What a lot of orders
What a lot of orders I've received this week! It has been a really good week, extremely busy but really good. I'm still moaning about all the little tarantulas that I have, especially when it came to feeding them this week. I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I sent the email to pre-order the spiderlings before the January tarantula show. The only thing is that so long as I put in all the hard work now I will reap the rewards eventually. I have some great species but they just need to grow a bit to become more saleable. I am selling quite a few spiders but not the ones I have too many of. I think it's called Sods Law! The bug room is looking rather messy again. I need to have a good clear up but it is difficult when I have so much crammed in there. I am thinking of buying a steam mop, I've heard they are very good. It was a real mistake buying such a light coloured vinyl for the bug room floor, it always looks dirty. I should have bought a yucky brown colour with a swirling pattern because that's what I have most of the time, especially with all this never ending rain.
I will have to clear/clean up next week as I am once again attempting to have an 'open afternoon', the details are on my website in the pink box/news section. I hope the queuing bit doesn't put people off, in reality it is most likely that nobody will turn up. I had to come up with something because there really isn't much space in the bug room. I mentioned about people waiting in their cars because it isn't practical to come by public transport anyway. We do have Bourne End train station but it only has one train an hour from Maidenhead and it isn't really what I would consider walkable. On the flat it would be ok but we are up a huge hill. I had none of this when we lived in Hounslow, it was a 15 minute, flat walk from the underground station, that's probably why my open afternoons were such a hit there! It just seems a shame that so few people visit me here, especially now that I have the animals in a self contained room at the side of the house with its own entrance door. I do hope someone turns up, if you are even thinking of coming along it would be nice if you let me know (not essential but nice).
Today and tomorrow are supposed to be dry here, I do hope so as I am out and about today and then tomorrow my hubby has plans to finish putting up the new greenhouse. It is so difficult to get anything done outside with the constant rain and high winds. We have fence panels to replace at the back of the garden and my old greenhouse is literally falling to bits. I think it is being held up by all the plastic sweet jars that I have stored in there. I collected another lot last week because they were due to be thrown away but I'm not sure I will ever need them all. I now have bags full of sweet jars in the dining room and another lot are all over the back seat of my car. I went to the local garden centre yesterday and collected a boot full of boxes to use for posting out orders. No wonder my hubby refers to my car as a mobile skip. He might just have a point at the moment but if the rain holds off I will get everything sorted out and my car emptied this weekend.
The new gym opens today! I am off for my induction this afternoon. I have been gym-less for three long weeks. I need the gym to keep me half way sane. I have managed to persuade several friends to join and also my daughter, plus her friends so it should be fun.
I have spent some time reorganising my beetle tanks this week. They are doing really well and are very popular pets right now. I just wish I could dry out the leaves and wood that I collected from our local forest. Everything is waterlogged. I know some people put their beetle substrate in the oven to kill off any unwanted bugs but I think this may also destroy the nutritional value of the substrate. I've never had a problem with anything in the leaves and wood, they seem to coexist fine. I do try to pick out centipedes but I haven't noticed any problems when I've seen the odd one in my beetle tanks. I have tried lying the leaves out in trays to dry but they take up too much space!
I am going to concentrate on scorpions next week. I did have quite a bit of success with breeding them last year. I still have babies of the Giant Asian Forest, Tail-less Whip and Chilean Grey-Brown, they are selling well but I would like to get my Flat Rock scorpions breeding. I have one or two that are almost certainly gravid. I will have to take them out for a car ride (seriously, they often produce babies when I have posted them. I can only assume it is the motion/change of surroundings). I may also re-house them but they were only re-housed just before Christmas.
Must get on, lots to do as ever. My husband works most weekends but he is off this weekend so I will write him out a list of little jobs to do (as well as the greenhouse and fence!).