diff --git a/badges/test_coverage.svg b/badges/test_coverage.svg
index cb3cdc0ec7e70c0e53212e791bb14cfe4c07fe2d..f86374a02f56bab1acc14634e84b66d82d4cf3bf 100644
--- a/badges/test_coverage.svg
+++ b/badges/test_coverage.svg
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     <g fill="#fff" text-anchor="middle" font-family="DejaVu Sans,Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif" font-size="11">
         <text x="31.5" y="15" fill="#010101" fill-opacity=".3">coverage</text>
         <text x="31.5" y="14">coverage</text>
-        <text x="80" y="15" fill="#010101" fill-opacity=".3">41%</text>
-        <text x="80" y="14">41%</text>
+        <text x="80" y="15" fill="#010101" fill-opacity=".3">43%</text>
+        <text x="80" y="14">43%</text>
     </g>
 </svg>
diff --git a/binarycpython/utils/dicts.py b/binarycpython/utils/dicts.py
index 244d99278f6c93c9d0ddda4ffb228a77c4d029a4..7009d21df4be39e0353f40d67b5a81078e8cef30 100644
--- a/binarycpython/utils/dicts.py
+++ b/binarycpython/utils/dicts.py
@@ -482,14 +482,9 @@ def merge_dicts(dict_1: dict, dict_2: dict) -> dict:
             ):
                 try:
                     new_dict[key] = int(dict_1[key]) + int(dict_2[key])
-                except:
-                    print(
-                        "key",
-                        key,
-                        ': Failed to convert string, one of "{}" or "{}" to an int'.format(
-                            dict_1[key], dict_2[key]
-                        ),
-                    )
+                except ValueError as e:
+                    msg = "{}: Failed to convert string (either '{}' or '{}') to an int".format(key, dict_1[key], dict_2[key])
+                    raise ValueError(msg) from e
 
             # string-float clash : convert both to floats and save
             elif (
@@ -500,28 +495,22 @@ def merge_dicts(dict_1: dict, dict_2: dict) -> dict:
             ):
                 try:
                     new_dict[key] = float(dict_1[key]) + float(dict_2[key])
-                except:
-                    print(
-                        "key",
-                        key,
-                        ': Failed to convert string, one of "{}" or "{}" to a float'.format(
-                            dict_1[key], dict_2[key]
-                        ),
-                    )
+                except ValueError as e:
+                    msg = "{}: Failed to convert string (either '{}' or '{}') to an float".format(key, dict_1[key], dict_2[key])
+                    raise ValueError(msg) from e
 
             # If the above cases have not dealt with it, then we should raise an error
             else:
-                print(
-                    "merge_dicts error: key: {key} value: {value1} type: {type1} and key: {key} value: {value2} type: {type2} are not of the same type and cannot be merged".format(
-                        key=key,
-                        value1=dict_1[key],
-                        type1=type(dict_1[key]),
-                        value2=dict_2[key],
-                        type2=type(dict_2[key]),
-                    )
+                msg = "merge_dicts error: key: {key} value: {value1} type: {type1} and key: {key} value: {value2} type: {type2} are not of the same type and cannot be merged".format(
+                    key=key,
+                    value1=dict_1[key],
+                    type1=type(dict_1[key]),
+                    value2=dict_2[key],
+                    type2=type(dict_2[key]),
                 )
-                raise ValueError
+                raise ValueError(msg)
 
+        # Here the keys are the same type
         # Here we check for the cases that we want to explicitly catch. Ints will be added,
         # floats will be added, lists will be appended (though that might change) and dicts will be
         # dealt with by calling this function again.
@@ -566,16 +555,14 @@ def merge_dicts(dict_1: dict, dict_2: dict) -> dict:
                 new_dict[key] = None
 
             else:
-                print(
-                    "Object types {}: {} ({}), {} ({}) not supported.".format(
-                        key,
-                        dict_1[key],
-                        type(dict_1[key]),
-                        dict_2[key],
-                        type(dict_2[key]),
-                    )
+                msg = "Object types {}: {} ({}), {} ({}) not supported.".format(
+                    key,
+                    dict_1[key],
+                    type(dict_1[key]),
+                    dict_2[key],
+                    type(dict_2[key]),
                 )
-                raise ValueError
+                raise ValueError(msg)
 
     #
     return new_dict
diff --git a/binarycpython/utils/grid.py b/binarycpython/utils/grid.py
index 3f90ab6e3f370c47100aad5b51775dcc525086c5..4aa28736af8593693cb46a170cecbc7694d7a18e 100644
--- a/binarycpython/utils/grid.py
+++ b/binarycpython/utils/grid.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ Module containing the Population grid class object.
 
 Here all the functionality of a Population object is defined.
 
+TODO: the save_snapshots and save_snapshot, are they actually distinct?
+
 Tasks:
     - TODO: add functionality to 'on-init' set arguments
     - TODO: add functionality to return the initial_abundance_hash