An unfortunate incident

An unfortunate incident - I'm really not sure just how much I should reveal about what occurred last Friday but I can't write my weekly blog without mentioning it. I have always allowed visitors to call and by the very nature of my business some of these people have looked a little 'different'. I have no problem with tattoos, piercings and strange coloured hair, individuality is good as long as people are genuine. In my experience people who like animals are the sort of people I like! But I came a cropper last Friday and have been unable to just move on so I have now reported the incident to the police, I am telling my blog followers and then I shall try to forget it and get back to normal.

The basic facts are that a young man arranged to call via Facebook, told me that he worked for a zoo and that he had cash to pay with. He took up two hours of my precious time and made me pack a very large number of my best tarantulas. He then started coughing and asked for a glass of water. He was very excitable and told me lots of tall tales but I assumed he was just young and enthusiastic. I believed that he ran animal handling workshops at a zoo that I am familiar with but I was not at ease so instead of leaving him alone I lead him into the kitchen to get the water. When we returned to the bug room he said he would have to go to the bank to get money. By this time it had pretty much dawned on me that he would not be returning. He left in a hurry and was never seen again, the phone number he gave was false, the zoo have never heard of him and he refused to answer my messages to him. At first I wanted to believe that he just got carried away with his lies and was simply going to run off but piecing things together I sadly have to admit that I think he was planning to run off with a large amount of my stock. I was left feeling very stupid and upset. I will continue to accept visitors but I will 'try' to be more careful. I could go on and on, there was a lot more to it, I did consider putting his details out on Facebook but I think it would just cause more hassle. I have informed people but only on a 'need to know basis'.

Moving on, it is Halloween in just a couple of weeks, I love it! All the creepy crawly displays in the shops are great and we will be having a big family party. I am continuing to try hard with Facebook and yesterday I had my 'social media expert' come over and give me another lesson on Facebook and Instagram. Actually he is a long standing customer and a very nice guy so he went away with an adult Cobalt Blue spider as a thank you gift. You never know I might get into Twitter and Pinterest next? (unlikely) I have now ordered my new Apple Mac computer, it cost a fortune but like my recent website upgrade it is needed to keep my business going in the modern world. I am far more comfortable with the bugs but I don't get an income from looking after my menagerie, I have to sell them to generate an income and these days it is all online. I am really grateful to my many loyal customers for your continued support (I am happy with new customers too!).

This week has seen the start of the colder weather and I have now begun putting heat packs in most of my parcels and certainly in those going across to Europe. I haven't had any problems reported and Special Delivery is a very good service. Almost every single parcel that I send arrives the next day. This hasn't always been the case, at one time I estimated that as many as one in every twenty parcels took two days to arrive but these days it only once in a blue moon that something goes wrong and a parcel takes an extra day to arrive.

Thanks to Julie for the blog comment last week but there is no need to change my favourite cockroach's name as I have established that Brutus is a male. I have a little group of Rhinoceros cockroaches now, I look forward to seeing how large the females grow. I may have some time to wait as the babies that I bought recently are actually already two years old. I'm not sure how long they take to mature but I think we are talking years rather than months!

Must get a move on as I am off to take part in the filming of a new panel show on tomorrow. I am providing a scorpion and will be acting as handler. When I say acting I am hoping to just be behind the scenes but there is some talk of me being 'in shot' eek, I hope not. It is a long time since I was on the telly. I do look back with affection at Channel Four's Big Breakfast show where I was the resident insect lady and had some great times. Chris Evans was such fun, it was like going to a party but very early in the morning! This show is only a pilot, that means if all goes well it may become a series but if not it may never be shown.

Please feel free to comment on this blog, I couldn't work out how to read the comment last week but I've got it now! I can see from the admin section of my website that this blog is read by a large number of people so please feel free to contribute x