Getting there slowly!

Getting there slowly! I seem to have been going backwards lately and everything had gone to pot but I have worked very hard this week and I am finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have another practice “Ginny’s Jungle” party next week and then I will have to leave most of the party planning until the New year. There is still so much to do, flyers, advertising, labelling and of course sourcing a couple of suitable reptile/amphibians to exhibit at the parties. I had hoped to do a practice group party (Brownies, scouts, etc.) before Christmas but I have run out of time.

It is really good when people get involved with my website, I would love it to be more interactive. I did write about this a few weeks ago in my blog but that was the week that all power was lost to my office and it took hours to get it restored. I lost most of what I had written and I was so aggravated that I just couldn’t start all over again. I like it when people contact me and answer questions in the blog or posed on the website. This week I have had a few questions answered and I am still pondering which lizard to get for my parties. Martin’s suggestion of a Dwarf Monitor (comment on last week’s blog) is very thought provoking. In my mind they are far more beautiful and interesting than a Bearded Dragon but am I being silly, should I just stick with the ‘good old, tried and tested’ Beardie? Of course as I pointed out to Martin it may just come down to what is available and I would certainly only consider a captive bred animal. As I said last week, I have always wanted a Monitor lizard, perhaps a dwarf variety would be ok??? (I have just purchased insurance but I really don’t want any kids bitten or scratched)

The bugs are doing very well and much as I am trying to cut down, they just keep reproducing. I have baby scorpions everywhere! I cannot possibly house them all up individually so I have been trying to sell them off super cheaply. The tiny desert species are voracious eaters and seem to be devouring newly hatched crickets at a rate of knots. I need to keep on top of the feeding or they will surely start munching on each other. To think only a few months ago I was despairing at all my pregnant scorpions that just seemed to refuse to give birth, perhaps they were waiting for the Winter? I still have a few obviously pregnant females but I would be quite happy if they could hang on until the Spring. There is an interesting article about scorpions making good mothers, in Practical Reptile Keeping magazine this month.

I am doing pretty well on my new Apple computer and it was certainly worth the money (it cost a fortune). There is so much to learn but for a ‘slightly older’ lady like myself it was always going to be a struggle, it certainly hasn’t been as bad as it could have been. There have been no major catastrophes just a steady flow of minor blips. Not sure my husband would agree with me, he has shouted out on several occasions “how many times do I have to show you this?”. I think the obvious answer is loads, until it finally sinks in. I do like the way that it has predictive text like an iPhone, some of the alternatives it comes up with are hilarious. I wrote children’s the other day and when I looked it had changed to cauldrons. I certainly need to re-read what I have written.

Anyway I have to get out soon, firstly I need to walk Teddi (our dog) and then I need to take my mother in-law to a doctor’s appointment and shopping. Christmas is fast approaching, I’m not sure when my last day of posting will be, I’m hoping the Monday before Christmas, 21st but we will have to see how the weather goes and how the Royal Mail is coping. I have started sending out Christmas cards this week and have received my very first one today. Thankfully the weather has been quite mild here this week so if you want any bugs for Christmas it would be good to order now! I have some beautiful bugs and as ever a zillion or so tarantulas (certainly seems like a zillion when I’m feeding them each week).