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Hatched, snakes everywhere!

They have hatched! Snakes everywhere, goodness knows what I am going to do with them all. I have 19 as of today and there are still a couple more that could hatch. They are much the same colour (normal Corn snake colour I'm told) but they all have different markings, some have spots, some have stripes and some have both. I know they can be tricky to get feeding so I will report back next week on their progress. All very exciting but I would have been quite happy with just two or three!

It has been a pretty busy week in the bug house, I have been sorting out my beetles. They are very popular pets this year, I intend to get some new ones soon. I will probably stick to the fruit eating species as they seem to do far better in captivity than the meat eating varieties (I say meat, generally crickets or other bugs). Millipedes too are popular this year, between the beetles and millipedes I am gradually switching from collecting armfuls of bramble to collecting leaf litter and rotten wood on a weekly basis. I'm not sure which is worse? Collecting bramble for the stick insects is painful, I always have thorns in my hands (yes I do wear gloves to collect it but I can't wear gloves when I am sorting out the cages and replenishing the leaves) but leaf litter and rotten wood weighs a ton, I am limited as to how much I can carry home. I had a strange experience this week when replenishing the bramble in one of my stick insect cages. I was holding the bramble in one hand and concentrating on sorting out the cage with the other. I was aware that my thumb hurt but I thought it was just the bramble digging into it. However as the pain increased I looked down and realised that I was actually holding the open secateurs amongst the bramble and the blade was right across my thumb. I immediately dropped the secateurs and had a lovely red indentation and slight cut to my thumb. Thank goodness the secateurs were so blunt as my mum always said "no sense, no feeling"!

I'm still dithering about getting rid of my stick insects before the cold weather sets in (I really love them but they take so much time to care for and nobody wants to buy them anymore) and I'm also still unsure what to do about raising my postal charges during the winter months. I had an email only yesterday from my heat pack supplier. I will have to place an order next week and I just don't think I can absorb the cost without raising my prices. Dilemmas, dilemmas and I still haven't managed to get hold of my website guy. I'm not sure what is happening about my site upgrade and obviously I cannot change my postal charges without his help. He is just so busy working on other projects, he's a great guy, I'm sure he will sort it when he has time. The story of my life, no time for anything, my epitaph will surely read "see, I told you I didn't have enough time" (hopefully not for a while yet!). Honestly it is sometimes a nightmare working alone and trying to keep all my little animals happy and healthy and do everything that a business entails. Plus all the people who rely on me but that's another story! The gym where I go to escape several times a week is threatened with imminent closure, I need the gym to keep me sane-ish. If anyone would like to sign the e-partition to keep it open I would be very, very grateful (it doesn't actually ask for your address which is good because it may look a little odd if you live in Scotland or Cornwall and are trying to keep a small community gym from closing in Buckinghamshire)

http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=830

I know it is September now but I cannot believe how quickly the weather has turned from summer to autumn this year. It is only two weeks since I had a lovely day on Brighton beach in hot, sunny weather and now I am looking out onto a damp, gloomy garden and needing a coat and wellies to walk the dog.

Take care it is Friday 13th today!

And finally -

Just had an email come in to say that a supplier of mine has several new beetle species. He will let me have details over the weekend. Thinking of the snakes, I will need to sell them and not just simply give them away as they are already costing me money and time (food and new houses for them). If you are interested and live near enough to collect please get in touch. They will be cheap, mum and dad are my pets but much as I love snakes I cannot keep them all! (Hubby would divorce me)


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