All on my own
All on my own, it’s that time of year again when my husband has gone to Spain with his motorbike friends and my daughter has gone to watch the Le Mans car race in France. I am desperately trying to catch up with all the paperwork piled on my desk, some of it dates back to April and some letters are unopened! I have really got behind with everything lately, as ever the daily bug care has to come first or they will literally die but I clearly have too many bugs as I never seem to get much time for anything else. I finally have the leaflets printed for my Ginny’s Jungle parties and they look brilliant, almost too good to just giveaway! I need to sort out the wording for the website and then it will be up and running.
The bugs mostly continue to thrive and I have had plenty of orders this week, which is always good. I keep looking at my various Madagascar millipedes, I’ve seen plenty of mating but no eggs as yet. I have been trying to get more Giant African Train millipedes but I’m told that they are not being exported at the moment. There is some sort of ban? I’m not sure what this means exactly as I don’t import any animals myself. I always try to breed everything that I have (probably why I am always so busy). Talking of breeding, I touched on the problem with scorpions last week when I discovered my huge pregnant Shiny Burrowing scorpion had died (very unexpected). It was really sad as she was full of fully formed babies. I don’t know what it is that some scorpions need to induce them to give birth but I have had several species over the years that have either reabsorbed the babies or died, there is obviously a problem. I was recently offered a number of Imperial scorpions and told that several had been mated and were pregnant. I thought long and hard before turning this offer down but I’m glad I did. It is almost impossible to obtain Imperial scorpions these days and they were being offered at a very high price. It would have been well worth the outlay ‘if’ the females gave birth but a costly mistake if no babies were forthcoming. I really like scorpions and wish I knew more about them. I have another Shiny Burrowing scorpion who is fit to burst and I am really hoping she doesn’t die too. My best guess is that they wait for a certain time of year, this is based on the fact that I had two females last year, that gave birth around the same time without any problems.
I have some really nice tarantulas but it takes a long time to feed them all each week so I am trying to cut them down a little. I recently mated a pair of Horned Baboons (Ceratogyrus darlingi), I checked yesterday and the female is all tucked up in a thick web looking like she is preparing to lay an egg sac, fingers crossed (I know this isn’t cutting down but having three mature males and a mature female I really had to have a go). Actually I have managed to sell a few male tarantulas recently which is great as most of the males that mature then stay with me until they die! (not great business but I just can’t face destroying them).
I bought some new plastic boxes from Wilko this week. I got some a few months ago and have found them to be really useful. They are called CD boxes but they are just the right size for smaller colonies of cockroaches, beetle larvae and millipedes. I usually keep these creatures in large boxes but when they are full of damp soil, leaf litter and wood they become very heavy and difficult to lug around when I am packing up orders. It is much easier for me to have the smaller boxes to hand when packing and it is always good to have more than one colony of something “just in case”. They also come with a nice purple lid (as you know by now – my favourite colour). I had been waiting for them to pop up on special offer but it didn’t happen so I sadly had to pay full price. I think it will be money well spent as they should save time, not to mention my poor back! (which isn’t too bad at the moment).
That’s it, must get going. With hubby away I am in sole charge of all the dog walking (lucky me) and I have lots of bugs that need feeding today (before my new weekly tick list begins again tomorrow) and then this afternoon I will be busy with my mother in-law. My nephew’s family have got a puppy this week, a tiny boxer. I can’t wait for him to grow, a robust, male boxer should be able to give Teddi a run for her money. She is such a wonderful dog but a nightmare off the lead as she wants to play (very roughly) with every dog, whether it wants to play or not!
I did my last unpaid bug show on Monday evening at the local youth club. I think the youngsters enjoyed it but being mostly 11 and 12 year old boys, they were rather excitable and noisy. I really must stop practising now and recoup some of the money that I have spent out on my new venture. I intend to start in earnest when the schools finish next month.
And really lastly - please let me know if there is something on my website where I have not yet added care information. I am trying hard with my “How I Keep Mine” notes but it is a slow process.
This
week’s photo: Here is what Teddi does when I am rushing around working!