Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Another week flies by. It is my husband's 'significant' birthday today. He tells everyone that he is six younger than me but he forgets to tell them that it is actually six weeks, not months or years. I still remember the day we met as sixteen year olds starting our first job in the City of London. We have lots of things planned for this weekend so I won't be around much and may not get to reply to emails until Monday. I have had more livestock in again this week. I have some lovely Horse-head grasshoppers. They are really strange bugs, they look like stick insects, feed on bramble like stick insects but they are grasshoppers. Their little faces are so cute, I'm not sure which Disney film they were in, it might have been 'A Bugs Life' or was it 'Ants'? I have some more praying mantids coming in next week. I haven't had so many different species for ages. I love mantids, I think it's the way that they turn around to watch you that makes them...

First day of spring tomorrow and it has certainly been a beautiful week here. I was out in the garden in a t-shirt yesterday. The bramble is beginning to grow again and I hope it is a sign of things to come that there seem to be a lot of butterflies around. Hopefully if we have a hot, drier summer this year the butterfly populations may recover a bit. I saw very few Peacock butterflies and no Small Tortoiseshells at all last year. I know there is a lot of talk about parasites but I truly think that the weather plays it's part too. I've had a very busy week with buying in lots of new stock. I have housed most of it but I haven't had time to put everything on the site yet. I have bought in spiders, centipedes, millipedes, assassin bugs, adult praying mantids and more. The most popular items that I seem to be selling at the moment are spiders, millipedes and cockroaches. I ordered more Giant Pill millipedes as they are doing so well. I have often found them difficult to keep...

Oh I don't like Friday 13th! However I am very happy with everything this week (I know, that makes a change). I can't believe the difference in business since last week. I have been inundated with orders and nobody has been messing me about by ordering and then not sending the money. I have sent out loads of spiders, I even managed to sell a spider from my 'clearance offer'! (It's a long story) I have ordered some new spiderlings from a very reliable guy in Germany this morning, they should arrive by the end of next week. He has a wonderful selection but with the terrible exchange rate I have limited myself to buying only about a dozen new species. I am also hoping to get some new stock from a reptile dealer on Monday, he imports some lovely bugs and I can drive down and pick out the best ones! There is a huge bug and reptile show in Germany this weekend, I wish I could have gone. I think I might make the effort and go next year, there are very few good shows in the...

Oh dear what on earth has happened this week, is this the credit crunch? I have never had so many 'non orders'. I have a pile of email orders on my desk that have just not been paid for! Most are from private individuals but one is from a butterfly house, one from a college and one from a zoo. I have also had several people wanting to call and collect and then cancelling. The awful thing is that I have spent hundreds of pounds on new stock this week and not only is that a lot of money but it is a lot of time too. It takes a considerable amount of time to house and feed new animals, then put them on my computer stock lists and website. This leaves me with even more bugs to look after each day. I am as busy as ever with animals, emails and phone calls, yet I have barely sent out any parcels this week and taken precious little money. Woe is me! I am really fed up with people asking me to hold things for them and then not sending the money. I have had some weird and wacky reasons...