Never enough room in my bug house

Never enough room in my bug house, I have been having a sort out and trying to make some space. This week hasn't been as hectic as last week so I have been rearranging the boxes and tanks and trying to get some sense of order so that the feeding and cleaning regime is a little simpler. I do of course have my famous 'tick list' so that nothing gets left out. I have lists for everything, I wouldn't know what to do with myself without my daily lists.

The Indonesian centipede eggs have hatched but rather disappointingly there were only a dozen babies. I thought they generally had a lot more than that? They are large, healthy babies and seem to be eating ok, their heads are bright blue. I have separated them into individual pots, having never bred them before I am not sure how cannibalistic they are. They may be fine together but I didn't want to risk it. Spiderlings are often fine together until they start moulting but newly hatched praying mantids can be very cannibalistic as soon as they emerge from the egg sac.

I do wish more people would let me know if they find a mistake on my website or have problems ordering. There's a lot of information on the site and I often cut and paste, there are bound to be a few mistakes but they only come to light when someone lets me know! This week a customer was having problems ordering a Tail-less Whip scorpion, I couldn't work out why until I spoke to her on the phone. It turned out that there was a block on this item as it had previously been listed as 'collection only'. Once I had removed the block the order went through fine as an order to be posted. I wondered why I hadn't sold any! They are fascinating creatures and I am selling them at my best price ever as I managed to get a discount on them. I bought a large number as they are housed in a big glass tank and I am hoping to breed them. I have had babies in the past and they were so cute.

I have had a lot more telephone enquiries this week and it really is much quicker and simpler. Some enquiries are fine by email but it is much better to give advice on housing / keeping bugs and what may or may not be coming in on the phone. I am now keeping a 'wants' file on my desk. Lots of people ask if I can get a specific bug or species, I rarely know what is coming in next but if I have a note then I can drop them a line if the animal does become available. Emails letting me know that an order has arrived ok are always appreciated. In an ideal world I wouldn't be sticking my beloved bugs in the post but thankfully I have very few problems. Nobody has reported a delayed Special Delivery parcel in absolutely ages so I assume they are all arriving the next day. I hate the idea of Royal Mail being sold off. It isn't perfect but Special Delivery works extremely well for me, to be able to track parcels certainly gives peace of mind. Postal strikes are a disaster for my business, I do hope they get something sorted out amicably.

I must mention phishing emails. I get a large number of these from customer's email addresses, they are very often from the same email address over and over again. I never click on the links, mainly offering 'great electrical goods at bargain prices' but they are very annoying. I know that it is difficult to eradicate this problem from your computer but wouldn't some internet security help? If this continues from the same addresses I will have to block them. Surely it must be obvious to these people that they have a problem as the phishing email is sent to everyone in their address book.

My competitions are going well. I have won lots of children's toys recently, my niece's and nephew's children are very pleased. I have also won tickets to Disney on Ice at the O2 arena and tickets to the British Superbikes this weekend (which my husband and son are happy about). My daughter has entered a local competition to win a car. I don't think she has any chance of winning the car (I gather you have to stand in the shopping centre for hours touching the car with both hands) but there are spot prizes on offer for getting votes online so if she gets through the first stage and her photo is accepted I will be posting a link for some online votes! The task was to make a model car out of anything you like. We made a car out of salad and sat a Hissing cockroach in the driving seat - fingers crossed.