Skip to main content

Life is good


Life is good, extremely busy but it’s paying dividends at last. My bug room is looking good (literally as I have had so many visitors recently that I have had to keep it tidy), I have cut down on many of my bugs but I still have way too many. I have been running lots of special offers and have also sold a lot of my surplus stock to a large reptile supplier.

These changes have been a long time coming but I really couldn’t keep going as I was. I am now able to devote time to promoting Ginny’s Jungle and to getting this side of my business up and running properly. This last month has seen me take part in another event at a local library which will hopefully bring in new business and host children’s bug parties and bug keepers experiences in my bug room. Just last week I had a young lady and her partner come along to celebrate her 26th birthday. Coming up this month I already have several events booked, one being a 21st birthday party. The following month I will be giving an evening talk to a group of adults in our library, entitled “my life as the bug lady”. This will be a practice before my Woman’s Institute audition.

Anyway, back to the bugs and spiders. I now have a lovely little praying mantis collection but these are only for sale to visitors as I just can’t bear to post them. I am quite low on tarantulas as I have had a real run on them recently. Tarantulas are the one creature that I have no plans to cut down on. Sales are going well and they are relatively easy to care for. I will be increasing my stock considerably over the next few weeks. I will be receiving a lovely collection of tarantulas this Friday as one of my customers is moving abroad and sadly cannot take his spiders with him. If you would like me to look out for any specific species just let me know.

Talking of contacting me, do I dare say it, hmm - here goes, I really struggle with the amount of ‘aimless’ emails that I receive. Many are asking questions that can be easily answered by looking at my website, others are asking advice about something that they have purchased elsewhere, many are asking for care advice that is impossible without speaking to the person enquiring. I am always happy to answer any questions by phone but I am finding myself having to ignore many of these types of emails. I sometimes send out my ‘cover all email’ but I think it irritates rather than helps the situation. A quick chat on the phone is easy to deal with and if I’m busy I will always call back (so long as it is in office hours). Thankfully my iPhone is set to silent during the night, I actually had a call from Bolivia at 6am this morning! (assuming it was to do with my bugs, it could have been a sales call?).

I am once again deliberating about this blog, I have been writing it for so many years but I do wonder if it has had its day (12 years is a long time). I know there are people who enjoy reading it and they don’t want me to give it up but I think that Facebook is gradually taking its place. I have been monitoring the blog and it is actually only read by a couple hundred people each month but one post on Facebook can reach a couple of thousand. It’s a dilemma indeed.

Anyway, on a happier note. I’m off to Dorset in a couple of weeks to look for adders and this year my family are coming too! It was my birthday present, even Teddi gets to come. Snake hunting is compulsory for my husband, son and daughter but my daughter’s boyfriend says he’s in charge of Teddi and my son’s partner is pregnant so perhaps she shouldn’t get too close (it was Lucy who got bitten by a Bullet ant when we were in Costa Rica!!!). This exciting news is of course what I wanted to say in last month’s blog but it was still a ‘secret’ at that time. The baby, due in early October will be our first grandchild, we are all over the moon. As you can imagine it has taken some organising to arrange the care of my bugs with us all away but my mother in-law will be here and my niece and boys will be in charge of animal care, they absolutely adore Barney. I am only away for three nights!

This month's photo: Spring cleaning with the bugs.

Happy May everyone, a lovely month for animals, plants and people too.


Comments

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