2012 saw the 30th anniversary of my entomological business. The very first price lists from 1982 are reproduced on my Blog entry for March 23rd.
I am the original 'Bug Lady', breeding and supplying many types of creepy crawly pets. The business has now been going for over 30 years but in the last couple of years I have found myself becoming more and more the ‘Spider Lady’. Trends seem to be changing and arachnids are far more popular than they have ever been before. I have a large log cabin in my back garden where I keep a multitude of creatures. Since moving out of London in 2003, my work is mainly postal . I am not keen on change and it took me a long time to actually reach the 21st century and see the potential of customers ordering online. I am now fully convinced, business has increased tremendously since setting up my first online store in 2009. In October 2012 my current online store went live, the photographs are larger and clearer, the information is more comprehensive and the online ordering is simpler and therefore easier to use. I am still readily accessible by email and telephone and I strive to maintain my position as the most friendly and reliable bug supplier!
In years gone by I bred Lepidoptera for schools and private individuals, I manufactured a range of net cages and visited primary schools with my mini-beast show. I now concentrate on breeding and supplying live bugs within the UK and Europe. I appeared on television quite frequently in the past (the Big Breakfast and various children's TV shows), these days I am generally behind the scenes, supplying the bugs to be filmed. I provide many schools, universities, butterfly farms, zoos and private individuals with an ever increasing number of invertebrate animals. Associated equipment is also stocked e.g. heat mats, books, containers, thermometers and hygrometers. I do not import any animals, consequently the vast majority of my creatures are captive bred.
Virginia Cheeseman - Entomological Supplier
What a busy time of year
What a busy time of year, everything seems to be thriving, eating loads and reproducing. Yet again I need to go into the woods and collect leaf litter for my multitude of millipedes. I really like millipedes and it is great to have so many different kinds. I said last year that I wanted to breed more of them, most are imported as adults. I'm really pleased that I do have a fair number of babies now, they are however incredibly slow growing. I always give my millipedes a little fruit but mostly they eat rotten leaves and also rotten wood. The leaves are ok but the wood weighs a ton, I must look very odd struggling along the road with my large green plastic sack. At least I am not collecting bramble so often as I have substantially cut back on stick insects. It's a shame that nobody really wants them anymore. I think a large number that I supplied in the past were for schools. Sadly these days it seems few teachers want to be bothered with keeping school pets. I'm sure all the health and safety rules don't help the situation. Only last week I had a conversation with a lady who is thinking of taking her various bugs into schools. She asked me what I thought about millipedes. I told her that most will exude a fluid which can stain the skin. In the days when I visited schools nobody had a problem. The children all washed their hands after handling the bugs and if they went home with stains on their hands it was fine. The kids were quite happy showing off the fact that they had held the giant millipede.
I have received a few new bugs this week but next week will be crazy after the BTS exhibition. I do wish I could defer it for a couple of weeks as I am going to be so busy with family matters next week and the show means I will probably have double the number of spiders and bugs to look after! I got some beautiful beetles this week but didn't realise just how well they flew. I opened the box that they were in and they just leapt out and took flight. They sounded like a swarm of bumble bees. Thankfully my first reaction was to turn off the electric fly zapper. I then switched off the ceiling lights and the beetles settled so that I could collected them from around the bug room (good job I shut the door). Beetles seem to be popular pets at the moment so I am looking into getting other species. The fruit eating beetles are both easy to care for and easy to breed. I think the meat eating beetles are more difficult, I need to research their habitat requirements, there seems to be far less known about them.
I have a long shopping list for this weekend's exhibition and I have already pre-ordered a number of tarantulas (P.metallica, P.smithi, H.lividum, A.versicolor, Iridiopelma species 'one of my favourite spiders', to name a few). I hope to get some Green Bottle Blue tarantulas, I have had several enquiries about them recently. It will be good to see what is available, I always get carried away. The shows are fun and it's great to catch up with old friends and meet current customers that I have only spoken to on the phone or corresponded by email. Feel free to come up and talk to me, I will try and remember to wear a name badge.
I need to speed up now, I wish I could type as quickly as I speak. I've got so much on at the moment that I need to get going. It was terrible planning but I am actually out in London tomorrow. I couldn't cancel and let my friend down as she has only recently lost her mother. I doubt if I will have time to write a blog next Friday as I will have my nephew's three children. I usually have them on Thursdays but as next Thursday is my daughter's 21st birthday we are going out. Then the bank holiday weekend sees a family birthday party every day. That's why I wish the BTS show was the week after! At least the bugs are now indoors so I will be sneaking into the bug room to feed and care for the bugs when nobody is looking. Hubby will probably get the hump, he wasn't delighted when I sat watching telly with one of my snakes on the sofa last night and Teddi (our dog) actually got up and moved. Not even the dog likes my little animals, she won't come in the new bug room. Katie, my great-niece was talking to her friend the other day and asked if she had been in 'the bug hotel'? Absolutely brilliant I thought, that's what I shall call my new room The Bug Hotel. It is so apt as I don't aim to permanently keep the animal in there, they are merely my guests and I look after them until they go to their new homes (Katie will be 7 on Tuesday). Tuesday is also my last French class. I have enjoyed the classes but haven't had the time or opportunity to practice. I will continue with my set of CDs. I'm still hoping to have some sort of conversation with the French guys from Arthropodia at the AES exhibition in October as I promised them. I'm just hoping they aren't at the BTS show, I must look up what 'too soon, give me more time' is in French. I will consult my friend Google Translate.
Lastly, yes it's moan time (you know me by now). I do wish some people would be more careful when entering their email address on my site. It is the only way that I have of contacting people who send an enquiry. Several times lately I have written a long reply to an email and had it then bounce back. It is so frustrating and the person (potential customer) obviously then thinks I have ignored them. One digit wrong is all it takes! I try to resolve the problem by guessing what the email address may be. If it is a name I have some hope or sometimes it is .co.uk rather than .com but most of the time I have no idea what the correct email is and it is a complete waste of my time. If you don't receive a reply, there will always be a good reason - please telephone me.
Have a good weekend, I may see you at the exhibition!
