Virginia Cheeseman Blog

Who am I? My bug room is cold, my bug room is quiet. I have lost my identity, they say we are defined by our job. Am I still “the bug lady”? I think so, I hope so, it’s all very weird and as someone who has always hated ‘change’, it’s difficult. I’m really glad I kept a tank of Hissing cockroaches, I always said that I would and I find it strangely grounding. The tank is now full of hissing cockroaches and anything else that I have found while emptying the room (odd cockroaches, cave crickets, a banded cricket   😂 ). One thing I love about this blog is that I can now use emojis, my old blog didn’t support them and I love emojis! I hear that I’m not supposed to use certain ones and that some may mean, “not what I intended” but ignorance is bliss so I won’t know unless you tell me   😊 I feel almost as busy as ever but with a lot less stress. The world has become busier and busier, people expect more and more and I needed to get off that crazy roundabout. I’m such a people plea...

A surreal week indeed! I sent off my last orders on Monday and the remainder of my bugs will be leaving me on Friday. So many people are congratulating me on my retirement but I prefer the good luck messages. I didn’t think I would ever retire but it all became too much, not just for me but my family too. Our home was taken over by my work. The bug room was my domain but the rest of the house had gradually filled up with ‘stuff’, plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, tanks etc. and I never ever had any time. Whatever task I was doing, I was always thinking of the next job on the list. People keep asking what I am going to do with my time now. In the short term I will be clearing everything out, especially the loft which is full to the brim. I’m a bit of a hoarder so that really doesn’t help 😄 Lack of time was indeed the main factor for finishing my business but there was also the constant “I only want a female tarantula” 😤, leaving Europe was a big blow, Covid, the animal welfare licensin...

Getting there! My plans for retirement are going pretty well, I cannot believe all the wonderful messages that I have received over the last few weeks, many of them have had me in tears. It is very emotional to give up my little friends after a lifetime of keeping them and my human friends too but the time is right so I will keep plodding on until everything has gone. I won’t be changing my phone number and I hope to keep my email address, therefore, those who want to, can stay in touch. I had planned for a big sale on September 1st but orders are still going strong so an all-out clearance sale doesn’t sound such a great idea. I have decided instead to reduce items individually but I do keep changing my mind J It is really difficult to retire over a period of time, I couldn’t make the decision and then stop, like most people are able to. I can’t set a date in the future because I simply don’t know when sales will dry up. The idea of an open day sadly became unworkable, I just don’t hav...

My biggest announcement ever! It is with a heavy heart that I am informing everyone of my impending retirement as “The Bug Lady”. I have been running my business for approximately 45 years so it has been pretty good J Things change over the years, I was one of the only bug dealers in the early days and possibly the only woman but these days, every man and his dog is selling tarantulas and “proper bugs” seem to have fallen out of favour. I have been cutting down on stock for some time and had hoped to keep going without the tarantulas but it hasn’t worked out. I expect to fully retire by the end of this year but a lot depends on my wonderful customers (you!) as I need to sell off a large number of little creatures. I still have 24 species of tarantula (multiple numbers of most), millipedes, cockroaches, isopods, scorpions, slugs etc. Do take a look on my website, once they are gone, they are gone! If you want to help me, please spread the word to all your bug mad friends. I have lots of...

It’s driving me crazy! I only want a female, can you sort me out a female, is it female, aghh! I hear this day in and day out, which is why I’m giving up on tarantulas after all these years. I’m always concerned about how honest I should be in my blog but I can’t help being honest and outspoken, it’s just me! I used to state that my USP (unique selling point) was that I don’t lie but I thought it looked rude on my website and not everybody lies, but at times I understand and cannot really blame people for lying about sexing tarantulas. It is not that simple AND most importantly what are people doing with all their unwanted males? I clearly lose very many orders because I refuse to sex my spiders. I have sometimes reared my tarantulas for several years. They are all treated with the same love and care, tending them weekly and for what? I’m as disappointed as everyone else when one of my beauties matures into a male but such is life, there’s a fifty-fifty chance. Surely, they are pets an...

This quote just came to me as I was thinking of a title for the post, it seems very appropriate and comes from "The A-Team" from way back in the 1980s, it was spoken by the character Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, the late, great George Peppard. My plan is indeed coming together and going very well, both January and February have been really busy months, despite me selling off my tarantula collection. I have reduced things down considerably but I am way off giving up on tarantulas just yet. Having one posting day a week seems a long way off too. I’m not actually sure I could ever have just the one day to post orders. I am currently posting out on a Monday and Wednesday and it is going fine. Spring is now just around the corner, the first day of March tomorrow J It seems to have been a very long, damp, dark winter. As you all know by now, I absolutely hate the cold! We are booked to go away to Cyprus in May, I can’t wait (should be a good time for bugs, flowers and m...

Happy New Year everyone, 2025 seems like the perfect time to contemplate retirement as I have been running my bug business for 45 years! So, I have thought about it and don’t much like the idea J I have instead decided that working part time sounds much better! My plan is to work just three or four days a week, not six or seven, it would be great to have a distinction between the week and the weekend. I have been trying to cut down for some time and it just hasn’t worked out. I have realised that keeping tarantulas is a major stress to me, if I were to be incapacitated, I have absolutely no backup. I have to face facts that I am not getting any younger. My family and friends would not have a clue how to look after my spider collection. Times have changed, tarantulas have become mainstream pets and the market is pretty much flooded. I have a wonderful collection but I will gradually be phasing them out. I always have far more than are shown on my website as some are in the process of br...

All going well J I have just re-read my last blog entry (I don’t usually). Wow, it was spot on! I wrote it when I was on holiday in Cyprus and it shows. Away from the chaos of home, I clearly had time to think and put it all down in words. I have been true to my word and have been cutting back on animals and paperwork since returning from our holiday. I feel much better for it and I still have a crazy number of bugs to care for, especially tarantulas. I have been working on sales and last month was excellent. I started the month with a 10% discount off all items sold through my website and it was so successful that I continued it throughout the entire month. This month I am concentrating on tarantulas and have the “make me an offer on tarantulas” running. I am still trying to get down to a number whereby I can carry out a proper stock take and sort out exact numbers. I feed them all once a week (different sizes on different days) but it takes so long that I can’t find the time needed t...

How honest should I be? Oh well, I always tell the truth so here goes. I am sitting on the terrace at our favourite hotel in Cyprus as I write this. It is boiling hot and the bright blue sea is calm and beautiful. Absolutely perfect :) But life at home is not perfect, it is chaotic and non-stop (I have the ulcer and insomnia to prove it). I love my bugs and my super customers but things have got to change. I have been trying to slow things down for a while now but come February, I finally get my pension and after Christmas I will be looking after my gorgeous grandson Milo when my daughter returns to work. It will only be one or two days a week but I am also carer to my mother in-law with dementia and there are others in the family who require my help (I cannot elaborate in an open blog). I am under a lot of pressure to give up the bugs but I don’t want to. I have many breeding projects in progress, especially with the arachnids and millipedes. However, things cannot go on the way they ...