Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Sunshine at last, it's been a really nice week here. The bugs are all growing, breeding and thriving. It is a never ending job to feed and clean them all but I am gradually cutting down a bit. Once the schools and universities shut for the summer holidays, things are always a bit slower. I am trying to concentrate more on the multitude of bugs that I already have and stop buying in more and more. I am however getting some nice new spiderlings next week. It has been a week of appointments for me hairdressers, hospital for my back, youth club networking meeting yesterday and today I have the opticians! Tomorrow should be good as I am booked on a one day wildlife, first aid course at Tiggywinkles animal rescue centre. Last Friday's day out was very pleasant until I was leaving the exhibition centre at Olympia, London and fell straight over a bench. It was in the middle of the walkway, low to the ground and 'camouflaged' with the flooring (no alcohol involved). I didn...

It's been a long week with my husband away, he returns this evening. I am off to an exhibition at London Olympia today (nothing to do with bugs, I won the tickets in a competition so I'm having the day off and going with a friend to the Spirit of Summer Fair). I have been rearranging the bug room quite a bit this week, I can't believe how many tarantulas I have now! It takes quite a while to feed them all and it seems like once I have finished all the shelves it is time to start again. I do have some really pretty ones, it is always nice to see a freshly moulted specimen, their colours can be amazing and I especially like the 'furry' ones and arboreal species. The tree spiders generally grow quickly and can look quite different after a moult. I had to laugh recently when I wrote a description of the Brazilian Brown Birdeater (Vitalius paranaensis) , I described them as a medium sized, boring brown spider as I couldn't find anything on the internet and that ...

Deserted! My hubby is off whizzing around Spain on his annual motorbike trip with his friends and my daughter is in France to see the Le Mans 24 hour car race. I must admit I don't fancy either but it is sad that my whole family like mechanical and technical things and have little interest in nature, which of course is my passion. Never mind, I have joined a local natural history group this week and I'm going on a Glow Worm and bat walk - so much more fun! The bugs seem to be doing well, I am still finding runaway Orange Baboon spiderlings from last week's breakout in my bug room. I have left the male Tanzanian Blonde Baboon spider in with my female. They seem happy and let's face it nobody else is likely to want him anyway. Hopefully they will reproduce, the female is a lovely healthy specimen. I have lots of baby millipedes of various species and re-housing them is high on my list of things to do this weekend. If the tiny babies are near the vents in the boxes...

Summer at last but you wouldn't know that looking out of my office window. The sky is grey and the rain has been falling for hours. I am going to get wet when I take Teddi for a walk this morning. Worse than that I left my huge bag of leaf litter and rotten wood out in the garden after collecting it yesterday. I thought we were about to have a heat wave, where did all this rain come from? I have decided that collecting leaf litter and rotten wood is my least favourite job. Unfortunately it is vital for the survival and breeding of all my millipedes and fruit beetles. I am also realising that many of my other creatures thrive when given leaf litter and rotten wood to eat and mooch around in. All my cockroaches seem to appreciate it, the beautiful Question Mark and Domino cockroaches especially. It is a trial I have to endure but I derive no pleasure from at all. Firstly the woods are private and the only way in is through my neighbour's garden, the leaves become very heavy ...