Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Only one week until my holiday, I'm escaping to the sun and hope to see lots of exotic creepy crawlies. I've been very busy in my bug house, I have cleaned so many boxes and tanks this week that my hands are sore (still I did get about three or four tubes/pots of hand cream for Christmas). I spent some time yesterday afternoon setting up a “photo shoot” for a birthday card idea that I had. Quite a few people buy bugs as birthday presents and I have sent several birthday cards with bugs on them. I have picked up the cards from craft fairs or shops but after the 'success' of my Christmas card with Stephanie the Mexican Red Knee spider, I thought I would try making some. Ok - I won't win any awards but it's a bit of fun. I took loads of photos with my new camera (present from my lovely hubby) and below are my favourite three. I can't decide which one to choose, what do you think? I have numbered them for easy voting. Well, I say I have numbered them, I st...

The last week has shot by and it's only two weeks until my holiday. I have had a busy week with lots of bugs coming in and going out. Unfortunately it turned out that my Post Office had an electrical fire last weekend, not too much damage but it needed rewiring and has been shut all week. I was nervous of taking my parcels with “live entomological specimens” printed on them, to another Post Office. However I sent them off from a very nice little Post Office, within a Tesco Metro. I had no problems, there was never a queue and I picked up some shopping while there! The people in my Post Office are lovely but I often have problems parking nearby and I spend a lot of time standing in a queue there. I'm not sure why the other Post Office is so under-used, perhaps it's because nobody knows that it's there? My husband has shopped at the Tesco Metro many times but never noticed it and I don't think I saw it either for quite some time. The weather has certainly improv...

Happy New Year Everybody! Sorry that the blog is a couple of days late, as you can imagine after two weeks off, things are very busy. I'm not sure why but after Christmas is always a very busy time. I have had loads of orders come in this last week, which is brilliant considering the current financial climate. Talking of climates though, I cannot believe how cold it is. I postponed my posting from Thursday until this Monday and the forecast was for much more mild weather but looking out of my office window now, everywhere is still frozen. Unfortunately I heard yesterday that my local post office was flooded out, I assume pipes had burst as the fire brigade and police were called. I really hope it is open again tomorrow or I will have to go to another one with my sacks of parcels. The people in my post office are lovely I do hope that things aren't too bad and that they are adequately insured. Everything is going well in my bug house, no problems over Christmas. One of my cust...

Feeling a lot better, I'm on the mend from my flu but I'm still not great and I have never been so behind with my Christmas preparations. My hubby says he has never seen me so ill in all our 31 years of marriage! I managed to get all the Christmas orders off in the end, thanks for your patience and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Thank you for your custom in 2008 x

What shall I start with this week? Good news, I have managed to breed the Ethiopian crickets that I purchased as nymphs back in September. They are reasonably similar to black field crickets but they have a great song, it sounds like a smoke alarm, it's really striking when they get going. My Barking Birdeater babies have started to moult into proper furry spiderlings, they are no longer in the 'eggs with legs' stage. I must remember to feed them this morning, I don't want them to start eating each other. Some more good news (certainly for me) my office is finally finished, well finished enough to move back in this weekend and get my house back in order before Christmas. There are still plug sockets to go in, shelves to go up, curtains to hang, etc but at least I can get the computer back in there and get all my paperwork sorted out. I won't be sitting in the front room surrounded by boxes and things everywhere as I am at this moment! I can't wait. The bad new...

December now and nearly Christmas! A much better week for me, sales have picked up and my office is coming along nicely. The outer roof was finished on Monday so for the first time since we moved here over five years ago, I won't need to have buckets dotted around my office to catch the leaks. The painting is nearly finished and the carpet is going down on Tuesday. Unfortunately the windows will need to be fitted after I have moved back in as there is just not enough time to get them done. I am expecting to move my desk and computer back in next weekend. Hopefully then I can get my house put back to normal before Christmas! I spent ages yesterday trying to set up a picture for my Christmas cards. I risked life and limb with an Imperial scorpion, she did not want to wear her Santa hat or grab her little sack. That photo sadly didn't work, she very nearly stung me but my daughter thought it was hilarious and took a few shots, no doubt it will end up on her Facebook. When my hus...

Where to start? I seriously considered not writing my blog this week as I'm not a happy bunny. The bugs are fine, I got some nice new mantids in and sales have picked up quite a bit since last week. However on Saturday I had my purse stolen on the London underground. I was on my way to a meeting and lost all my cash and cards and then on Wednesday my cat died. I hadn't had him long, he arrived over Halloween (a jet black cat) in a very poor state, many trips to the vets later he had put on almost a kilo in weight and I was hopeful that he would survive. I called him Shadow as he was the skinniest cat I have ever seen. He just came in our cat flap and joined the menagerie. He was a lovely, friendly cat but on Wednesday morning he fell unconscious and didn't wake up. Anyway back to the bugs. Have you been watching I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here? Most of the trials this year seem to involve being covered in bugs. They obviously have a good supplier of crickets, mealw...

This will have to be a short blog as I had a rare day off yesterday and I'm now inundated with emails to answer, plus messages on both the landline phone and mobile. I went to Harrods with a friend, it was a day trip organised by one of the local schools. We had a lovely day out and a good look around the pet department, sadly no stick insects or other bugs but they did have some nice furry animals at very 'nice' prices. I got my first ever stick insects from Harrods when I was about ten years old. Everything in the bug house is ticking over nicely. I have to collect more bramble this morning (nothing new there) and feed the baby snakes (bramble for stick insects, not snakes!). They really are beautiful but I think they have proved that selling reptiles is not a great idea for me. I bought nine Corn snakes weeks ago now and I have only managed to sell three. They really do make great pets so hopefully people will be more interested nearer Christmas. My office is in tatter...

I had lots of new tarantulas come in yesterday afternoon, there are several species and some nice specimens. I think they are all from Chile but I haven't had a close look yet, I will be sorting them out later today and then once they are housed and fed, I will be adding them onto my website. I'm pleased to say that my Indonesian Chocolate tarantula has finally let go of her egg sac and out popped loads of babies! They are still in the nymph stage (eggs with legs as I call it) but they will moult into proper little spiderlings soon. The egg sac was laid on 29 th July, which seems ages ago. I am trying to keep better notes these days, it's difficult because it takes a lot of time. I am keeping better records of when and where my spiders come from. It makes interesting reading but it can be quite disheartening to discover that some spiders just don't sell very well, I have had some specimens for over a year and a couple for almost two years but at least they are growing i...

Another month gone by and Christmas will soon be upon us. I'm working as hard as ever caring for all the bugs but unfortunately sales are down dramatically. I think we are certainly in recession. Most people would class pets are non-essential but I don't agree, when I am down I like my animals around me. Everything in the bug house is going well but the same can't be said of my office! Last weekend, especially Saturday, was a wash out. My poor husband, son and nephew worked flat out re-roofing my office and the workshop on the side of our house. It was bitterly cold and very wet but they got most of it done. I supplied endless cups of coffee and hot bacon/sausage rolls. At one time my husband came in the kitchen with blood running down his arm, he had cut his thumb on some metal. I said that it might need stitches but he insisted that I bandage it tightly so that he could carry on! Hopefully, if the weather holds, my nephew and brother in-law (they are professional roofer...