August and peak holiday season but I have had a busy week with lots of orders so I'm not complaining (that makes a change). I spent a very pleasant couple of days up in London with hubby on Tuesday and Wednesday which of course put me behind with everything. I would love to say that I will catch up next week but I have my nephew's three kids on Wednesday and then we are going to Legoland on Friday (I won the tickets). Plus hubby is again away on a week's training course with his work. I plan to post out orders on Monday and Thursday as usual and most probably Tuesday too. Today I have the wonderful weekly task of feeding all my larger spiders, however many I sell they never seem to get any less. I clearly have way too many!
As you all know by now, I am gradually trying to be more sensible with what I sell, or rather what I stock. The trouble being that a lot of the bugs that I love just don't sell and take up far more time than those that sell well. I am gradually moving more and more towards arachnids, I especially like scorpions and just this year I have been very successful at breeding them. Cutting out most of the stick insects has been a huge success. The few species that I have now are far more manageable, I can almost grow enough food for them in my garden. Gone are the days when I had to fill the car boot with bramble twice a week. It is sad though as I started off with stick insects and at one time kept about 15 - 20 different species. However, times change and stick insects are just not popular anymore. Busy people don't have the time to collect bramble for them and the vast majority of schools no longer keep any animals (very sad in my opinion). I mentioned last week that I have been condensing some of my millipede species and setting up a large 'mixed' box. That hasn't been such a great success, I have several types now living happily together and am selling them for only £14.99 for 3 but have had no takers at all! At only £5 each that is considerably less than I paid for some of them. Obviously something else that I need to look at? Species such as the colourful Fire millipedes, African Red Legged and Vietnam Rainbow sell very well so perhaps I need to concentrate on these. I have had a lot of success breeding them so I have good, strong colonies set up. Sadly I have had no luck breeding the Giant Train millipedes and at present I don't have any, I hate the fact that they are all brought in from the wild. I never directly import any animals but I sometimes stock these giants as they are very popular and I am ever hopeful of breeding them. I suspect they need some sort of environmental kick start, probably a drought followed by a monsoon or something similar (not easy to recreate in my bug room).
I do need to get a grip on things though. I honestly spend a ridiculous amount of time just caring for my menagerie and answering a never ending stream of emails. Going away, albeit for just one night makes me seriously question what I do and how I do it. I am constantly wondering how many more years I can keep doing this job but the fact is that I won't get a pension for another ten years and I really can't imagine doing anything else. I genuinely love the animals or I certainly couldn't keep going. I just need to slow it down a bit and keep a little less stock or just keep 'the right' stock which is much easier said than done!
I have a lot of other considerations in my life and a lot of people who rely on me as well as all the animals. I have become my mother in-law's carer (a completely unpaid job!) and this seriously takes a lot of my time these days. She has many physical problems and there are continual appointments to attend. I can moan about the animals in my life, they can't complain but I can't really mention the humans, they surely would. I will just say that our daughter's 'ex-boyfriend' will hopefully be moving out next week (don't ask).
Quick update on Bill & Ben the flowerpot pigeons - they have flown their makeshift hanging basket nest. What a great success that was. They are still around and feeding from our bird table. I saw one of their parents with a twig in its beak yesterday, clearly building a new nest. I did shout "no, we don't need more pigeons in this garden" but I don't think she was listening!
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