I've never had so many bugs at one time!

I've never had so many bugs at one time! The BTS (British Tarantula Society) show last Sunday was great. There was a huge variety of invertebrate animals, it certainly wasn't just spiders. It was nice to catch up with so many 'bug people', those I have known for years and others that I have only emailed and spoken to on the phone. I certainly couldn't say that I knew everyone there but it did seem that everyone knew me, if not by sight then certainly by name. I cannot believe how many people mentioned that they read my blog and enjoy it every week! What can I do? I have decided that however busy I am it is important to keep the blog weekly. I must try harder!

I purchased far more than I meant to at the show, there are some animals that I haven't even put onto my website yet. Although they have all been fed and watered, some are still in the pots and boxes that I purchased them in. I have a 'creepy crawly refugee camp' for all the homeless individuals awaiting new quarters. I desperately need to sell more stock to accommodate this lot. I had a flurry of orders at the beginning of the week but it has dwindled to a trickle now. With only a few weeks to my holiday I truly need to do something about it and sell, sell, sell. I will be setting up some 24 hour only mega deals, as I did a little while ago. It takes time to organise but at least it is something I can do on my own. My website is just not flexible enough for me, I used to do 'buy three spiders and get a fourth free' deals but I cannot figure out how that would be possible with my current website. I'm thinking of a cut price postage deal but since the postal charges have risen I am actually subsidising the postage on many orders. I just don't know where the hours in every day disappear to, I never seem to get a moment to myself (ok, I had yesterday off but it was my daughter's birthday and she dragged me round the Westfield shopping centre, not really that relaxing).

Anyway back to the show, I bought a huge number of tarantulas. I managed to get some nice captive bred, larger specimens. I also picked up some animals that I had been asked to look out for so that was good. I really tried to stick with my plan of only buying animals that don't need daily care. I was very pleased to get some more Train millipedes. I hate the idea that they are all collected from the wild but there is nothing I can do when everyone wants them. I am always trying to suggest other millipede species that may breed more readily but the Train millipedes are such a good 'show animal' that they are the most popular pet millipede by a mile. I resisted buying some brilliant water bugs and I have been regretting it ever since! They were huge and absolutely amazing, one was even carrying eggs on its back. I don't know how much they were but I really wanted them and still do. They would only have been pets and goodness knows where I would have put them (I think they were possibly from Africa) so I know it was sensible but sometimes I think I am a bit too sensible. I bought some beautiful or grotesque Giant Funnel Web spiders, depending on your point of view. I know they are venomous but they are not covered by the DWA. I have decided not to post them so they are only available to people who can call and collect from me.

My problem, apart for the fact that there is only one of me, is that the continual care of all these animals takes hours each and every day. Yesterday I packed and posted several orders, took them to the post office, did some general clearing up in the bug house, went over to the woods and collected yet another sack of leaf litter, went to the greengrocers for damaged fruit (they gave me a huge box), fed all my small size spiders and after dinner I sat down to do paperwork. I get a large number of emails each day, I'm glad I set up the 'quick questions' page because it is easy to direct people there. Many questions would be answered by reading my website but there are plenty of others that need a personal reply. I do like to encourage people to ask me to measure the spiders that they are interested in. I really don't mind at all, it is much better than someone being disappointed when they receive a spider that is smaller than they thought. It is impossible to give an accurate size on the website as the spiders are all individuals and vary greatly.

Well I have to get out to the bug house as I have all the larger spiders to feed today! I have a dust extractor in my bug house, it is a large rather industrial looking box. I have had it for years, it is really important when you realise how many spiders I have and how many throw off urticating hairs. Unfortunately it broke down a couple of days ago. My hubby took it apart yesterday and discovered that a large cockroach had got inside and fried itself on the circuit board. It looks like that's something else to pay for this week, I will have to get a new one. It is very odd out there with no background hum, I hadn't realised just how noisy it was. It seemed strange that everything was silent except for the crickets and occasional Hissing cockroach.