It’s driving me crazy!

It’s driving me crazy! I only want a female, can you sort me out a female, is it female, aghh! I hear this day in and day out, which is why I’m giving up on tarantulas after all these years.

I’m always concerned about how honest I should be in my blog but I can’t help being honest and outspoken, it’s just me! I used to state that my USP (unique selling point) was that I don’t lie but I thought it looked rude on my website and not everybody lies, but at times I understand and cannot really blame people for lying about sexing tarantulas. It is not that simple AND most importantly what are people doing with all their unwanted males? I clearly lose very many orders because I refuse to sex my spiders. I have sometimes reared my tarantulas for several years. They are all treated with the same love and care, tending them weekly and for what? I’m as disappointed as everyone else when one of my beauties matures into a male but such is life, there’s a fifty-fifty chance. Surely, they are pets and although males live a shorter life they are often brightly coloured and handsome creatures. It doesn’t seem that long ago to me (although I know it is) since someone discovered how to sex immature tarantulas. Before that it was a matter of pot luck. No, I’m not being bullied into sexing my spiders and bumping off the males so I’m out. However, for the time being I still have a huge number so I am running many special offers until they are gone.

Anyway, onto happier things. I’m doing a roaring trade in fancy cockroaches and long may it continue. My pet name for the Domino cockroach is “currency cockroach”. I’m sure I’ve said it before but I sell many tubs of them per week and regularly trade them for other bugs. They are slow growing and right now the beautiful adults are beginning to mature. I have plenty of other species too and I am always on the look out for more interesting ones. I have seen some gorgeous, colourful cockroaches on Facebook but sadly not available in the UK (yet). Millipedes are also going well and I have lots of babies that should be on the website soon. I still have my collection of scorpions and Whip scorpions, many looking gravid so not on the website. I think that one of my favourite bugs is the Tail-less Whip scorpion. The little Florida ones that I have kept for years are so cute and at least two of the females currently have eggs. They are my happy bugs and remind me of our visits to Costa Rica.

I do now consider myself to be semi-retired, I have a busy life with my family but I hope to keep my bug business going for some time yet. It just needs to be less stressful so please buy my lovely tarantulas. I have worked out that they are by far the biggest stress, feeding, cleaning, answering endless questions and getting thoroughly ****** off with the sexing situation. Yes, I’m off again, people constantly tell me that they bought a guaranteed female from somebody (often a pet shop) and it moulted into a male. A quick glance at the BTS Facebook page will show you how many people are obsessing about the sex of their tarantula. I am really grateful to my loyal customers who accept that my tarantulas are all captive bred, lovingly cared for and unsexed!

We had a super holiday in Cyprus last month, staying in the same family run hotel as always (the Aphrodite Beach, Latchi). It is such a relaxing, nature driven haven. There are animals everywhere and the plants are beautifully tended. I love walking in the orchard and sitting listening to bees humming around the hives, it is surprisingly loud. We went out and about looking for snakes (my favourite pastime) and on the first day I came across a large Whip snake. I’m not sure where she came from but she reared up in front of me and gave a little warning hiss. I was so overcome with excitement that although I had my phone in my hand, I wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo and off she went into the undergrowth. Sadly, I didn’t see her again but we did see several other snakes and stopped for a couple to cross the road! I also rescued a chameleon that we spotted crossing a main road. I screamed at my husband to stop and jumped out to scoop it up. A passing lorry driver stopped to see what I was doing and when I showed him, he just shook his head and gave me a look that said “idiot English woman”.

We saw loads of butterflies and other bugs and did a lot of hiking. I’m not really a lying on the beach sort of person so this was very much my idea of relaxation J My husband is very good, he just goes along with it all and said that he wasn’t bothered not to be faced with an angry six-foot snake. We did have a good laugh that evening at the hotel when it dawned on me that to many people it would be their worst nightmare. Don’t feel too sorry for my husband, he is currently whizzing around Spain with his friends, on his brand new motorbike. I did not want him to get a new bike and I told him it is too dangerous and he should get a new hobby. He then pointed out that climbing around in the wilderness looking for snakes is probably not the safest of hobbies. He might have a point! We did actually see a couple of Blunt Nosed vipers and got some nice photos, they are stunning but also very venomous and lastly, we saw the most beautiful Bee Eater birds that annually fly over Cyprus on their way to Africa. They have to be one of my favourite birds with their iridescent plumage, swooping flight and distinctive call. They are not so popular with the local people as they consume a large number of bees on their travels but I will forgive them as they are fantastic. If I do get a beehive next year as planned, I don’t think any Bee Eaters will be visiting our garden J

Just to finish and a big thank you - I continue to receive amazing Trustpilot reviews, I read them all and always reply. They really make me feel good and spur me on with my long running, little home business J