Busier than ever!

Honestly, I’m not getting any younger and I never seem to stop. I have such a huge number of bugs to look after (many are not shown on my website because I am trying to breed them or when it comes to tarantulas, I am keeping them until they moult and are ok to post out). I spend so much time feeding and cleaning. I am still learning all the time and doing really well with most of my breeding projects. It’s that time of year when everything is having babies, tarantulas, scorpions, cockroaches, millipedes etc. I can’t believe how well my idea of keeping only bugs that don’t need daily care is going. This means that I can lock up and go away for a weekend at last! Of course, I still have my wonderful daughter to check in but she too now has a baby. He is simply adorable and I love him taking up my time (: I’m really surprised that I don’t miss keeping stick insects but I honestly don’t. I really, really don’t miss collecting bramble (such an embarrassing part of my job, I could tell some stories about that – like when I was thrown out of Chiswick park!). 

I think the biggest problem with my career is that I don’t have any backup and that is something that really bothers me as I get older. None of my family share my passion. My daughter called me over to her place recently because there was a giant spider on the curtain. I arrived to find her cuddling baby Milo in the middle of the room and telling me that she couldn’t put him in his crib because the spider might jump down on him! It wasn’t even a fully-grown house spider, I just cupped him in my hands and put him out in the garden. My husband recently asked what was on the bug room door, it was a cricket, just a normal cricket. I give up!

All that said, I really enjoy my bugs and still get very excited about everyday events. I have some super customers and the 5 star Trustpilot reviews are certainly an ego boost. I read and reply to them all because I’m grateful for each and every one. 

I’m not sure where I’m going with allowing people to collect their orders. I can’t believe how many people just don’t turn up. I had a really strange case recently, the person took up loads of my time asking questions, I had the order packed and was waiting for their arrival but then they emailed to say that they had the wrong postcode and lived miles away. I have no idea if it was deliberate or not but I will be more careful in future. 

I do find it very frustrating when people ask for information from me and then buy elsewhere. Obviously, the fact that I am so happy to chat to people on the phone and freely impart my knowledge to others, is a big part of why people buy from me. This is certainly clear from the reviews on Trustpilot. I don’t think there is much I can do about it but it’s rather rude. I had an email from a guy recently who quite happily told me that he had just received a new tarantula from another supplier and would like some information about how to keep it. I rarely ignore any emails but I’m not sure he would have wanted my reply (:  Most people are not rude and appreciate my advice so I will just keep doing what I’m doing. 

Some people apologise for asking me to send tarantula photos. Please don’t apologise, this really is a service that I am quite happy to run. It actually helps me in so many ways. Nobody complains that a spider is too small anymore, I can check that all is well before posting off (perhaps spider looks too close to moulting), spider is actually bigger than shown (no I won’t change the price if the customer wants to order!). Obviously, there is no obligation to buy and that is fine. I would also like to point out that it is really helpful to inform me of any mistakes on the website. I realised recently that the blog was still showing as “updated every Friday” – it is years since I had the time to write my blog every week. I wish I could, one of my blog posts has been read over 3,000 times!

So, to finish, some more of my great ideas that may or not work (I do try). My hubby hates flies all over the house and I must admit that it was a bit embarrassing when family came over for my birthday and there were several Bluebottles flying around the living room in the depths of winter (I couldn’t really claim that they flew in the window). I have recently bought a new sewing machine and I am going to attempt to make cages with sleeves again. They really work, the cages that I have now just have a zip so I catch 2-3 flies in my hand and just as many escape! Years ago, a large part of my job was making net cages for butterfly farms, universities, schools etc. Fingers crossed that I can remember how to do it (I no longer have the templates). My next great idea is that I have bought an air conditioning unit for the bug room so that I can move forward with automating the temperature when I am away for a weekend. I already have a super Dyson heater/air filter that can be controlled by an app and the air conditioner too can be controlled this way too but first hubby needs to cut a hole in my door for the outlet – eek. It’s a work in progress, I’m planning for a super-hot summer, an air conditioning unit isn’t really needed at the moment. My next worry of course is the number of power cuts that we have here. They are an absolute nightmare (we never had any when we lived next to Heathrow airport). I always have my lovely nephew around the corner. If it were an emergency I’m sure I could persuade him to sort things out but I would then owe him big time as he is terrified of bugs!