Virginia Cheeseman Blog

A lovely sunny week, England got through to the next round and I'm off for a spa day today (my nephew's fiancee's hen day), so all is well in my world. The bugs are happy too, everything seems to be growing and reproducing. I am being very strict with myself and haven't bought in any new stock this week. I really need to concentrate on looking after the enormous amount of animals that I seem to have accumulated recently. It is so nice to have successfully cut down my stick insect collection to a more manageable level. I have enough bramble growing in my garden to feed those that I have now, no more looking suspicious cutting down greenery in the woods! I have managed to shift the surplus of Barking Birdeater spiders that I had (ordered 20 but ended up with 34) and my first one has laid an egg sac this week. I think most of the spiders are adult females and hopefully many will be gravid. A strange thing happened with my mobile phone this week. I was in the gym when it s...

Putting the plan into action is going well. I haven't bought anything new this week and it has freed up time to sort out some of the stock that I already have. The bug house is overflowing, especially with spiders. The Barking Birdeaters have all been housed at last, they had to be left in tubs until I had enough larger boxes to put them in. Thankfully it has been a busy week sales wise and I have therefore had many cages vacated on a daily basis. I am hoping that some of the Barking Birdeaters will be gravid as they were wild caught. I really don't like animals being collected from the wild but this species is still quite rare in the hobby. The Indonesian beetles are laying eggs, which is brilliant. My hubby sawed up the Oak branch that I managed to lug back from the woods. I'm not sure how long the eggs take to hatch but I do know I mustn't go poking them about! The larvae of these tropical beetles grow to a huge size but like our native Stag beetles they do take a l...

I have a plan, the plan is to stop buying all these bugs and get on with selling them! I have seriously gone a bit mad lately and I am now spending hours every day just caring for my 'mini zoo'. I am beginning to panic about our family holiday in August, my mother in-law is great at house sitting and the 'normal' pets but she is totally phobic about bugs. My daughter insists that she will find me someone to help. I hope so, the only criteria is to live locally and be 100% reliable. I don't need a bug enthusiast, just someone who can follow instructions. So - this week I have received some amazing spiders from Indonesia, Jumping spiders, Orb Web spiders and Barking Birdeaters. I have received a selection of captive bred baby scorpions and some magnificent large beetles. I did feel a twit carrying a huge log back from the woods past a whole group of workman but I'm hoping to get the beetles breeding and they need rotten wood. I'm not sure if the log is rotten...

I encountered an unwanted arachnid this week, a tick, attached to my hip - yuk. I had been to Richmond park (looking for Stag beetles but I think it was a bit too early) and I know they are rife there because of the deer. I deal with arachnids every day but I didn't want to keep this one. The barbeque last Saturday, what can I say, it was cold and poured with rain non stop! It was great to see so many family and friends but the house was a little full to say the least. On the work front it has been all go. Another bank holiday meant that I couldn't post any orders on Monday but I have sent a record number since then. May was my busiest month ever. It was certainly a good idea to put the tarantula spiders in size order on my website but it has resulted in most of my large spiders selling out in the first week! I have ordered a lot of new animals, they should arrive next week and perhaps the following week too. Some of the creatures that I am expecting are scorpions, centipedes,...