Overflowing With Livestock

A nice sunny day today, oh why couldn't it have been like this when we went to visit my mother in-law at the seaside on Wednesday. It poured the entire day and was very cold. It looks like the weather will be good for my open afternoon. It will be nice to see people but I am still a bit worried that it is only a log cabin and quite a few of you seem to be coming. Hopefully it will be a great success and I can have lots more!

I seem to be overflowing with livestock at the moment, I have quite a few tarantulas coming in from Europe next week. I should be getting the following species, they will all be small but I'm not sure of prices until they arrive (Acanthoscuria brocklehursti, Avicularia huriana, Avicularia spec. Purple, Avicularia versicolor, Cyclosternum schmarde, Grammostola chalcothrix, Grammostola rosea, Nhandu chromatus, Nhandu collotaravillosum , Pamphobeteus spec, Tapinauchenius cupreus, Tapinauchenius purpureus, Tapinauchenius subcaeruleus, Cyriopagopus spec. Blue, Grammostola alticeps , Lasiodora parahybana , Psalmopoeus pulcher). I am also expecting some new mantids, I hope to have some Orchid praying mantids. These are always popular, with their beautiful pink and white, petal like bodies. I have bought in so much stock that my tank sale will not be as great as I had hoped. I have had to use most of my spare tanks to house all the new arrivals!

The garden is looking good, everything is growing well. It's a jungle but I like it that way and so does the wildlife. Our family of Blue Tits are doing well in the camera nesting box. I am learning so much from watching them on my computer. The mother bird comes and goes all day long and she laid her eggs a couple at a time, over a period of at least a week. I thought birds laid their eggs all at once and then sat on them until they hatched - apparently not! I assume they will all hatch at different times, this seems a bit odd. I have only once seen the male bird take food to the female but I assume he will be called into action when the eggs hatch (the excitement, I'm quite obsessed).

Ok, moan time, actually I don't think I've been too moany lately. I have decided that I am no longer sending out orders without payment first. I am so sick of chasing up payments from large establishments. I have just been paid by a college that owed me money from three months ago, I have had to send several reminders and I don't have the time for this. There will be a few exceptions, I have some long standing customers, mostly schools, who have always paid on time. I will still send invoices with the bugs to these 'trusted' people but not to zoos, universities, butterfly houses and the like.

I have just about finalised my notes on sending spiders and bugs to European countries. I am hoping this will increase sales, I could certainly do with cutting down on the endless round of feeding and cleaning at the moment. There aren't enough hours in the day!