Ups and downs of life!
Ups and downs of life! I was going to say 'a bug lady's' life but it has had very little to do with the bugs, more family issues that I obviously cannot go into in my blog. Thankfully my mother in-law's heart operation should go ahead soon, we have visited several hospital departments this week for umpteen tests.
Anyway back to the bugs - no more floods thank goodness but I have had to empty several large tanks as they were too water logged to dry out naturally. The bug room is still pretty damp in places so it looks a bit of a state but my hubby is away on a course next week so I intend to knuckle down and get everything back on track. I have lots of bugs and spiders breeding and some stunning specimens coming along. I am just about keeping up with Facebook but I must admit that Instagram has fallen a bit by the wayside this week (note to self - must try harder).
I was searching through an old folder this week, I didn't find what I was looking for but I did come across a number of magazine articles about my work over the years and some great photos of both my daughter and I. One article about my daughter and her pet Mexican Red Knee tarantula Stephanie was really sweet. I had forgotten all about it but Georgie remembered it well. She was aged 11 and the magazine was called Blush, the article is totally inaccurate (I clearly didn't have anything to do with writing it) but the photo of Georgie with Stephanie on her arm is so sweet. I have left it out for her to take to work, she sells aquatic products and says her work friends would love to see it. Sadly Stephanie died last year but Georgie is now 23 and she had Stephanie from the age of 3 so she had a long life. Some friends were impressed by Stephanie but as Georgie got older a couple of her boyfriends were not so happy to meet Stephanie. We always laugh about the advert where a girl and boy are getting rather friendly until the girl turns on the light and the boy makes a hasty retreat when he sees all the pet snakes around him.
Don't mention the youth club! My lovely Mexican Red Knee Lily moulted and was ok to visit the club on Monday (I had been worried she may not harden up in time). I packed several tarantulas and scorpions, housed and labelled them all, only to find that someone else at the club had decided to take all the kids to the park to play football for the evening. Four kids chose to stay behind and enjoyed the show but I wasn't happy to say the least!
After all my crickets sadly drowned in the flood last week I have had to completely restock. Unfortunately my local Pets At Home didn't have any of the smaller size crickets so I ordered them from a reptile supplier by mail order and was very pleased to receive all the sizes that I needed yesterday. It is so difficult to keep a steady supply of different sizes, especially the smaller ones. I do try to breed my own micro crickets but of course I can't always control the timing and I often end up with hundreds hatching and then none at all. The trouble is that the crickets grow far faster than the spiderlings and if I put in a cricket that is slightly too big it is liable to harm or even kill the spider (especially if it is coming up for a moult and more vulnerable). It's ok if you just have a couple of pet tarantulas but when you have 100's like me it is a weekly worry. I don't like to add up how much I spend on crickets each month but I know it is a considerable amount.
In my continuing quest to join the 21st century I have been looking at the workings of my website and with my hubby's help we have now worked out how to stop the small size tarantula price showing on the site when there are none in stock. For a long time I have been unhappy about the 'from' price changing to the actual price, which is obviously higher as the spider is larger. Well I now know how to change it but it is pretty complicated (for me) so it may be a slow process to change them all but I am at least working on it. I have just about finished adding a description to all my tarantula species but I would appreciate you letting me know if any spider that you come across doesn't yet have a description or perhaps has out of date info on it. I know there are still lots of spiders with a lower value that changes when you click on it but again it would be helpful if you could point them out to me. There are so many entries that it is difficult to find the inaccuracies but if they are pointed out, I can note them down and change them much more quickly than when I have to search for them. Thanks in advance!
Must go now, have to get mother in-law to the opticians soon and walk loony dog first. Off to Monkey World tomorrow, a special event for those who sponsor a monkey or ape (yes, of course I sponsor one! He's an Orang-utan called Silvestre and he is gorgeous).