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Last blog entry before Christmas

Last blog entry before Christmas, this time next week it will be Christmas Day and I hope Santa brings you everything that you are wishing for! (I just need a bit of peace and relaxation). Tuesday will be my last day of posting until the New Year, so you will need to get your orders in quickly (BEFORE Tuesday). I have been so busy these last few months since the new web site started up, that I need some time to take stock. I must admit that the number of emails that I am receiving has reached the stage where I just do not have the time to answer them all. I feel very guilty but I am having to ignore those that ask questions which are answered on my site. It annoys me just how many small businesses do not have a contact telephone number on their website but I must admit that I do understand it. However I am happy to receive calls (9am-4pm), it is much easier to answer some questions on the phone than in an email but anything specific is still probably better by email (how large is a particular spider for instance, as I will need to measure the spider and cannot do this while out and about). I don't use my landline that much anymore but my mobile is generally attached to my belt!

Super news for me this week, my daughter passed her driving test! She was so delighted after being distraught a couple of weeks ago, when she failed her first test. This means no more being dragged out to take her here there and everywhere and no more taking her to sixth form college (miles away) and she may actually run some errands for me instead (especially if she wants help with her petrol).

The spider breeding seems to be going from strength to strength. My Golden Starburst Baboon egg sac has begun to hatch, I am just waiting for the nymphs to moult. My Peruvian Green Velvet has laid an egg sac, I am still waiting for the Natal Brown to lay an egg sac but I also have another female to mate this week. Sadly one of my Chile Rose tarantulas ate her egg sac, I have no idea why, it looked fine to me but at least I have another Chile Rose with an egg sac. I checked on her today all seems to be going well. I still have way too many praying mantids, I am constantly feeding them and only selling a couple a week. They clearly aren't worth the effort so I intend to phase them out over time. Arachnids are clearly the thing for me, I had a few juvenile Dune scorpions that a customer had bred and these went like hot cakes as soon as I put them on my website. I certainly hope to buy in a large selection of both scorpions and spiders in the New Year. It would really be good to get some of the less well known scorpions to breed. I don't know much about breeding scorpions so it will be a challenge. I had a large number of Chilean scorpions a few months ago, several of them looked gravid. Did anyone get any babies from them? On that note, if you are successful in breeding your arachnids and want to part with any, please let me know. I may well be interested in buying or swapping some.

Well I hope all my customers have a lovely Christmas and thanks very much to everyone who has supported me this year x


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