Well maybe not

Well maybe not; last week I said it was time to slow down buying in stock before the winter but I keep being tempted by amazing bugs. This week I have bought in millipedes, more Chilean scorpions (I'm pretty sure many of these are pregnant), other scorpions (I do love scorpions) and I am still waiting for some beautiful Crab spiders (they are en route, should arrive at the beginning of next week). It has been a busy week for sales, many of the orders coming from schools and colleges. I have sold a real cross section of bugs, not just the usual tarantula sales. Next week sees the AES show so I am destined to get more stock but after that I will slow down!

The baby snakes are still keeping me busy, most are now feeding well so that's great. The remaining few are looking very healthy so I am hopeful they will all survive and the good news is that I sold two this week. They went to a long time customer who I haven't seen in ages. He travelled up to my place and we had a nice time catching up in the bug room and over a cup of tea. It is so much easier having people call now that everything is indoors and together. Here is an email that I received that evening. I was given permission to reproduce it, I just thought it was very sweet.

It was so nice to see you again today.. A real pleasure. The spiders are perfect thanks so much!! I was impressed with how you have your office adjoining your bug room. So much easier. I was impressed by your snake tanks, they look lovely.

I have put the red tree spider in his new home and he loves it. He will start webbing up soon ;-) can't believe how cute and tiny the Asian scorpions are..

you made my day by allowing me to take the Green Bottle Blue away.. what a treasure of a spider .. I put one baby snake in a very small tank and he made straight for the water bowl and soaked for a moment. All in all a very good day. Hopefully see you at the insect fair next week. 

The weather is turning a bit colder now and I have started using heat packs once again. I hate the cold, roll on spring (yes, I know I have a while to wait). Packing up orders takes much longer in the winter, I need to use larger boxes, more insulation, heat packs and it means the parcels therefore weigh more and cost more in postage. However I must be doing it right as I hardly ever have anything die in the post. My theory is that the parcels are never far from people and people like to stay warm. 

I do feel that everything has come together in my bug room now. I have to be far more organised and tidy as the space is so much smaller but everything is grouped together and that makes life much easier. The spiders are all together as are the scorpions, millipedes, cockroaches, stick insects etc. I wish I could have had under floor heating because I think it would have been perfect but the floor is suspended, there is a large void beneath it and everyone said I would lose a lot of heat that way. I am using radiators and heat mats (plus lights during the day) but the heat mats make my plastic bug boxes very brittle and then they crack. I really like the rigid, clear plastic boxes but they are expensive. I can't afford to keep replacing them! However I cannot think of a way to effectively heat the whole room. The spider shelves are attached to the wall and would become too cold without heat mats. The outer door is also proving a problem as damp is appearing all around the edges and on the back wall. The door needs replacing but it will have to wait until spring. I have put up a curtain this week to cover the door at night but I think some sort of additional heater will be needed. I may put a fan heater by the door to warm the area and also dry it out. Heat and humidity are always a problem both inside and outside the cages! 

Back to the bugs - I had a disaster earlier in the week when I introduced my Tanzanian Blonde tarantula male to the female. She promptly ate him, I don't think he had time to mate but I will keep an eye on the female and keep my fingers crossed. I thought she was well fed before I introduced them but she obviously thought otherwise as she then went on to eat three crickets that were in her tank. Better news on the Tail-less Whip scorpions, the babies have now left their mothers back and are running around, living independently. They are so cute, really one of my favourite bugs. I am so pleased to have bred them. 

Must get on, lots to do as usual. I have a customer coming this morning to collect her order, having used the 20% code. I originally set up the discount for September but decided to extend the offer into October (not only do you save 20% on your entire order but there is also no postage to pay). I have been issuing various codes over the last couple of months and they have proved very successful. I was asked about my 'rewards system' this week, I have no clue about this, it is obviously a feature of the website. Perhaps it is something I should look into? Hopefully my website upgrade will be running soon, you never know (maybe Christmas). 

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to write a review (in some cases several) for items on my website. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate this!