Skip to main content

Friday 13th

Oh I don't like Friday 13th! However I am very happy with everything this week (I know, that makes a change). I can't believe the difference in business since last week. I have been inundated with orders and nobody has been messing me about by ordering and then not sending the money. I have sent out loads of spiders, I even managed to sell a spider from my 'clearance offer'! (It's a long story) I have ordered some new spiderlings from a very reliable guy in Germany this morning, they should arrive by the end of next week. He has a wonderful selection but with the terrible exchange rate I have limited myself to buying only about a dozen new species. I am also hoping to get some new stock from a reptile dealer on Monday, he imports some lovely bugs and I can drive down and pick out the best ones! There is a huge bug and reptile show in Germany this weekend, I wish I could have gone. I think I might make the effort and go next year, there are very few good shows in the UK now.

Great excitement this week when I discovered a spider egg sac on a banana that I was about to eat. You always hear the stories about spiders coming in with bananas but I've never found anything before. It is only small and it has probably been sprayed, refrigerated or irradiated but I live in hope and have set it up in a little box 'just in case'!

My husband printed me off some sheets this week to show how many hits my site receives. It's all very complicated with graphs and facts and figures but I must sit down and have a proper look at it. I had a quick look and it is fascinating, it shows the peak times that people look at my site, as well as the numbers and which pages are most popular. It is amazing that thousands of people regularly look at my site - I only wish they all ordered from me! (I could fly back to Mauritius and rescue my dog - no I haven't forgotten him). It is obvious from the hits records that a lot of people go online in the early evenings and I am seriously looking at being available on the phone one evening a week, probably Tuesday (no Coronation Street), what do you think? If I ever reach the 21st century I might even get a web cam and MSM or something (probably a long way off). I did have a MySpace page but it was too complicated and people kept trying to become my 'friend', I didn't have a clue who most of them were. Face Book seems to be the thing, even my mother-in-law uses it!

Right well I had better get on, my Rat Bag daughter has persuaded me to drive her to college this morning (miles away) but she doesn't have any lessons until 10.30 on a Friday and I don't do any posting (no Special Delivery at the weekend).

I hope this week is as successful as the last, thanks for all your support in these difficult financial times. Have a good weekend.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A surreal week indeed!

A surreal week indeed! I sent off my last orders on Monday and the remainder of my bugs will be leaving me on Friday. So many people are congratulating me on my retirement but I prefer the good luck messages. I didn’t think I would ever retire but it all became too much, not just for me but my family too. Our home was taken over by my work. The bug room was my domain but the rest of the house had gradually filled up with ‘stuff’, plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, tanks etc. and I never ever had any time. Whatever task I was doing, I was always thinking of the next job on the list. People keep asking what I am going to do with my time now. In the short term I will be clearing everything out, especially the loft which is full to the brim. I’m a bit of a hoarder so that really doesn’t help 😄 Lack of time was indeed the main factor for finishing my business but there was also the constant “I only want a female tarantula” 😤, leaving Europe was a big blow, Covid, the animal welfare licensin...
3 comments
Read more

My biggest announcement ever!

My biggest announcement ever! It is with a heavy heart that I am informing everyone of my impending retirement as “The Bug Lady”. I have been running my business for approximately 45 years so it has been pretty good J Things change over the years, I was one of the only bug dealers in the early days and possibly the only woman but these days, every man and his dog is selling tarantulas and “proper bugs” seem to have fallen out of favour. I have been cutting down on stock for some time and had hoped to keep going without the tarantulas but it hasn’t worked out. I expect to fully retire by the end of this year but a lot depends on my wonderful customers (you!) as I need to sell off a large number of little creatures. I still have 24 species of tarantula (multiple numbers of most), millipedes, cockroaches, isopods, scorpions, slugs etc. Do take a look on my website, once they are gone, they are gone! If you want to help me, please spread the word to all your bug mad friends. I have lots of...
7 comments
Read more

Getting there!

Getting there! My plans for retirement are going pretty well, I cannot believe all the wonderful messages that I have received over the last few weeks, many of them have had me in tears. It is very emotional to give up my little friends after a lifetime of keeping them and my human friends too but the time is right so I will keep plodding on until everything has gone. I won’t be changing my phone number and I hope to keep my email address, therefore, those who want to, can stay in touch. I had planned for a big sale on September 1st but orders are still going strong so an all-out clearance sale doesn’t sound such a great idea. I have decided instead to reduce items individually but I do keep changing my mind J It is really difficult to retire over a period of time, I couldn’t make the decision and then stop, like most people are able to. I can’t set a date in the future because I simply don’t know when sales will dry up. The idea of an open day sadly became unworkable, I just don’t hav...
1 comment
Read more