Skip to main content

Friday 13th again,


Friday 13th again, is it me or do we have a lot of Friday 13th's? It has been a crazy week, I clearly have too many bugs as it actually took me until Tuesday to get everything fed after the holiday. I am now nicely set up for the weekend but come Monday it will all start again! I really could have done without another power failure yesterday morning.

I had loads of orders to get off and my husband had already gone to work before I realised that once again there was no power to my bug room and office. I was pretty panicked as without electricity I am truly power-less, no computer, no lights, no internet. I couldn’t even get into the garage to check the power supply as the door is electrically controlled and on the same circuit. I ended up phoning my hubby and he had no choice but to come home and sort it. He is pretty sure he has isolated the fault this time but as we already knew, he will need to rewire this side of the house. He ended up working from home (too far to go back again as he works in London), it wasn’t ideal as he and our son have flown out this morning for a weekend away watching the Formula One racing in Barcelona (I would honestly rather watch snakes). I have huge plans to catch up on ‘everything’ this weekend, paperwork, clearing and cleaning my office (possibly some of the house) and definitely getting out into the garden (even if it pours). I do like the jungle/wildlife look but it has gone beyond wild since we went away.

I got in some amazing new millipedes this week, I haven’t had the Madagascan Fire millipedes for literally years so I am delighted to see them again and the Giant Pill millipedes are the largest I have ever seen. There is also a new black species that I haven’t had before. A few scorpions and beetles arrived as well, I still haven’t had time to add the beetles to the website (it’s on the list for the weekend, my list has actually run over onto two pages).

I will be restocking plenty of other bugs this month, next weekend I will be collecting a whole host of new stock (hence needing to get myself straight this weekend). I should have spiders, scorpions, beetles, millipedes, cockroaches, snails, stick insects etc. I have met a really good supplier this year, I do prefer captive bred animals but he imports some super creatures and if I can get them breeding it would be wonderful. I love to breed bugs, it is always exciting. I posted some photos on Facebook this week of my new, baby Tail-less Whip scorpions, they are so cute. Aptly named, Pudding, the hugely pregnant Shiny Burrowing scorpion that is housed in the dining room and getting ‘special treatment’ still hasn’t produced any young, she looks fit to burst.

Before my holiday I bought a number of ‘jelly pots’ off of the internet. I thought they might make feeding some of the bugs a bit easier for my daughter while we were away. I have never really used these much but I now realise they are incredibly useful and can save a lot of time. I may actually start stocking them to sell on. They are small, sealed plastic tubs filled with fruit flavoured jelly. They come in many varieties and I have found that millipedes, cockroaches, crickets, beetles and a number of other creatures thoroughly enjoy them and they are much less messy and smelly than fruit.

I would like to tell you more tales of my adventures in Cyprus with all the lovely little creatures out there but sadly I have run out of time and need to get going. I do have lots of photos to sort out, especially of spiders and I will get around to it soon-ish. I certainly decided while on holiday that I have a least favourite arachnid! There were a lot of goats in the areas we visited and I assume that’s why we encountered several ticks on our walks. They completely freaked me out with all the stories that I have heard lately about tick bites causing Lyme’s disease. We didn’t get bitten by any but found several on our clothes. I tried to take some photos but I was sure they were about to bite so I kept flinching and the photos were consequently fuzzy.

Of dear, it has just started to rain and I need to take Teddi for a walk – well it is Friday 13th!


Comments

  1. jenMay 14, 2016

    Those jelly pots are great, if a tad expensive. I'm trying to breed my own mealworms because I got fed up spending £10-15 a week on mealworms for the hedgehogs and birds in the garden. The jelly pots are the only food for them that I've found so far that doesn't turn the substrate moldy.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A surreal week indeed!

A surreal week indeed! I sent off my last orders on Monday and the remainder of my bugs will be leaving me on Friday. So many people are congratulating me on my retirement but I prefer the good luck messages. I didn’t think I would ever retire but it all became too much, not just for me but my family too. Our home was taken over by my work. The bug room was my domain but the rest of the house had gradually filled up with ‘stuff’, plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, tanks etc. and I never ever had any time. Whatever task I was doing, I was always thinking of the next job on the list. People keep asking what I am going to do with my time now. In the short term I will be clearing everything out, especially the loft which is full to the brim. I’m a bit of a hoarder so that really doesn’t help 😄 Lack of time was indeed the main factor for finishing my business but there was also the constant “I only want a female tarantula” 😤, leaving Europe was a big blow, Covid, the animal welfare licensin...
3 comments
Read more

My biggest announcement ever!

My biggest announcement ever! It is with a heavy heart that I am informing everyone of my impending retirement as “The Bug Lady”. I have been running my business for approximately 45 years so it has been pretty good J Things change over the years, I was one of the only bug dealers in the early days and possibly the only woman but these days, every man and his dog is selling tarantulas and “proper bugs” seem to have fallen out of favour. I have been cutting down on stock for some time and had hoped to keep going without the tarantulas but it hasn’t worked out. I expect to fully retire by the end of this year but a lot depends on my wonderful customers (you!) as I need to sell off a large number of little creatures. I still have 24 species of tarantula (multiple numbers of most), millipedes, cockroaches, isopods, scorpions, slugs etc. Do take a look on my website, once they are gone, they are gone! If you want to help me, please spread the word to all your bug mad friends. I have lots of...
7 comments
Read more

Getting there!

Getting there! My plans for retirement are going pretty well, I cannot believe all the wonderful messages that I have received over the last few weeks, many of them have had me in tears. It is very emotional to give up my little friends after a lifetime of keeping them and my human friends too but the time is right so I will keep plodding on until everything has gone. I won’t be changing my phone number and I hope to keep my email address, therefore, those who want to, can stay in touch. I had planned for a big sale on September 1st but orders are still going strong so an all-out clearance sale doesn’t sound such a great idea. I have decided instead to reduce items individually but I do keep changing my mind J It is really difficult to retire over a period of time, I couldn’t make the decision and then stop, like most people are able to. I can’t set a date in the future because I simply don’t know when sales will dry up. The idea of an open day sadly became unworkable, I just don’t hav...
1 comment
Read more