos to go on too but that's a job for my husband, I will put it on his list for the weekend! Spiders are selling so well that I may even buy in another lot before Christmas. I was pleased to get some more Ladybird spiders, I only managed to buy eight so I expect they will go pretty fast. With all the extra orders that I am sending out, I am finding it harder and harder to locate enough boxes to pack them in. I am constantly visiting supermarkets and other shops looking for suitable sized boxes. I really must find a box supplier as a matter of urgency but they must also be at a reasonable price. I really don't want to increase my postal charges. Everything just goes up and up. I had a panic last week when I ran out of heat packs and found that my regular supplier had stopped selling them. Thankfully I managed to trace another supplier but the heat packs are now costing me double the original price.

One more thing to mention this week, I seem to be competing with the local deer for bramble. I don't have so many species of stick insects these days but I still need a regular supply of bramble for those that I do have. I am assuming that the deer population has grown dramatically recently. Last year there was less bramble to be found but this year there is hardly any at all in the woods near me. I am having to collect from further and further away and we still have most of the winter to go. When we moved up here six years ago there was bramble everywhere and I had no problem collecting it all winter but now there are just nibbled stalks everywhere. At this rate I will be driving to collect it and filling my boot up as I did when we lived in London.