Credit Crunch

Oh dear what on earth has happened this week, is this the credit crunch? I have never had so many 'non orders'. I have a pile of email orders on my desk that have just not been paid for! Most are from private individuals but one is from a butterfly house, one from a college and one from a zoo. I have also had several people wanting to call and collect and then cancelling. The awful thing is that I have spent hundreds of pounds on new stock this week and not only is that a lot of money but it is a lot of time too. It takes a considerable amount of time to house and feed new animals, then put them on my computer stock lists and website. This leaves me with even more bugs to look after each day. I am as busy as ever with animals, emails and phone calls, yet I have barely sent out any parcels this week and taken precious little money. Woe is me!

I am really fed up with people asking me to hold things for them and then not sending the money. I have had some weird and wacky reasons for this but I think it generally comes down to people 'shopping without any money'. I will still hold things but I have decided that I won't take them off of my site until they have been paid for. Then if somebody else wants it I will ring the original buyer and explain 'tactfully' that they need to pay now or lose it. Lots of people ask me to save things while they send a cheque or until they are paid in a few days time and that's fine but I do expect them to buy the item in the end! I keep taking animals off of the site and then needing to put them back on again.

On a happier note, Spring is in the air. The Giant Hissing cockroaches are producing lots of babies and my Fishing spiders are laying egg sacs. The Crested Gecko eggs are looking good, I am really hoping that they hatch this time. I have lots of baby mantids now, they are so cute. I do like the way that mantids turn and look at you, they seem to follow you around the room with their eyes (not many bugs do that). We managed to get some more photos on the site last weekend. I really need to make a little studio for the bugs to be photographed in. We have some lovely photos of the spiders but the stick insects never seem to come out quite right. It is always difficult to photograph something that won't stay still and it is also difficult to photograph something that is hiding away. Millipedes can be a pain, they often take ages to unfurl and then curl up quickly again if they are disturbed. I do like the Pill millipedes that I got in last week, they are so pretty and different. It would be brilliant to breed them, I don't know of anyone having managed it. I have lots of pretty millipedes at the moment. It is very hit and miss with breeding, they often mate but don't seem to lay any eggs. I am not sure how long the eggs take to hatch, a Google search comes up with very varying ideas. It is difficult to spot the eggs as they are amazingly well camouflaged, generally the first signs of a successful breeding are tiny, white millipedes in the substrate!

I have been out and about in the garden over the last couple of days. There is a lot of work to be done since the snow flattened everything. I need to start planting my seeds in the greenhouse but I haven't managed to make time yet, perhaps next week. I have lots of insect food plants established now, bramble, privet, eucalyptus and evergreen oak. I will be glad to get some salad growing again, the snails, millipedes and other herbivores are costing a fortune. I bought a bargain cucumber from Asda yesterday, it cost £1.00, hardly a bargain, the snails and cockroaches love it.

I won't be around this Saturday as I am having a rare day off and going to see an old friend in Weston-Super-Mare, so don't expect a quick reply to your emails. I am most upset that the pier burnt down. I love the seaside amusements (another thing my hubby doesn't like). I'm sure my friend and I will track some down and my hubby has arranged to collect a motorbike part from someone down there, so we will all be happy!