Where have all my customers gone?

Where have all my customers gone? I know the schools and universities are breaking up and people are going off on holiday but I still have 6 weeks until my holiday and I need to shift some bugs! It has been a really slow week with just a trickle of orders and many of them for just one item. I really do hope things improve next week, it's times like this that I'm really glad I don't employ anyone. My job is certainly a little 'different' but in terms of business I am just like any other self employed person. I have no control over how much work comes in or when it comes in.

The bugs are all doing well, some a little too well, I have never had so many Hissing cockroaches in my life! I think it must be due to the hot, sunny weather. They are eating a large bowl of my cockroach mix and a whole lettuce a day. It's a good job I have grown lots of lettuces in my vegetable patch this year (I hope they like courgettes because I have loads ripening and I'm the only one in the house that eats them). I really love Hissing cockroaches, I cannot bring myself to feed them to the spiders. It makes sense I know but I just can't! I think all the bugs appreciate this spell of hot weather (sorry if it isn't so great where you are but it has been amazing here recently), everything seems to be moving at double time. I had a nightmare yesterday when I was feeding the Fishing spiders and juvenile Huntsman spiders. They are in individual tubs and when I lifted the lid to put crickets in they kept shooting out before I could close it. I must have chased half a dozen around the bug house but I did get them all back in their tubs in the end. I have finally seen a Slow Worm in the wild. Everyone has been telling me how many are around here, they are obviously having a good year with the weather too. My niece called and said that she had found one in her garden. I rushed over to recue it as she has two young children and boisterous dog. It was so cute, I released it a little later. I did hear of a friend finding a grass snake in his pond, sadly there are no grass snakes in my ponds but my wildlife garden is looking great this year so you never know. I did find a grass snake a couple of years ago, in the woods which are only a few metres from my house.

I am about to buy a large quantity of adult Imperial scorpions. I think they had been used for filming and were no longer required. I am pleased to take them as importation of this species is now banned and they are the largest, friendliest, easiest to keep scorpions ever. I still have some babies that have been born this year but I am hoping to keep a colony of adults going. The Imperial scorpion is one of the only scorpion species that can be housed together and different sizes seem ok too. It always amazes me when I look at my colony of Assassin bugs, as soon as I drop crickets into their home they are pounced upon and eaten, yet they don't attack each other. Perhaps Imperial scorpions and Spotted Assassin bugs are brighter than tarantulas? Whatever the species or size if you put several tarantulas together you are most likely to end up with one fat one! I know that some arboreal species are said to be ok kept communally but I think this is only because they build separate webs and tend to stay in them. When food becomes scarce they venture out and generally eat their neighbours in the end. I have had many Indian Ornamental spiders come in from a communal set up as spiderlings, with legs missing. They have obviously been 'nibbled' by their siblings, they generally re-grow the legs with their next moult but if not separated they may not make that next moult.

I must get on now, I have set aside today to catch up on paperwork, phone calls and general admin. My desk is once again covered, I have been moving around bits of paper all week but I can't put it off any longer, I need to deal with it. I much prefer dealing with the bugs than the office work! One last thing, PLEASE let me know if you find any obvious mistakes on my website. Somebody pointed out yesterday that when I put the misting bottles on special offer to 50p I actually reduced them from 60p to £50, no wonder I haven't sold any recently!