Another busy week, has been and gone

Another busy week, has been and gone. My hubby gets back from his ten-day motorbike trip today. I’m pleased to report that nothing has gone terribly wrong in his absence, no power cuts, no problems with the internet, no problems with the website. Well, no problems that couldn’t be solved without him anyway. There certainly was a problem with my website last week and nobody told me that it was down until it had been off for several days! I thought it was odd that nobody had placed an order and that nobody had read my blog (I have a number counter on it, I can’t see who has read it but I can see how many people have). Then Friday afternoon I had an email from a regular customer in Finland saying “Is your website going to be functional soon?”. I immediately called my website guy and he realised that the site was switched off. We are both logged in as ‘admin’ so the site was visible to both of us but sadly not visible to anyone else. It took only seconds to rectify the problem.

All is well in the bug room, I was very pleased to discover this week, while cleaning out my huge Giant African snails that they had laid a clutch of large, yellow eggs. The baby snails are already hatching, I’m so glad I spotted them as I was about to empty the old box of soil. I didn’t want to disturb them so I’m not sure how many there are but I would guess about 8-10 eggs, if not more. They are surprisingly large. I have had Bill and Ben for a couple of years and they have never produced any eggs before. I posted the news on Facebook yesterday and someone said they should be call Bill and Brenda which I thought was quite witty.

I am having a big stick insect sale, well I’m trying to! I rest my case, nobody wants the more common species and I have to say that I don’t want to keep collecting foodplants (mostly bramble) for them! They have got to go somewhere before I go away with my mother in-law next month. It wouldn’t be fair to leave my family looking after so many when they have their own jobs and Teddi to care for. I hate to say it but much as I love stick insects, I put far too much time into them for very little profit. I am in the process of changing so much in my bug business, I have to adapt and change with the times. I’m really pleased with the way things are going, I couldn’t cope any longer with the way things were.

It looks as if the minimum spend of £20 on my website is going ok but it is early days so I will listen to my customers and take on board any comments. Informing customers of when I am sending their order looks like it will remain permanently. It does bring extra work and some logistical problems for me but overall, I feel it is certainly worth it. Lots of customers want to change their delivery day, which was the whole idea and thankfully everyone has been polite about it so I’m very pleased. It is difficult working alone and having elderly family who rely on me, there are sometimes appointments to attend during the week so I cannot post orders every day. I have been working hard to promote my Ginny’s Jungle experiences and next week I will be taking my animals along to a local school’s 50th birthday party. In the early days of the school it was known for its exotic animal collection, including an alligator. How times have changed, these days very few animals are kept in schools. Who could take the risk with health and safety and the threat of being sued? I think it’s sad, without any risk, life would be very boring. Mind you, nobody would describe me as a risk taker, an alligator is definitely not what I would recommend, a few stick insects would be much better J

Some spider news now – I was searching for information on Nhandu coloratovillosus (Brazilian Black and White tarantula) a few days ago and came across a care sheet on tarantulasus.com. It was a really well written, informative care sheet. I was most impressed, there is so much rubbish on the internet and conflicting advice, this made a real change. Even the guy’s user name was impressive “ManlyMan7”! My Indian Violet spiderlings began to hatch from their egg sac after I had written the blog last Friday. They are all running around now and will be appearing on my website very shortly. I’m not sure how many there are because mum has done a great job of filling the box with webbing but there are lots and possibly lots and lots J I have a couple of stunning male tarantulas at the moment but sadly no adult females to go with them and I also have three Kilimanjaro baboon (Pterinochilus chordates) females who are fully adult and ready to mate but sadly I have no male for them. I’m keeping a watch on my two Thai Red females who recently mated, no egg sacs yet but lots of webbing in their boxes so fingers crossed. I still haven’t found the time to photograph my numerous ‘blue’ spiders that I mentioned last week. I haven’t forgotten, it is still on my never ending ‘list to do’.

This week’s photo: My Indian Violet (Chilobrachys fimbriatus) spiderlings, they are so cute and mum is looking good too, she is one of my favourite spiders.