Wow, Great, and WTH! LOL

Mixed results with today's Biobreeds Exotics.

The 1/2 brother and sister whose father is the prized molten who refused to pass nothing but Champagnes for me passed a Golden Tiger with the St. Paddy's hair.  Very cool looking.  Their dad is Trem's Wild Irish, who Frog bought at auction.  I see that the old man passed another Champagne and then finally got around to passing better coats.  Glad he's working out.

I tacked on another 1k to the parents of the Golden and set the Golden out for 4500L.  Yes, of course, he is a male so I don't exactly have space for him.  But I do figure if no one wants to pay the price for him, mom and dad will make me a sibling sister to go with him and I can take him home later.

Then another pair passed a Leopard Alizarin and it was female with twinkle.  Yay!  Now Gwen's Sexy Al has a girlfriend named Alaria.

And the WTH?  The Pablo Turtle and Andy Turtle passed a Zeony Ruby.  Male too.  WTH!  Sigh...back to waiting.

Patience...developing lines takes patience.  Good thing I'm not rich...I'd just go out and buy others instead of trying to develop my lines.  LOL

Ready for Patron Auction fun...

The patrons at The Farm don't seem experienced with patron auctions, so I made sure to be the first on the list.  Hoping to show people how they must put out quality product at low prices to have a chance.  Trem is second and I'm sure he's knowledgeable enough to be a good example too.  I like how they made it so more than one person can team up for the auctions.  Makes it so a beginner whose animals aren't producing deep lines or high traits yet can partner with a stronger breeder and have a chance.

I will admit...I'm afraid about the what if situation...if one who most of us never liked the panels this individual put out does get on the list.  If people attend that one, they'll be coming to support Trem and Luna.  I know loyalty is the only thing that would make me attend.  Loyalty may not make me bid though either...unless I want to spend Ls on crap for biochipping.

Been tracking sales.  This week BB is a lot higher than WK.  I expect to see the flip flop effect over time.  One week BB will be strong, the other week WK.  I'm still building up in WK, so not surprised...it really was down further than it shows because I shouldn't count one sale.  I sold a very special tiger for a lower price of 5k because I wanted to stock up on foods.  Trying to build a safety net for the slow cycles.

Had a terrific picture while waiting on the birth of one tiger.  But it didn't save right. :-(  Flame was birthing and three of the others came to lay with her when she started hissing.  The dad and her mom, and then Tocho the cougar brought her a toy, literally laying it at her head for her.  It was a cute picture.

Watched when Andromeda had her baby and noticed another coming over to lay right with her.  It's funny how that seemed to be done on purpose.  And here's Tocho coming over to his girl, telling me to stay back while she births.

I got a runt tiger.  I don't need it.  Doesn't even have a mate birthed yet.  But just had to birth it and let it grow.  I'll probably decide in next week or two whether to keep or sell this one.  It's in between a baby Jag and adult Cougar.

Hung out with my game family at Wat's Blues Friday.  We were dancing on the tent.  Must go more often.  Lost an hour of chatting due to having to leave the computer for RL issues.  By the time I returned I had to go to auction, where I sold my Snowflurry tiger for way too little.  LOL It was to my breedable family, so all's okay.  Bought another turtle male there too...another male...really?  LOL my herd is so disorganized again.  I did heaven one exotic this morning though after giving the third blasted Champagne so guess it's okay.

Excited for more Biobreeds...

Just saying...I still think Biobreeds rock.

I have realized that while Smmu's on vacation, it kind of sucks not having my ranching pal around.  I may be better in SL, but I really don't connect closely with people very well as friends.  But she and I have a special connection and we think alike when it comes to the breedables.

I'm usually the odd one of the bunch.

Definitely so in RL right now.  I'm a writer and budding cosplayer out of her comfort zone as far as where we live.  We are looking into relocating, so that may improve.  (And my family...don't ask.  Was always a black sheep and definitely am still.)

Pretty excited about my patron auction on Tuesday.  May need to go through my stuff though and pick some things up off of the sales areas.  My BB sales have been strong this week and I may run out of stuff!  I need four star panels, give aways, a special for most panels bought, and paid raffle yet.

Also need to break my Kittycats up.  Royal births in five days or so.  Mine look due to birth before then.

Can't wait for my new megas to grow.  They're going to look awesome at the sales yard.  Adele is going to live with Gwen when I switch kitties.

WK has been good to me too this week.  I love them, they're a great addition to my breedable ranch.  But that's it.  An Addition.  They haven't devalued my Biobreeds at all, and I'm looking forward to many years of Biobreed breeding.  So wish I could manage the cost of a full sim.  Had a chance to possibly get one, which is so tempting, but won't happen.

On the grid note - InWorldz is great for building but doubt it will work for a whole lot more any time real soon.  My fps is a lot lower and the sim stats are totally crappy...on a private sim that's not even half filled.

I know Amaretto is working hard to get the horses set up there, but worry it won't happen this year still.  Or at least not get out of beta when it does happen before next year.  I worry the grid won't be able to handle the scripts as well until they do a whole lotta work.

Back to my BBs while I wind down for bedtime.  I'm so very tempted to pull out so many more but must make my goals and put the extreme budgeting sense I've learned so well to work for me.  Keep your costs down so sales count more when they happen...Defined Breeding is what I call it.

In Amaretto days I'd run 250 head of horses.  By the time I finished breeding horses I could get the same results with 50 by utilizing Defined Breeding.  Trying to work that out with my BBs now.

Myst and First BB Patron Auction

Listened to Rand Miller's interview at the DMR.  I'm so glad to see that Cyan is still as willing as their fans to stay involved with Myst Online and the main games.  Must admit, I need to go look at some conversations.  Not sure what he referred to as the real myst project.  Would have thought that bringing out Myst on ipad/iphone would have taken care of that.  LOL  

Do wish Cyan had time to provide a couple of live players for Myst Online.  Characters...lost D'ni, or members of the DRC who act like security guards or something for the game.  Just "something".  We can write and live out some story lines in the game ourselves, but there's not as many hanging out to interact with.  Betting something from Cyan would help us get more to hang out there.  

Lord knows it's less frustrating than Second Life....

But I understand.  Small company = less resources.  And I do like how they stayed small...seen way too many big companies affected by the economy changes crash.

Speaking of crashing...I have one statement.  The Biobreeds market is NOT crashing.  And that talk should cease.  I heard someone say it, and that BS pisses me off.  This is not Wall Street.  And negative attitudes like that need to be left at the door...it only leads to more negative thoughts, and takes the fun out of breeding for all of us.  It's a domino effect I've seen way too often.  It sucks.

Now I remember why every summer I say I'm leaving the ranch for a month.  This is the natural downtime for breedables that happens all the time.  Usually about three cycles a year of ups and downs.

We must be reasonable when it comes to Biobreeds.  There's 6k members in it...take away a third for those with alts for a decent average and you 4k members.  Auctions get 20-30 regulars, with a few new ones rotating in and out.  The markets get around 20-40 walking through per day, with about 1/2 of those regulars.

This means most are home breeders.  They spend their time in Real Life or with their SL families, breed and then set some out or just heaven, store, and giveaway.  

Many only breed so many animals at a time.  It's just luck to have an animal set for sale in front of them at the time they wish to add or replace one that they're using.  Once they do buy, it takes time to breed it out far enough before they're ready for the next one.

And many breed all the the types available, but may rotate them in and out of inventory...breeding Dobermans one month and Pugs the next month.   So catching those on the right cycle is tricky sometimes also.

Problem with our auction "market" is that the majority of us are seasoned breeders hanging out.  This means we've developed our lines, we're getting what we need from our own animals.  We buy when we've breed our current stock down enough to inject some need stuff in without compromising what we're breeding for, or when something surpasses what we have now, or if we're buying to support another breeding friend.

(And the dang system kicks out way too many males.  IMHO that should be the other way around, seeing as one male can service up to five females.  I've started heavening non-spectacular males right away now.  Just not worth it.)

(And...the age of the 10 trait pony is over.  Now everyone has them, and it's been so long without something new that the appeal for them is gone.  Twice now I couldn't sell at auction 10T Onyx's.  The last ones sold because someone couldn't see them not selling.  Now, on direct sale I keep about 10 crates for 10T ponies out because I get one sold for 800-1k depending on the coat still.  Doesn't happen every day but does come in handy.)

I'm waiting for the next phase to start...usually people start stating why it's the creator's fault this is happening.  "They're killing the secondary market with too much."  (not true - they've stated plenty of times from the beginning they plan on bringing out a lot and I, for one, hope they stay on the original plan)  "They're not promoting the auctions and markets." (not true - the team works hard hanging out with people in chat, compiling the secondary market list, and sponsoring the main auctions with free breedables...They're doing their job - putting together a good product and loving their customers.)  

Key point here...  The secondary market is important to a creator, but it is NOT the creator's responsibility.  Their job is to put together a great product for a great price.  And Biobreeds does this well.

Plus they listen to us...I love that, and I've always loved that.  And I love seeing how other new breedable creators have also adopted this wonderful trait.  Guess they used to be customers of the one who shall not be named also.  Hehehe

Point is BB is for fun...it's set up for fun, not for making money.  If it starts being about the money, I go back into hiding where it was fun.  Let the downtimes be downtimes and don't fret the sales so much.  In BB you can set your animals lower without getting hate mail, and I hope that continues.  I know - it's frustrating to get a higher price when your neighbor charges less.  Let people get to know you, develop your lines out, and people will trust you enough to spend the extra linden on you when they can.  Just don't expect too much.  Sometimes the sales will be up - when the spending cycle is up or when a breeder is ready to rotate out old stock.  Sometimes a danged good animal won't sell worth nothing.  Trust me, I've heavened some good stuff for not selling.  

Learn to heaven.  Know that the biochips you collect do mean something.  Heavening is good.  If you want to help the secondary market - heaven nearly all your crates.  So many are boxing up and storing.  Sure, some are for future breeding for goals you want to achieve and for planned rotation of crates in your shop.  Keep those.  But the others...heaven them.  

Just don't heaven anything super unique.  Maybe I'll do a post on what not to heaven soon.  

I've been heavening a lot.  I'm working on gaining enough for my second Biochips special epic when they release them...each one takes 5k of biochips and each animal or crate gives you 5 biochips.  1000 animals seems like a lot, but it's not really.  Do the math.  You'll be surprised at how many crates you get a year from your animals.  I was.  LOL

The Farm has finally found the courage to try Patron Auctions.  I used to have one of these at the markets I hung out at about once a month.  They were fun.  I'm the first guinea pig for The Farm's patron auctions.  

Mine is next Tuesday at 1pm SLT.  I'm trying a mix in the hopes that there's something for everyone available there and the opening bids are terribly low.  Panels 1-20 are dog crates.  Chihuahuas, Dobermans, Pugs and Shibas.  Each breed has 5 panels.  The four star panels are going to be pony or exotic crates.  

I hope this does well, but it may not.  BB works differently than the other breedables I did this with and time may prove BB is more suitable for the swap meets than the patron auctions.  Part of it depends on how creative the sellers get with what they put out and how they are with their start bids...

Guess it's a cutback....

I heavened or picked up about 500 prims of breedables now.  My random vendors are still out since I didn't get time to move them.  But I did rearrange Camelot corrals to handle selling off many of the exotics.  Hope some sell, trying hard not to move any money over.  Already stole way too much from the other account for July.  A turtle in today's auction should at least allow me to pay Camelot rent and what food refills are needed without too much issue.  I hope.

It's the summer breedable downtime, so one never knows.  LOL  Also a good time to breed the very best to stock up for store shelves in fall, and to pick up any not absolutely needed and take a break from bulk breeding.  Actually I keep meaning to shut down completely for one month during this slow period, but I'm on the third year now...and never have managed it.  LOL

Smmu set up her ponies and exotics for while she's on vacation.  She has a group of mares around a stud...but the stud is out of seeds and the girls aren't happy.  hehe  And two won't breed at all while she's gone because she forgot to unbond where it's necessary.  Not sure if I should reseed the male for her to keep the girls happy or just have a bunch of boys ready for a mass orgy when she returns.

At least her WK babies are set okay.

Nothing new on my dad...I may take off for the weekend to visit and give my sister some support.  I will be able to get online, just not sure how much.  The last time I went it was so non-stop busy that I couldn't even spare ten minutes in the day for anyone or anything in between waking up and passing out at night.

No matter...still have the same landspace, so tons of extra prims to handle the 6prim sacks and crates that may happen if I'm out, even if it's as long as 2 weeks for something.

Possible Temporary Shutdown

I have some RL issues coming up.  Not only do I need to really concentrate more overtime on the business, but also on my parents, it seems.  My dad is getting bad...my parents have been living at my sister's for awhile now and they've had to take my dad in for tests.  My sister really feels his body is getting ready to shut down.  I'm worried about the strain it's putting on her and Mom, and feel I may have to be ready for a few more visits home.

Debating about doing a last minute visit next weekend to start with - to give my sister some support if nothing else.  My sister is making me some vests for my Steampunk costume, so it can be a good excuse.  Also means I'll miss the upcoming nerf gun fight between the Steampunks and the Klingons at next weekend's scifi convention, but that's okay.

Will be talking to my husband and then deciding what I'll do...I may pick up almost all my BB breedables.  Maybe leave the illusion/oceania giraffe out, yellow leopard, and turtles out but pick up the rest.  And pepi and Epica - those will stay out.

Sales are not covering food costs anyway, even with the excess I get from my WK sales, so a break may be in order.

Think I may turn in most of the Kittycats boxes I have for food points too.  They've not been selling at all.

Shall go talk to hubby on this and plan accordingly...would have to start redoing animals now.  Don't like sticking pg ones in inventory, so must give myself some time to let them drop first before picking up.

I've decided I'm playing a good part for biochips so much of my stash is going to be turned in for that too.  I'll put the top crates out for sale.  Perhaps some will build up some lindens for me to restart with when the break is over.  Ideally it should be a month long break.  Could become longer I suppose, depending on Dad.  Hopefully I can still take stuff to auction to play with in the meantime.

Over populated....

The problem with breedables is that the grid gets overpopulated with them easily and the market saturated.  A saturated market means less sales because people are getting enough of what they need from their own breedables and don't see the need to buy more.  (And then ones who don't work hard to get through this gripe about not being able to sell enough to pay for food.)

Or people get testy with one another about how little someone is selling their breedable for.  But then, that's normal.  Nothing like feeling frustrated when you have top animal out for 1k and your neighbor is setting the same thing out at 100L.  Got that all the time when I bred Amaretto.

I like how WK is trying to cut this situation back by having classes on how to price your cats.  More breedables should do this...newcomers are not only lost about what to do with their new animals, but on also how to price them.  And often people do not have time to go looking around the markets to see what others are doing.  I used to spend 1-2hours each session on that, and do it for my friends within my breedable circle.

Now I mainly rely on feelings about my animals.   I just don't have time to check these things out, between RL work and running a business.  I did go to the WK class and it helped me a lot, but just haven't had time to go to markets, other than a few times.  Same with Biobreeds.

Keeping my WK breeders down to 10...pretty sure I'll be okay on those.  Kittycats are probably going to mostly stop when the current ones expired.  Sigh...still wish they didn't expire.  So troublesome.

I see big problem with Biobreeds.  Someone does a massive 5L and 10L sale because they just can't unload crates, and people get pissed.  And rightfully so.  I know one is considered an experienced breeder who should have been committed to the market enough to not do that.  That individually would have helped the market more by doing such a deal privately or taking the 5 biochips for the animal.

In my opinion, there is a strong need in our Biobreeds market for a Biochip push.  There are various ways this could be done, and doing more than one at a time is very very good.  It may not actually help the secondary market, but it will encourage people to turn in their excess for biochips and cut down on the population a bit.

Biobreeds should think about:
1- Bring out the Biochip exclusives - I, for one, am getting tired of waiting forever to see these.  It would be a major boost to Biochip efforts for people to see a special coat they can get.
2- Open up more of the "buy with biochips" options. - I'm not privvy to the figures, so can't say if this would help or hurt Biobreeds bottom line to open up the breed packs one can use Biochips for, but I do think it would encourage more heavening.
3- Do a double Biochip day.  I've seen other breedables do this with good results, as far as people going nuts to take advantage of it.

In this way, I think Biobreeds can help those of us trying to keep the secondary market active.  Not only would this encourage more Biochipping of the excess, but also encourage those who want the Biochips to purchase the 50-100L sales from the ones who do not want the Biochips.

I also think they need a marketing person...one who does nothing but get the word out continuously about certain things.  Like the free food.  Many weren't sure it's still going on because it's not announced anymore.  I wasn't.  Not until I suddenly got 200 free portions a few weeks ago...first time for me too.  When I started marketing the rule was that an individual needs to see the same thing 7 times for them to get it...I hear it's more now.

I love my Biobreeds and they're doing well by me, but see the normal problem arising with them.  Getting TOO MUCH.  LOL  Think I'm going to do a major biochip effort soon on the crates, then analyze what I should do on the lives.  I have well priced random vendors out, but people don't seem interested, and the raffle efforts didn't go over so well either.

And it's Second Life.  I've found out that listing your place in search and buying classifieds results in more traffic than sending out the hourly ads.  Well, I found out my classifieds do not show up in many of the viewer's search results.  Did some experimenting when I couldn't figure out why my traffic was down so far.  After a few years of doing such a thing, I know what's normal.  And what I get is way below normal.

Still have the classifieds out there....for whatever good it does me.

SL, Breedables, etc...

On a quick break from RL crazy work.  Next few weeks are crazy as I'm really cramming to get as much as I can done before my next doctor's appt.  There is a chance I'll need a surgery - routine, but still yucky and it will mean downtime all around for me...if it comes to that.  Anyway, trying to be prepared so it goes as smoothly and quickly as possible...

Maybe SL will have all this updating done by then....LOL

Today I'm seeing a little bit of packet loss...in what...six years I've been online with older machines I've never had packet loss, and I got it this morning on the new one.  It may have just been the updating stressing things down...it was during restart time.  Going to watch it at various times tonight and compare.

I did check my connection with speed test.  Ping is good, not great, but good, with the default/local server.  Absolutely terrible with SL's server.  Will check that later too again...maybe it's the updating today.  My fps is still around 40 and my sim ping good, with no lag, so hoping it's just because of updating in the background going on.

During a longer break after today's restarts I need to go through my exotics.  Too many males!  LOL

It's been very good.  An epic showed he carries Fire engine red tiger.  Now I have a male to go with my female.  I picked up a leopard Alzarin male.  Which means I need to figure out girls for the Tawny leopard and Alzarin both now.

My Pablo and Andy got pg today.  yay!

Still have some extras who won't finish showing what they carry - they've been getting picked up, heavened or sold, based on their performance.  Finally down to the known and the epics, which I'll deseed for the sales yard.

Crazy update time...

Not sure what they're doing on the updates to prepare for the server side baking, but it's giving me goofy tp messages.  Can't get to my breeding parcel to check things.  Keep getting either errors that say I'm unable to tp and may have to relog or that they can't tp me as the tp was misrouted.  Sure hope it's fixed by the time they're done updating for today.

I have noticed more tp fails since they first started the updates last week.  Last week the server side baking was rolling out on the Letigre sims.  This week is the Magnum servers.

Not sure if the increased tp issues is due to the viewer's adjustments to meet server side baking requirements or some other updates LL is doing on the grid that they didn't list in the deploy release listing.  (Yes, they often do things without warning us exactly what.  Astonishing, I know.)

I also never get lag and had stalling and lag today at Camelot. Not cool.  New computer, definitely not my connection, so that is grid side issues.  Better fix it!

In Biobreeds news, I found another 4th epic for sale.  Grown and ready to start making out with the ladies.  He is out at the salesyard keeping those ladies happy.

The sales yard is mostly lives now...crates pile up faster than they sell, so I'm trying an idea to breed down the exotics a bit and keep a bunch of females birthed and available for sale.  Too many males in the system!

Picked up three more males though, including the 4th epic.  But that's okay...they're at salesyard.  Except for the stippled.  Letting him grow before choosing his spot.  Can't believe no one bidded on him...I got him for 500L.  Sold my last for 2K.  Insane.  If I set him out for sale it won't be for no stinking 500L I tell you.

Redid the Camelot store.  Filled it with my random vendors and redid all the prices.  Using subliminal naughty pricing to encourage sales.  hehe

Heavy file formatting time in RL work right now and Smmu will be gone on vacation this weekend, so don't anticipate too much.  Maybe I'll get some building time in...depends on the RL work I guess.  Maybe I'll take a mini-SL-vacation too.

Less frustrating, but slow day and some Myst news....

Last night one of my new extras showed his main hidden as a starter coat on the first crate.  Sad it's a starter because he's an epic that will eventually be deseeded for my normal stock, but glad to know what he carries.  It helps me plan his schedule better.

Hoping he's taught the other two with him how to do it.  They're being stubborn so far, and in a few days they either get stored or heavened if they do not show their stuff, to make room for the three growing 4ths.

People seem to be holding onto their 4th epics more than they did the previous epics.  Usually I'd see a bunch out for sale by now and would go buying them up when I had the lindens on hand.  Only have three this time so far.

Not sure what I can do at auction today.  Think I overspent at last auction.  Some of my foods are out and I need to refill.  May have to pay for that myself.  Trem's Wild Irish is on my panel today...I'm sure he'll sell, but not sure it will be for a whole lot.  If it is, it will be because he looks so snazzy.  Any breeders who look will not be impressed with his kids.  LOL

Not sure what to do about my KittyCats.  People just aren't interested in buying anymore.  They're great, but when slow spells hit, they're not as easy to decide on as Biobreeds.  I can't just say "Okay, let's take a break for a bit," and pick them up.  They still age and expire, and become useless.  Their breeding use only lasts for so many days versus so many seeds.  Hence the reason I don't breed more of them - I can't rotate what I'm breeding at any given time.  Honestly, only reasons I breed more than two is to use up special editions that I can't resell and because they have low prim options.  Still, I'm not breeding a lot, just ones I really like, hence my conundrum on what to do from here with them.  The home kitties have food for a few months, so I just have the ranch kitties to pay for food now.

WK cats are still doing well.  Next ones aren't due until Friday.  I'm to the point where I'll need to think about sanctuary this next week for two.  Harder to do on these, but I realize it's needed to keep the population more even.  Trying not to birth as many as I can, of ones mine drop and of ones I buy.  Try to keep them down to 10 live breeders so save extras for resell or use later on.  Smmu will take one or two to start her group, as she's taking a break from the chis and ponies and breeding exotics and WK, so that will help.

In Myst news, haven't heard from Thorne and Issis in awhile. Hope they're doing okay.  I did talk to the publisher...they're going to go ahead and get the M'nine Age Exploration novel ready soon.  They were waiting on an artist who was going to try to finish Gandhar's graphic for it, plus use his favorite thoughts and pics from Myst for inside illustrations.  We lost him before he could finish the graphic a few years back. (still miss him a lot)  But instead, it sounds like they're going to publish it as is, saying the cover stays in dedication to him.  Maybe re-release it later on with an updated cover.

Another addition to the ranch...

Smmubert got a Turtle Roy from her epic pony on the ranch.  Now we're just missing a Henri and Salvador for the turtle coats.

Here's Smmu'sXmasInJuly

I birthed a few more offspring from the exotics that showed their hiddens.  Maybe something will shake loose.

SL's been a bit wonky every now and then since they've been updating.  Guess we'll see this a lot for the next month or two while they work the bugs out.

I haven't had time to do much more than check on crates in SL.  Been pretty busy in RL.

Picture time!

Surprise coat for me!  It's a secondary hidden of one of the parents from one of the Turtle Andy's and my Gentian male who carries either Solarium or Stippled Cheetah.  This is Blush Fire.  Fire Engine Red Tiger with blush shade.

I counted my chihuahuas.  In crates and lives I have about 200 now - nearly all are of Pepi's line.  Here he is resting from baby making.

Check out Andromeda, my whisper Jaguar.  She's a cutey.

Her mate Tocho needed some lovin'

And my Giraffe Illusion threw a boy, so now I have a pair.

These are all from my good breeders.  The extras are still being stubborn.  The boys up now get two more crates and they are picked up.  Then I work on the 4th of July boys I have now.

Elpis and her lack of patience...

Yes, I'm impatient.  Many of my exotics are frustrating me. Not because they don't carry anything, but because they won't tell me what they're carrying.  They keep giving over to the other parent or just pass their shown coat.

Think I need a new rule.  Show me what you have within 5 crates or you're 5 biochips.  LOL  Especially for the males.

I'm collecting special epics and have gotten hold of 3 sets of the 4th epics so far (may be able to get a 4th one within a week).  Seems I've ended up with a ton of the last two styles of freebie epics, so figured I may as well run with that angle.  LOL

I birthed the three zeonies from the ones I have now.  When they grow, three of the other males have lost their chance to prove themselves and will be replaced.

Seriously...so tired of the dang cheetah starter coats. I want to see what's underneath!  Even if it's crap.  My special boy Trem's Wild Irish threw four of four champagnes, his fifth and last with me is about to drop.  He's out for sale now and will end up in Monday's auction if he doesn't sell.  That's a disappointment.

But the gentians have proved themselves and have become the ones to happily finish out.  One carries Solarium, the other Stippled.  Then I'm raising the pablo to go with the andy's and bringing up a tawny leopard we got from another breeder.  And still trying to find out which one of the two are carrying illusion in the giraffes...so it's not like I'm not set with good ones to breed.  I am.

LOL probably should just pick up all the extra males and just breed out one at a time to save my sanity.

The RFL tiger offspring pair proved themselves to be awesome.  Gave twins.  A 7 traited level 6 and a 5 traited level 4.  Very happy there.

Kittycats were boring this last go around and no sales.  Even menageried my RFL couple.  But I enjoy having them so will continue to breed them.  Should get a stand at Tiger Island again.

On German Shepherds, I'm working on Nik's Triple Sec's line.  I put him with two white ciels from outside breeders and he's done very well.  Have a black son and daughter now with good traits, and a white son and daughter with ciel shade to work with now. Plus I added in one white female I've been holding onto.  Was going to sell her, but her line is too awesome.

I took away the random vendors for German Shepherds and just set some crates out.  Preserving most of Nik's Triple Sec's line.  And will probably heaven a lot of the left overs, what I don't send out to Nik, as I do have a bunch that is pure for his line.

Not going to try selling his line off for the most part.  I don't think people appreciate what he did for me...a few bought crates from his store so it's hard to explain to them.  Now, Nik's Triple Sec I did purchase at auction...he did bring the occasional prime crate to auction to sell, but not very often.  Nik sold me 7 actual lives from his breeding stock.  Not sure he does that often at all.  But maybe I'm wrong.  At any rate, using his name at auction isn't helping me when my good set didn't sell and another got a high dollar on same night.

So Nik's Triple Sec has become the founding stud for my new line.  I've gotten the breeders I need for it from outside, plus have a few in backup in case I need to mix something else in later.  And it's working very well so far...

Picture time!

Me with my newest tiger cub Flame

My mega kitty Adele enjoying the sunflowers

The cool Molten Reptilia stud Trem's Wild Irish when he was 1 day old...who better start passing his coat soon...

My new Turtle Pablo baby boy, Laffin Pablo.  He's going to go with the two Turtle Andy girls I have.  The LOL brand on his butt looks so cool. 

Turtle, Turtle

I got a pablo turtle today.  Yay!  Turns out one of my pink giraffes is carrying the coat.

It's a 5T male from a moonlight roan mom, but guess that's okay.  I can try to breed the pony out.  I was trying to deal in pure lines, but I see many are mixing the new exotics with ponies so maybe it's not as important as it used to be.

So...I think I'll keep the two andy girls and put them with the pablo male.  They're all from good trait making lines, so they may still throw a high traited one.

Also have a male crate and three female crates from the pablo thrower that have potential of passing on the coat too.  I'll see if I can use what don't sell as I work down the others.

Two more males with unknown hidden coats have crates dropping after lunch.  Fingers crossed these show the exotic hiddens, good or bad.

Elpis Breeding Report

Spending long moments standing around Second Life while inside my dashboard.  My exotics haven't shown me their hiddens well enough to super sale them down or heaven the ones not showing promise, but I am setting the sale ones onto the market place and playing with the crystal ball.

Would like to get organized enough to set the ones in inventory to storage too on my dashboard to make things easier.  Lives anyway.  I have so many crates I don't think I'll try those.  Even after heavening I still have 200 chihuahua crates alone.

So far my plan of breeding exotic to pony to bring out the hiddens isn't giving good results.  I've been getting the shown coats only.  Four males working with four pony females each right now.  Hoping four is enough for their hiddens to show up.  Smmubert gave me her epic male to try with the pony girls...he may be hiding the arctic zeony.  But not positive yet.  Seems I wasn't careful enough.  The girl I set him with has zeony way back in the ped, so it could have came from her.

Of the ranch breeder herds, I've found Giraffe Illusion and Reptilia Solarium so far for new coats.  Must think on my chesnut giraffes...one or both are carrying henna, which isn't much loved by me.  Want to deal in moltens from my two main ones, but one is carrying champagne.  Hope it's mom, think it's mom.  Will replace her with a traited female when one of mine throw it.

The Andy gave a twinkle blush Andy.  Figure Andy will be the least liked of the turtles, but the line I started this one with is strong on traits, so may try to work towards the 10T Andy with them.  Just not sure if to keep using the old zeony as main stud or the zeony he gave that a full sibling to the first Andy or if I should switch the females to the gentian, who could be carrying the solarium.  He's also the father to the twinkle/blush so if she's carrying the solarium as her second coat that would be cool.  The next female I make goes to Smmubert.  She loves the male.

Still not a fan of breaking the rules at auction.  Went to set up my Solarium for Monday's and realized he doesn't have enough traits.  I'm sure he'd be allowed in if I asked since he's a new rare coat, but just don't want to be the exception still.  Maybe he'll go in Tuesday night's.

Not sure why, but I've had this urge to put my chihuahua crates on special sale.  So I chose 20 well bred Licorice chis for the Camelot store.  100L base plus 50/100L per trait, depending on who the parents are.  Really good buys.  No takers yet, but only one ad out so far...I'll get it on my ad avi later today.

Seeing the effect that the market slowdown at auctions is having on some people.  They're worrying about selling so they can feed their addiction.  Understandable. Not sure what to tell them.  I've seen these cycles, and expect a strong decline during some seasons in BB just because of the variety they have.  And because it looks like the majority of breeders in BB do not want to play the auction game.

We have seen a lot of new people at auction lately and that's good.  But still the number of regulars stays below 40.  When there's over 5k in members, that's telling me most choose to just be breeders for their own groups or be casual breeders.  I'm sure many of that 5k are alts, but even factoring that in, there's still a very strong breeder base for BB.

Still, I'm thankful for The Farm auctions.  It gives me two times per week I can fit into my work schedule to sell some BB to go along with my direct sales.  Keep my kids fed.

Not sure about getting into another breedable...I'm going to watch and decide later, but I need to stay low for proper time management.  And BB is really taking three spots for me anyway if I think on it.  Dogs, Ponies, and Exotics.  Then I have KittyCats and the Wild Kingdom.

That's a pretty good range and should allow me to participate well enough in the auctions I'm involved in now.

Once I convince those extra exotics to show me their hiddens I'd like to add a few more Wild Kingdom cats in.  I've had one triplet birth from a tiger pair, but now they seem stuck on singles.  Making it hard for me to build up stock for the stands.  I do have two sacks in waiting to birth - may have two more cats from a friend.  If not, I'm sure it won't be long before I have the next two.  For the space I have, I think my happy spot with them will be 10 breeders.  Have six now, so only need four spots to open up.  Don't think it will take long for that.

Thorne's a pain and Elpis is hooked!

Once again, here's an update from Issis and Elpis...

Issis:
Thorne and I have been going over the expedition needs for exploring the age Anarouk.  I'm a free spirit.  Just give me the book and let me go where I want and find what's waiting for me.  But no...Thorne's a blasted control freak.

Safety this, and Safety that.  He's all paranoid since Chauncey was attacked in the Age of Shey'ln last month by one of the wild beasts there.  I'm not too worried.  We take two extra scouts with us for the purpose of seeing the dangers before they see us.  I'm a licensed hunter and licensed to carry.  I have a special mace gun, plus knives, with which I've proven myself to be skilled with.  If I'm not able to handle myself in a new Age, no one is.

But he's stubborn.  I needed to take a break so headed back to Second Life to help Elpis with some inventory.  And use her to vent on about this.  No wonder she traded places with me for Age exploration so she could do breedables.  He's infuriating.  Probably worse for her since they're in a relationship.

I was thrilled to see that Elpis did seed Pepi.  He and Melosa look really happy.  Odd to find I don't miss the ranch though.

I am working on an artistic variation of the Frosted Myst store in Inworldz.  Smmubert thought it was time we had one there, so work has begun...

Elpis:
After rounds of boring crates, my exotics are finally starting to throw interesting stuff.  No Leopards yet, which is something I want, but did get an Illusion Giraffe and a Solarium Reptilia.  They're pretty cool.  The special molten pair I was looking forward to so much gave a stinking low trait boring Champagne.  My luck they're both carrying that Champagne.

It seems that males are hard sellers, as most are over-maled already.  And my exotics are slow to showing their hidden coats.  So I've resorted to naughty-ism.  I pulled out and healed a bunch of pony mares to breed the excess starter males to.  LOL I hope this speeds things up.  Anything exotic that shows up is from the male, thus his hidden.  And who knows?  Maybe some surprises.  Most of my ponies are 10Ts.  I'll just make another random vendor for pony/exotic mixes.

Going to change the sales yard a bit.  My vendors are getting very full...we make many more crates than is reasonable to expect sales for.  I have enough crates now to picks up most of my breeders for the dogs, choose two crates to birth from each and place those out for sale live.  When something sells down, I can take out the originals and breed them to make a new set to have out live.  Or if someone comes along and cleans out my vendors.

Of course, licorice chis will still be bred a lot.  Thinking 16 of the 40 will stay out at the ranch, then Pepi and Melosa, and the rosa chi group.  I have picked up most dobies, just the zulu epic's crew and a few ivories will continue to breed.  Of the shibas, 5 will be picked up.  Of the shepherds, 3 will be picked up.  I've gotten the pugs down to three black ones already so they're set.

Don't know if this plan will work or not, but it's something to try.  LOL

mmmm....why is that dude back and trying to get in again?  Thought we had him bored so he'd leave BB alone.  Hope he gets bored again soon and leaves.

Awe well, it's the Fourth of July vacation time, so a short work week for me.  Thorne and I are meeting up for a few days to spend vacation together.  LOL Poor Issis.  Sounds like I need to talk to my man about easing up on her a bit.  He is a handful.  But I love him.