Somebody up there doesn't like me!

Somebody up there doesn't like me! But the good news is that everyone down here seems to like me ok. It has been a pretty rotten week but people have been so nice and understanding. I honestly haven't had anyone moaning at me, probably because everyone knows that I really am trying to keep things going the best I can. I have only had a few spiders and bugs die in the post but it is very sad and I don't want to lose any at all. The weather has been causing chaos, not just for my business but a lot of others too. Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing next day delivery but over the last couple of days everything seems to have arrived on time. The main hold ups were the end of last week and in areas that had no post getting through at all. It is so difficult to know how other areas are affected when I am looking out of my window and although cold, there is no snow in sight. I'm not sure how next week will go but it is my final week of posting before Christmas so I hope it warms up. All I want for Christmas is the weather to warm up, I certainly don't want any snow! I have been permanently glued to the Royal Mail website trying to track parcels and the weather forecast sites, trying to predict where and when it is ok to send to. That is until yesterday when my computer decided to pack up! I just couldn't believe it, I went to switch it on in the morning and there was nothing. My poor hubby was late for work as I was desperate for him to 'do something'. He did manage to set up the website on my net book so that I could inform people that their orders had been sent. Thankfully he got the computer up and running when he got home from work. What would I do without him?

Anyway, some good news, I thought there was a piece of cotton wool in one of my spider boxes but when I looked a bit closer it was an egg sac. I am really pleased, I wasn't sure that my Trinidad Olive was an adult when I introduced her to the male a couple of weeks ago. She clearly was and thankfully no harm came to either spider when I forgot them and accidentally left them together over night. Another of the Tail-less Whip scorpions has had babies. I have separated out the mum's with babies and the one that may be pregnant. I now have boxes everywhere and need to sort out a proper tank for my growing colony. I know very little about them, I really hope the mum's don't eat the babies and I really hope the babies will take crickets when they come off their mum's back. They are so cute, even if my husband prefers to call them grotesque (I will forgive him as he fixed my computer).

I am not sure why but I get quite a large number of 'non orders' as I call them. These orders have been placed on my website but the payment has not gone through so the order is not completed. It isn't a problem to me because the stock counter only takes off items that have been paid for but it is very puzzling. I honestly think that a large number of these non orders are because people simply don't have the money to pay when they get to the end of the process. It is for this reason that I don't contact people, I don't want to embarrass anyone, but this isn't always the case because a few people have contacted me and said that they are having problems completing their order. It is difficult for me to tell what might have gone wrong because I don't have anything to do with the payment process. Whatever the method of payment it is all dealt with by PayPal. If you are having problems please do feel free to contact me, I will always try to help, if all else fails, I can ask my IT support (husband). If things are seriously bad I can call on Simon, the expert IT man who set up and maintains my website.

I must just mention the heat packs that I use in my parcels to keep the animals warm in transit. A number of people have asked what the white bag in their order is, some have thought it is a bag of substrate or animal food and many have opened it to see if there is something live in it. I'm not sure what exactly is in it but I would just throw it away, they cannot be reused.

Hopefully the week ahead will be warmer for us all, my thermal vests that I ordered almost two weeks ago still haven't arrived but I am wearing my heated jacket, a present from last Christmas!