Spider Woman!

Spider Woman! That's who I am this week and where I seem to be going. I have been saying for some time that the bug business has changed and that I need to change too. Once I spent hours making net butterfly cages (I had a room in my house especially set up for it)but the market diminished as cheap imports arrived and I moved on, once upon a time I spent months of the year visiting schools with my 'mini-beast' shows (it was always seasonal) but then my daughter came along and I concentrated more on selling bugs through the post and having open afternoons at my house. This progressed into an online shop, firstly set up by my husband and then taken over and revamped by my current website builder. I now sell a huge range of bugs (which I love) but the time and effort involved with so many different creatures is not always that practical and certainly not financially rewarding. There is only one of me, nobody in my 'real' world (friends and family)has the remotest interest in bugs so it can be very tough keeping on top of everything. I have been monitoring my sales over the last few months and realised that tarantula spiders are by far the most popular of the animals that I sell. I enjoy looking after 'things' and it's what I'm good at so I will of course keep my other bugs going but I will be cutting back and concentrating more on spiders and specifically tarantulas. Unlike most true insects, tarantulas live for years and become more valuable in time. I would love to stock only captive bred specimens, almost all of my spiders are now captive bred so I am working towards this aim.

This week I have brought in a large number of juvenile and medium size tarantulas (almost all are now on the website and I will get the job finished today - I promise). Next week I have a huge number of spiderlings arriving and a few larger specimens as well. All of them are captive bred.

Other things in my life! It's been a tough week, lots of family stuff that I really can't go into in my blog. I will just say that my mother in-law's operation had to be halted yesterday due to complications so she is going to need a lot more of my help over the coming weeks (we have many doctors/hospital appointments to attend). I am continuing to 'try' with technology. I really appreciate all the 'likes' on Facebook and one day I may figure out how to reply to comments, I can see them sometimes and then they disappear into cyber space. Did you all see my photo of frogspawn that I put on this week? Please, if you want some come and get it. I adore frogs so I have got to remove it and put it someone safe this weekend or the tadpoles will hatch and the fish will eat them! My ponds at the end of the garden are now full of breeding newts so the frogs only lay spawn in the fish pond. I would re-home the fish but hubby won't hear of it. How long do the damn things live for? We have been at this house for almost 12 years and they were here when we moved in. They are huge but so boring, they don't even take food from me, they just run away (ok, swim away). My snakes are driving me mad too, I really love my Corn snakes but 6 is too many, especially as 4 are male. The males have gone into mating mode and are thrashing around in their vivariums all evening. They can obviously smell the females so I am going to have to move the females away, probably into my already overcrowded office. I still haven't managed to find time to photograph my 'surplus' male snakes for Facebook but I need to. I have had no luck finding a good home locally for them. They are amazing pets but for some reason I can't convince my friends and family of that. I thought I was onto a winner with my hairdresser but she went and got a Bearded Dragon for her son this week! No luck with the gym either but I'm still working on them, surely a muscly snake is just the pet for a gym? I spend enough time there so I'd have no problem doing the feeding and cleaning but they would need to buy the vivarium and set-up equipment.

That's it, I have got to get in the shower now that everyone else has gone off to work and then I have to take 'monster dog' for a walk before getting on with the spiders and everything else! So much for having weekends off, I have earmarked tomorrow for paperwork, I have a pile of unopened letters and unpaid bills on my desk, they can wait no longer. I will go in the gym in the morning (hubby can walk the dog) and then that's it I must stay glued to my desk for the remainder of the day. Happy Mother's Day to everyone, I have persuaded (blackmailed) my daughter into joining me for yoga on Sunday and then she is treating me to dinner in the evening, I'm sure my son will pop over at some point (he's always busy, it obviously runs in the family).