Sam's Club Closure

Like everyone else, we've been caught off guard by the shocking closure of all Sam's Clubs across Ontario. We, as a company and as a family, are saddened that this great store with some great prices is gone. We have relied on Sam's Club for many of the business items that we need every day, like carrots, garbage bags, lawn bags, fruits, hand sanitizer, etc.

Our hearts go out to all of the employees that have suddenly lost their jobs - many of whom really believed in the store's success. We will miss seeing all of you every week and we hope that you fall gently.

As for us, we'll need to find a replacement store. How does Costco compare?

Yolanta

New Loot Bags Are Up

Things can get pretty crazy around here - okay, things are ALWAYS pretty crazy around here! It's taken us about three weeks but we have finally added some new loot bag items onto our website. Yippi!

As simple as it sounds, loot bags can be pretty difficult. The challenge comes with finding neat stuff at good prices. Once we find it, we have to cross our fingers and hope that our suppliers will not only carry those items for months or years but keep them at the same price - or lower price. Many times we find something really neat only to have our supplier stop carrying the item or have the price change. We do understand that they too are at the mercy of their suppliers but it doesn't make our lives any easier.

Currently we are using a plastic based bag to package our loot in. We are trying to find a better solution that will not only be greener but won't increase our costs (and therefore increase your costs). Things like compostable bags and fabric totes are neat ideas but just not feasible at the moment.

What does our loot bag future hold? Well hopefully better bags! And we're also looking for 'greener' items to put in those bags. Stuff like tree/flower planting kits, create-your-own-neat-thing-that-you'll-keep-for-years kits would be a very welcome addition provided the quality and the price were right. After all, when you're buying loot bags, you're not buying for one or two kids many times you're buying for 15 kids!

If you have any ideas or can point me in a great direction, please post your ideas! :)

Yolanta

Reptile Expo

I hope that everyone that came out to this past weekend's Reptile and Exotic Pet Expo in Mississauga had a lovely time. We were out bright and early and were amazed by the turnout. There were a fair amount of vendors and they were selling some nice looking animals and well priced supplies.

I am definitely looking forward (all ready) to the next Expo in two months. Typically once the weather warms up some really neat critters start turning up.

I've attached a video of the expo that I found on YouTube in case you missed the show. It's pretty long but will give you an idea about some of the animals that were there. Just click on "Reptile Expo" at the top of this entry to access the video.

Yolanta

Weekend Update

We're very excited for Sunday's Reptile and Exotic Pet Expo in Mississauga, www.reptileexpo.ca. I hope that many of you will take this opportunity to meet some breeders, buy supplies and most importantly see some cool creatures.

Please remember that if you are planning on buying a pet, do your research and plan on keeping your new pet for the duration of its natural life. If you do find that life throws you a curve ball, please find your pet a new loving home and do not release it into Ontario's wilderness.

The Peppy and Lemon Drop update:
Lemon Drop is still laying eggs. We are not sure if any of these eggs are fertile or not but we are letting our ladies sit on them. They are being such great mommas! This weekend has panned out better than we had hoped as only one cockatiel needs to come out. So get ready to meet Captain Jack! He is a very cool cockatiel.

See you soon.
Yolanta

Reptile and Exotic Pet Expo This SUNDAY

We're really excited for the Reptile and Exotic Pet Expo on Sunday at the Capital Banquet Hall, 6435 Dixie Road on the corner of Courtney Park.

This month's expo is billed to be filled with reptiles, amphibians, insects, exotic pocket pets, supplies, feeders and even parrots! This is a fantastic opportunity to see some cool animals, meet breeders/retailers, ask lots of questions about specific animals and pick up supplies - if you need any. Just as a heads up, there is an entrance fee.

For more information on this Sunday's expo (Feb 22nd), please visit their website, www.reptileexpo.ca

Hope to see you at the show!
Yolanta

Lemon Drop has eggs too!

We had a lovely surprise at Miss Bronwyn's party yesterday evening - Lemon Drop laid an egg. This was an awesome opportunity for this great group of kids not only to meet one of my favourite birds but to see her egg too. These eggs are pretty big!

Once we got back, I quickly made sure that is got into the nest with all of Peppy's eggs. This does, however, put us in a little mess as we don't quite know how we're going to work the cockatiels for parties as Lemon Drop is expected to lay an egg every other day for a total of 4 to 8 eggs.... tba

I would like to thank all of the parties this long weekend (so far) for being so much fun! I hope we can all meet each other again in the future.

On another note, the Reptile & Exotics Expo will be held this Sunday, Feb 22nd in Mississauga. I hope that many of you will come out and see some of the really neat reptiles, mammals, fish and pinned insects out there. This is also a lovely opportunity for anyone that is interested in getting a reptile pet to meet breeders and talk about the needs of the animal you are looking to pick up. I'll post more about the Expo soon...

Have a great Family Day.
Yolanta

Happy Valentine's Day!

We at Creature Quest would like to wish you and yours a lovely Valentine's Day and a restful long Family Day weekend. Let's give everyone in our lives - animals included - a little extra love and an extra treat too!

Have a great one.

Yolanta

Reno Crazy?

We've been planning to redo some shelving units for about a month or two now and we actually started yesterday <- yes, sometimes it does seem like it takes forever to start some projects. Now that we have started, the scope of the project has just increased a wee bit (to be modest). All in all it is looking very sexy but is SO much work.

The goal for redoing the shelving was simple - get rid of the ugly shelve that was taking up more space than it was giving us. And since we are making so much more room with this new unit we have decided to celebrate by buying some new Critter Cages. Upgrades are my favourite thing to do!

Just a little update on Peppy's eggs. Today I say Captain Jack sitting on them for a little while and Lemon Drop was observed over the past few days rotating them while Peppy ate. Could Lemon Drop be the mommy of a few of those eggs? We have no idea but it is just a thought. Peppy will have to do without her two special helpers this weekend as they are both scheduled to meet some very excited children.

All the best!
Yolanta

Peppy is on maternity leave

Over the past two weeks one animal has been missing on some shows - Peppy the cockatiel. Our darling Peppy may become a mommy. Currently she is sitting on 5 eggs. We do not know if these eggs are fertile or not. Peppy has laid many eggs for us in the past before we introduced Captin Jack - so it could go either way.

Captin Jack has taken over for Peppy. Although we were sure if he was ready to go out to shows - I would have preferred to keep him back for a week or two longer - he has done a fabulous job.

Fingers crossed for cockatiel babies!

Yolanta

WoW What An Exciting Weekend

I would just like to thank all of the kids and parents that helped make this past weekend so much fun for us. We hope that all of you have found memories of all of the creatures that you met at your very special parties.

It certainly was a very busy weekend for us and all of the animals. I must say most of the critters are very happily sleeping right now - and the humans certainly want to be!

We have lots of things that we will be working on this week and I'm looking forward to filling you in on all of the excitement once we get it to happen.

Yolanta

A jam packed Friday

It's Friday so we're gearing up for another very busy weekend. This is actually the first Friday in weeks where we have no shows - this evening party moved to another date. This is giving us loads of extra time to get some new projects on the go and get ready for a very busy weekend.

In total we have 12 show between Saturday and Sunday. So that means that we have program packages that need to be made up, animal lists that need to be written, Mapquests that need to be looked up and lots of confirmation calls to be made.

It's also animal cleaning day AND we just picked up some new loot bag items that need to be photographed and posted on our website. There are also a few other updates that need to be made on the site. We're measuring up for some new shelving and counting up the number of new, bigger tanks we're going to buy. We're looking for some new staff too so we've got job postings and organizing interview fun too. The mammals and birds will need to come out and play but that may be saved until this evening.

All in all, there is lots of work that Duane and I have to jump into and chances are that the only break we'll have is when the boys get back from school. But once all the kids are in bed tonight, we'll have a few more thing to do before we call it a night.

Yolanta