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Spring at last, the sun is shining

Spring at last, the sun is shining and all is well in the bug world. I have written my third newsletter which will 'hopefully' be going out today to everyone who subscribes. I say hopefully because we have had to use a new system, due to the old one crashing my site last time! (too many customers, the server saw it as junk mail - how dare they!). I have had an extremely busy week with things constantly coming and going. Next weekend I will be attending a bug show and I have pre-ordered several species of millipede, among them the Giant Train (at last) and some more of the very popular Yellow Spotted Flat millipedes. If you have any particular requests for animals please let me know and I will look out for them.

The bulk cockroaches are continuing to sell well. It was certainly a good idea to sell them 50 at a time but some are far easier to pack than others. I have thought about selling them by weight rather than individuals but I suppose that defeats the object. Some people are very reluctant to buy a tub of cockroaches because I cannot say how many are in a tub. Generally 'a tub' is a very good buy indeed, they are cheap and contain 'lots', with the smaller species I can obviously fit more in and then there will be lots and lots! But it seems clear that there are many people who want an exact number so I will have to carry on counting out the extremely stinky Madeira cockroaches and the extremely fast moving Red Runner cockroaches. The good old Deaths-head and Orange Spotted are no problem, they generally just sit there and wait to be picked up (probably why they make such good spider and reptile food).

I have been taking advantage of the warm, dry weather and foraging around out and about, collecting a good supply of rotten wood, leaf litter and of course bramble and privet. I have been keeping quite a few fruit beetle larvae and millipedes recently, I didn't realise how many species seem to devour rotten wood. I try to pick up Oak but I think more or less any wood will do so long as it is rotten i.e. really damp and soft. The millipedes and larvae both burrow into it and by the amount of frass that they produce they are obviously eating it.

The newsletter has one of my very first price lists reproduced onto it. It was such a long time ago, it really took me back as I read it (not that there was a great deal to read). It is quite amazing to think that I started this business a whole 30 years ago. I am hoping to find my longest serving customer. I did put oldest on the newsletter but I mean the person who ordered from me first, rather than their age! I do have a lot of young customers but I am also aware of quite a few pensioners. I am useless with computers but hopefully my hubby will be able to reproduce the 1982 list onto the home page of my website too.

I sent a letter or complaint to Pets At Home recently. The crickets that I had ordered from them were totally mixed in size. They were supposed to be size 2 and size 3 silent crickets but they were actually banded crickets and the tubs contained all sizes, even a few adults. It was a nightmare trying to feed all my spiderlings as banded crickets jump like crazy and obviously a cricket that is too big for the spider may damage it or even kill it. Anyway I was pleased to receive a reply this week and some vouchers. I visited today and found that the cricket sizes were far more accurate. They were still banded and labelled silent but you can't have everything.

Price list from November 1982

Equipment list from 1982


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