Virginia Cheeseman Blog

My open afternoon is tomorrow. So far I have one person coming, it's not looking like I will be rushed off my feet or people will be queuing to get in! If you are even thinking of coming along, I would love to know. Another busy week (when isn't it?), my new gym has opened and it's brilliant. The equipment is fantastic and the staff are great. I have managed to persuade both family and friends to join, which makes it even better. I have been in there most days this week, it really is a super escape from the stresses of life and with my work I need to stay fit and healthy. The older I get the more I worry what would happen to all my little animals if I were ill or needed even minor surgery. 'Not a lot' is the answer as I don't have a backup plan. Again I have had plenty of orders this week and thankfully I seem to be doing really well with my 'bug breeding'. I have lots of baby millipedes, scorpions and beetles. The adult beetles seem to be sell...

What a lot of orders I've received this week! It has been a really good week, extremely busy but really good. I'm still moaning about all the little tarantulas that I have, especially when it came to feeding them this week. I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I sent the email to pre-order the spiderlings before the January tarantula show. The only thing is that so long as I put in all the hard work now I will reap the rewards eventually. I have some great species but they just need to grow a bit to become more saleable. I am selling quite a few spiders but not the ones I have too many of. I think it's called Sods Law! The bug room is looking rather messy again. I need to have a good clear up but it is difficult when I have so much crammed in there. I am thinking of buying a steam mop, I've heard they are very good. It was a real mistake buying such a light coloured vinyl for the bug room floor, it always looks dirty. I should have bought a yucky brown colour with a...

Success! I have finally managed to house up all the spiders that I bought from the tarantula exhibition, almost three weeks ago. I should never have bought so many spiders in one go and I won't do it again. I have removed the 15% discount code from the website now but I have reduced some of the individual spiders as I still need to seriously cut down on numbers. I have spiders all over my bug room and although they are selling, they are not selling fast enough. It is a very busy time of year, lots of animal exhibitions are getting ready to re-open after the winter and I have plenty of orders (mostly non spider, many for beetles). I got in some new beetles again this week. Thankfully we still haven't had any really cold weather yet this winter (I'm hoping we will skip the ice and snow and move swiftly onto a nice warm 'dry' spring). I have had no problems with the post at all, no loses and no delayed parcels, which is really great. I'm writing this blog a day...

Spring next month! I keep telling myself that because this weather is getting seriously depressing. It is still pouring and I desperately need to collect bramble and rotten leaves for the bugs. The bramble will be fine, just a bit wet but the rotten leaves and wood are so waterlogged that I can barely carry the bag back home from the woods. Everything in the bug room is doing well. It was a mistake to get so many spiderlings in one go at the recent tarantula show and I have made a note to self "don't do it again". I still have a large number in their little pots as I just don't have the space or containers to house them properly at the moment. I have had a very busy week sales wise but mostly non spider sales or sales of larger tarantulas that I already had pre-exhibition. Still as soon as one spider sells I immediately house up another. I had a nice birthday and thank you to those of you who sent their best wishes. Monday was an awful day for a birthday as it i...