Rant, Rant, Rant

Rant, Rant, Rant – Nothing makes me feel as old as all the nastiness online. Honestly it didn’t exist before the internet came along. Obviously, there were still nasty people but they were isolated and didn’t have access to the world. Most of my customers are lovely but just occasionally I come across one who isn’t and it really upsets me, at times I just want to give up. I work so hard, far too hard, I drive my family nuts so I am trying to keep going but spend less time looking after the bugs and this means cutting down the number that I keep, something that I have been trying to achieve all year!

I am making progress, the spiders and scorpion sales are going really well and make up most of my earnings and yet I spend hours looking after a multitude of stick insects, millipedes, cockroaches, crickets, assassin bugs etc. I think my husband hit the nail on the head this week when he said that it was my hoarding nature. I have watched a few of the recent programs about hoarders and it fascinates me. They are all so sad but I sort of “get it”, I like to look after everything and everyone, I don’t really want to part with anything. Our loft is full of ‘my stuff’ (things I haven’t even looked at in years), our garden resembles a jungle because I can’t get rid of plants with a sentimental value or something that ‘may’ be useful as a food plant for the bugs. I look after all my animals with the same level of care, even if they just don’t sell and are with me for their entire lives (don’t get me started on male tarantulas). It’s a work in progress, I have parted with large numbers of cockroaches, crickets, stick insects and various other bugs recently and I am now going to concentrate on keeping arachnids and creatures that I can see a return on or are wanted for my Ginny’s Jungle events. It has to be, or I will seriously be looking for another job. I have been threatening for years to give up and get a job in Tesco and yesterday I actually found myself looking at their job vacancies board, mind you it was stuck right next to the entrance J

I have realised that life is for living and that life is short, another of my hubby’s favourite sayings is “I work to live, not live to work”, I think I need to get onboard with this one. His favourite saying of course is still “at least she looks normal” J I love my animals and enjoy caring for them, I just need less of them. Replying to ‘messages’ is another big problem, I am constantly replying to a deluge of emails, texts, Facebook and all. Our long-awaited grandson is due in just a few weeks, being a grandmother will be a new chapter in my life and one that I am so excited about. I have waited a long time and intend to enjoy every minute (except when he cries, I’m told I can just give him back then). Hubby and I went to watch the MotoGP at Silverstone last weekend. It was fabulous, I booked the trip for his ‘big’ birthday back in March. We had 3 nights in a hotel, transport to the racetrack and super seats. The weather was amazing and such a bonus. It really was like being on holiday abroad. It’s a shame Valentino Rossi didn’t win but you can’t have everything.

The blog has all been very personal this month so back to the bugs. My daughter did a great job of looking after everything while we were away and I came back to masses of Deaths-head hawkmoth eggs laid all over the cage and on the privet leaves. I do hope they are fertile, since putting a post on Facebook, I have had several enquires about supplying them and of course, I will indeed be putting the caterpillars on my website. They are amazing, huge and beautiful moths. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my Black Forest scorpions had given birth to lots of little babies. I have sold quite a few of my baby Tail-less Whip scorpions in the last couple of weeks. They are small but doing well. I have plenty of tiny Regal Jumping spiders but I must admit that I still have lots to learn about their care. I haven’t done particularly well with them. I think I’m pre-programed to keep everything warm and humid as most of my creatures like it but some do need drier conditions. I still have lots of baby Jungle Nymph stick insects and I have put them on the website at a very low price as I don’t have the space to keep them all as they grow bigger. They need quite a bit of ‘personal space’ to moult into the adult without any defects (bend wings, wonky legs etc.). Talking of defects, I was gutted to see that my beautiful female Orchid mantis was moulting into an adult and got her wings caught on the old skin. I hoped that the wings would dry ok but they didn’t and she now looks awful with her wings permanently stuck out. I have an adult male so perhaps she will be able to mate but I’m not very hopeful. I don’t think he would be able to get a proper grip as it would be directly on her body. See I really can’t give up on anything!

I do hope to find time soon to take more photos of the bugs and miniature items. I have been busy buying new bits and pieces from my best friend Amazon, sadly I still don’t have any M&S miniatures. Yes, I should probably make an effort and shop there but I do prefer Tesco – M&S don’t sell any Cadbury’s chocolate, a staple food in my daily diet!

I was going to cut and paste a couple of the horrible emails that I have received recently but quite honestly, I don’t want to set them off again. Both were most unfair but I need to get a grip and toughen up (it isn’t going to happen), one of them was complaining bitterly about me having a minimum spend set on the website. He just couldn’t get his head around my explanation that I don’t have the time to post tiny orders! I am meticulous about packing up the bugs and each parcel takes ages, I very rarely lose anything in the post, the packaging may not look great but it is for the good of the animals within, rather than being pleasing to the human eye.

This month’s photo: Deaths-head Hawkmoth eggs