Welcome back to Bug Club!

We survived the heatwave! It was rough, but we did it - me and my partner had a great time on Tuesday, we went over to Tal-y-bont on the Welsh coast! The weather was perfect for a beach day, the water was warm, I swam with SO many jellyfish - which also inspired me for some of my work!

Wales in such a beautiful country. Before I moved to Shropshire I had only ever been to Cardiff, despite living at a similar distance to the border to where I live now. The scenery is unlike anything else I've seen in the UK, virtually every minute of the ~2 hour journey was breath-taking.

Oswestry Pride was very successful! I had my first triple digit day since starting this venture, and although it's still not enough to enter into profit territory, I'm pretty close to actually saying I'm earning something! Hopefully the market I've got in Oswestry on the 8th will push the numbers over the edge!

The Bug Spotlight!

The Painted Snail Polymita Picta The Painted Snail is a Cuban species that is often regarded as one of the most beautiful snails in the world! This snail is an arboreal species, meaning they primarily live in trees, feeding on moss, lichen, and fungi that grow on the bark. The shell colours have a huge range of variation, from blacks and reds to pale yellows - some studies have hypothesised that the shell colour correlates to climate conditions, temperature regulation, or feeding habits, but it seems not enough research has been done on this species to develop a concrete answer.

Why Does This Exist?

I feel like snails have a love-hate reaction among most people. As someone who has a pet snail, in my experience reactions range from people obsessing over how cute Brian (my snail) is, to people "joking" about stepping on him, giving him salt, or feeding him to their pets. Personally, if it wasn't obvious, I am in camp Love Snails, even as someone who grows fruit and veg. I can't get too mad at them for eating my plants, it's their world too! I hope that by the end of this section, I can move you from team Hate Snails to at least team Neutral about Snails!

A few quick snail facts: They are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female organs, so there are no boy or girl snails! Almost all snails have their shell spiral on the right side - there have been very rare instances of left spiral snails, and left spirals cannot physically breed with right spirals since their organs are on opposite sides! Like most 'pest' bugs, snails are detritivores, meaning most of their diet comes from decomposing plant and animal matter. They are not herbivores like most people think, they can and will eat meat and dead insects!

Most pest control measures for snails involve long, painful deaths. Snail and slug pellets destroy their digestive system, killing them by making them starve to death, and can also poison animals that then eat the affected snail. Salt rapidly dehydrates them in a very uncomfortable death, and again, makes the body inedible to most animals. Copper is only effective if you use large amounts of it, snails are very good at just stretching over it to get past. Moving snails out of your garden does work, but only if you move them at least 20 meters away, or they'll come back. My method of dealing with snails is much simpler, and is more of a symbiotic relationship.

As I mentioned before, snails are detritivores, they'll eat whatever is convenient and available. The problem is, if you have no detritus for them to eat in your garden, they will end up going for your good crops! Whenever I see snails and slugs in my garden, they're always cleaning up the bird food, in the compost bin, or in the shed, never on my plants! Think of them as your personal clean up crew :) They get their food and safe hiding places, I get a nice clean patio and my strawberries stay intact.

Art Updates!

I finally have proof I can paint dogs!

I've been focusing on trying to get my pet portrait commissions out there recently, I've had several people express interest but I'm still waiting for my first order!

As I mentioned before, I now have an active Etsy shop! To thank you for subscribing and enjoying my work, use the code BUGMAIL25 at checkout to get 25% off my originals and custom artworks!

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