Busy, busy after the show!

Busy, busy after the show! The AES exhibition last weekend was really fun. I got to meet lots of people that I had only corresponded with by email or spoken to on the phone. I can't say I spent a great deal of time on my stand as I had many things to buy, organise and much chatting to do. Hubby was stuck on the stand and managed to shift quite a few stick insects, which was the aim of having tables this year. Stick insect sales have fallen dramatically recently and I do not intend to spend all winter scrambling around trying to find fresh bramble for them. That said, I probably will as I still have way too many and some nice new ones that I do want to hang onto and breed. I managed to get some Leaf insects at last, I only wish I had bought more as they are selling fast. It has been a great week for sales but I did spend a large amount of money at the show and of course I also got a supply of giant beetles beforehand. It is always nice to see the regular 'old' faces as well. I enjoyed a chat with Clive Farrell, without his help in the early days I very much doubt if I would be running my business now. He set up the London Butterfly House and employed me for a couple of days a week. At the time I lived in Surrey, didn't drive and had a young son. It wasn't easy but he always said that he loved my enthusiasm. I have never lacked enthusiasm!

If you have been looking at my website this week you will have noticed all the new animals. My bug house is heaving, I still have some animals in boxes. Everything has been fed and watered but I am struggling to find room for all the larger cages and containers. Someone commented recently on all the cages, boxes etc. on my bug house veranda. They asked if I kept some of the bugs outside. I don't keep any of my bugs outside as they all require warm conditions but I have simply run out of room inside and have nowhere to put vacated cages and containers. I have kept some of the Indonesian beetles for breeding and they are in very large plastic boxes. The boxes need to be large to accommodate the chunks of wood that I hope they will lay their eggs in. It's amazing how the beetles can burrow into the wood and I did see what I believe to be the first beetle egg the other day. I must try not to disturb them too much. I am a great one for "just checking" but it is obviously better to leave them alone. The beetles are certainly munching their way through a lot of bananas. My friendly local greengrocer reduced his already reduced bananas when I told him what they were for. The guy thinks I'm nuts, he makes no secret of it! Sometimes I think I'm nuts too but as I'm always saying "I am totally harmless so does it matter".

One thing that I must mention from the show (I could go on for pages!) is the 'miracle' that we experienced. It was really spooky and it's not even Halloween yet. I had taken along some orders for customers to collect at the show. One guy collected his order and as he was checking everything, he noticed that a female Atlas beetle was dead. I was horrified, I only packed them the night before and they looked great. I profusely apologised and he chose some alternative bugs rather than a refund, which was nice of him. When he left the stand I thought I had better check another order as it contained two female Atlas beetles. Much to my horror both beetles were dead, I couldn't believe it and was dreading the guy coming to collect them. I was off wandering around the show when he arrived so my hubby rang me and I dashed back. I told the guy what had happened and how sorry I was. I told him that I could only imagine that I had not provided enough air for them, I knew they had not been chilled at all. I proceeded to show my customer the air holes in the pot and then the dead beetle inside. To my utter amazement the beetle had been resurrected! It was walking around in the tub. I opened the next tub and that beetle too had come back to life and the third one also. None of them were deceased. I can only think that the banana in the tubs had fermented and as our daughter so eloquently put it "they were stoned"! They really looked dead to everyone at the time. It was really, really odd. Thankfully the guy who had ordered the two beetles knew the first guy and went and got him back so that he could collect his resurrected beetle. All's well that ends well. I won't be so quick to judge a beetle dead in future.

I found a great little article this week in 'Pets International' magazine. It is all about how Japanese pre-teen children are given a beetle grub to care for and if they successfully rear the grub to adulthood they gain enormous respect from family and friends. What a nice idea.

So much to say but as usual I need to get on. My mother in-law had another operation yesterday and is staying with us to recuperate. Sadly they were unable to carry out the whole procedure so she faces another operation in the coming weeks.

Patience may be required next week! Yours, mine and probably everyone around me, as I am bound to get into a terrible flap. My new website will be ready for action mid week. I have chosen Thursday as the best day, my husband has a couple of days off work then and I am sure to need his help. I am excited as it will be much better but I am really nervous too, as you all know by now I am useless with technology. I really must ring Vodafone today as my contract is about to run out, I can no longer put off getting an iPhone. I just know it will be a nightmare to get to grips with. Oh I could panic for England, if it were an Olympic sport I would get a gold medal!