Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Why has my busy life not slowed down? I no longer have a zillion little bugs to care for but life is still rush, rush, rush. The garden is growing and the wildlife in it is doing well. Cats are the bane of my life. I really like cats but I hate them killing everything. We recently bought an animal repellant, it squirts out water, so no harm but hopefully a good deterrent to stay away. I love our new wildlife camera, it has captured various creatures, hedgehogs and mice at night and birds during the day. The plants are mostly looking good but having hedgehogs, means no slug pellets or weed killers and a lot of holes in leaves 😂 We had a super week away in Cyprus. It was relaxing and fun. We have been to the same hotel over many years and just love the place. It has a laidback atmosphere, everywhere is clean, despite the cats, dogs, chickens roaming free and the food is delicious. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t good, we had everything from rain, thunder and hail storms to sand storm...

Spring is here at last, it’s been a very long and wet winter! We are about to go on our annual trip to Cyprus, the same family run, calm and out of the way place as usual. I hope it will be a good time to see snakes emerging from their hibernation. It is earlier than we would have liked but our daughter is expecting her second baby in May and I will be on Nanna duties with Milo and helping our daughter. Our six year old grandson Bob, asked why he wasn’t coming with us, I told him that I think he would be a bit bored. He too enjoys looking for snakes so he was happy when I told him that he can help with this year’s reptile survey when we get back. I love the annual survey but we didn’t see as many reptiles as usual last year and I’m really hoping everything is well this year, after such a soggy winter. This will be our first holiday since I gave up my bugs, it is really weird that I don’t have to get everything sorted out before we go. I’m really pleased but it’s also incredibly strange...

Last month I realise that I had precious little to say as I had been laid up on the sofa for most of it! At the end of January, SEAS was super (South East Arachnid Show), I was a little nervous about going as I thought it might be sad seeing all the bugs and people and not being part of it anymore. However, I realised that I will always be part of it and I had a fun time, no pressure to buy, lots of great friends to hug and a really lovely relaxed day. Yes, I did buy Milo a juvenile Costa Rican Curly Hair tarantula for his birthday next week. It seemed like a good spider to get, I love anything Costa Rican and I have always said that Curly Hairs are very under-rated, they are pretty and generally very calm. He will enjoy watching “it” grow, I don’t care what sex it is 😂 It was my birthday last week and I had plenty of bug themed presents as usual. I haven’t yet had time to sit and watch the USB package (Andrew Smith’s Tarantulas of Costa Rica) but I know it will be brilliant and also ...

Christmas and New Year were certainly different! I got flu on 20th December and was laid up until last week. I didn’t get off the sofa, no festive food, drinks, crackers etc. I also had a chest infection but I’m on the mend now, just feeling incredibly tired a lot of the time. What a horrid illness, I have never in my life, been off my feet for that long. I kept thinking “what on earth would have happened to my bugs if I hadn’t retired in October?” Anyway, onto happier things, the SEAS show in Kent is Sunday week and I’m really looking forward to it. Catching up with friends and bug life in general. My old bug room renovations came to a grinding halt when I fell ill so I can’t get carried away as I would have nowhere to put anything new. I may get a couple of praying mantids (a photographer friend really wants to photograph them but knows nothing about keeping them) and I’m still thinking about buying Milo a Mexican Red Knee spider for his birthday next month. He will only be 2 but...

It’s nearly Christmas, too near. I’m not ready but I’m sure it will be fine, it always is in the end, that’s what my husband says! I find Christmas a very stressful time, it may be the most wonderful time of the year for children but it’s pretty damn hard work for us women (sorry, sexist, not allowed these days but it’s my blog 😁). Retirement still seems quite new but I will soon be saying “I retired last year” and that sounds very weird to me. How are the bug room renovations going? Hmm, what can I say? It looks like a project for 2026. When the bugs were in the room we had the windows covered with polystyrene, partly to insulate and partly to stop the sun shining onto my glass tanks. It turns out that two big window panes were broken (due to this summer’s heat no doubt) and the frames had rotted due to excessive moisture. My husband has been working hard to build new frames and get them fitted but it has taken weeks. I would love to have had my ‘chill out zone’ ready for Christmas b...

Life does go on but it is very different. I am still sorting out over forty years of bug things. It’s bin day again today so I have distributed, plastic boxes, tanks and wood from the shelving, into my friendly neighbours bins. Many little everyday things seem odd to me, throwing fruit and vegetables away is truly weird, I have always fed them to one animal or another. I’m thinking of getting some guinea pigs, they are great pets, the boys would love them and they could live in my ex-bug room in the winter and outside in the summer. Only a thought, after so many years of being tied down by all my animals I am trying hard to resist the urge of getting anymore pets at the moment. Sadly, my lovely snakes are not interested in eating a plant-based diet 😊 We had a super weekend in Brighton recently, just before the cold weather descended. It was good to simply lock up and go and then when we returned I sat down and relaxed! Normally we would get back and I would be replying to emails, feed...

Who am I? My bug room is cold, my bug room is quiet. I have lost my identity, they say we are defined by our job. Am I still “the bug lady”? I think so, I hope so, it’s all very weird and as someone who has always hated ‘change’, it’s difficult. I’m really glad I kept a tank of Hissing cockroaches, I always said that I would and I find it strangely grounding. The tank is now full of hissing cockroaches and anything else that I have found while emptying the room (odd cockroaches, cave crickets, a banded cricket   😂 ). One thing I love about this blog is that I can now use emojis, my old blog didn’t support them and I love emojis! I hear that I’m not supposed to use certain ones and that some may mean, “not what I intended” but ignorance is bliss so I won’t know unless you tell me   😊 I feel almost as busy as ever but with a lot less stress. The world has become busier and busier, people expect more and more and I needed to get off that crazy roundabout. I’m such a people plea...

A surreal week indeed! I sent off my last orders on Monday and the remainder of my bugs will be leaving me on Friday. So many people are congratulating me on my retirement but I prefer the good luck messages. I didn’t think I would ever retire but it all became too much, not just for me but my family too. Our home was taken over by my work. The bug room was my domain but the rest of the house had gradually filled up with ‘stuff’, plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, tanks etc. and I never ever had any time. Whatever task I was doing, I was always thinking of the next job on the list. People keep asking what I am going to do with my time now. In the short term I will be clearing everything out, especially the loft which is full to the brim. I’m a bit of a hoarder so that really doesn’t help 😄 Lack of time was indeed the main factor for finishing my business but there was also the constant “I only want a female tarantula” 😤, leaving Europe was a big blow, Covid, the animal welfare licensin...

Getting there! My plans for retirement are going pretty well, I cannot believe all the wonderful messages that I have received over the last few weeks, many of them have had me in tears. It is very emotional to give up my little friends after a lifetime of keeping them and my human friends too but the time is right so I will keep plodding on until everything has gone. I won’t be changing my phone number and I hope to keep my email address, therefore, those who want to, can stay in touch. I had planned for a big sale on September 1st but orders are still going strong so an all-out clearance sale doesn’t sound such a great idea. I have decided instead to reduce items individually but I do keep changing my mind J It is really difficult to retire over a period of time, I couldn’t make the decision and then stop, like most people are able to. I can’t set a date in the future because I simply don’t know when sales will dry up. The idea of an open day sadly became unworkable, I just don’t hav...