# Virginia Cheeseman



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

So i just ordered a Euathlus sp and some roaches from this website, seems pretty good and fairly priced i think. Anybody bought from there who can approve? Quality of livestock etc..?

:2thumb:


----------



## therepoman (Feb 18, 2010)

Never had a problem myself always good on arrival lively and she has good communication if anything goes wrong,bonus is she has alot of T's that some other stores dont when you want them ^_^


----------



## PRS (Dec 31, 2007)

I've ordered a few times from her, found all to be in good health. Although the postage is pricey and it's gone up too. Also here sizes can differ, I've had some things come a fair bit smaller than stated.


----------



## vickysmith1 (Mar 6, 2010)

She keeps her livestock very well. We've never had a problem with her. you should have said.. you could have had my euthalus sp. "red":lol2:


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

vickysmith1 said:


> She keeps her livestock very well. We've never had a problem with her. you should have said.. you could have had my euthalus sp. "red":lol2:


I think it would be rather cheeky making a thread asking if people are giving any spids away :lol2:.

Thanks for the positive replies chaps


----------



## vickysmith1 (Mar 6, 2010)

haha no seriously anyone who wants it can have it!! lol


----------



## rabbit (Jun 17, 2007)

I got both my blue fang and GBB sling from her and they both arrived on time, well packaged and lively....and what's more they are still ALIVE! Thoroughly recommend! :2thumb:


----------



## purplekitten (Feb 24, 2010)

vickysmith1 said:


> haha no seriously anyone who wants it can have it!! lol


ill have it... hold on... WHY??? :whistling2::lol2:



rabbit said:


> I got both my blue fang and GBB sling from her and they both arrived on time, well packaged and lively....and what's more they are still ALIVE! Thoroughly recommend! :2thumb:


i got my blue fang from her and was really pleased 

will be ordering some more spids from her end of june :mf_dribble:


----------



## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

She's ok to buy from, bloody expensive though


----------



## MissyBats (Nov 11, 2009)

she is more pricey, but I had no issues with getting my skeleton sling off her alive and well and still doing well as a juvie...
but noone else had what I wanted and she did so I got it lol xxx


----------



## iiisecondcreep (Oct 29, 2007)

Used her a couple of times, spiders arrived healthy and well, also really helpful, good communication before and after the sale!


----------



## kevhutch (Feb 18, 2010)

Smurfinator said:


> So i just ordered a Euathlus sp and some roaches from this website, seems pretty good and fairly priced i think. Anybody bought from there who can approve? Quality of livestock etc..?
> 
> :2thumb:


She is really nice and welcoming

I went and picked some spids up from her, so not sure on the parcel side

she has a really good set up in her back garden and likes visitors, and you see what your buying

Prices are a bit higher, but if she is the only one with spiders you want, its not all bad

Cheers Kev:2thumb:


----------



## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

PRS said:


> I've ordered a few times from her, found all to be in good health. Although the postage is pricey and it's gone up too. Also here sizes can differ, I've had some things come a fair bit smaller than stated.


Ultimately, she's a one-woman business, she's going to be pricier than a larger import/export company as she has more overheads to pay and less market to fund it with.

As for the size, she only gives very rough estimates for anything juvenile or younger. I guess it's hard to measure a tub swarming with spiderlings 



_TiMiSdRuNk_ said:


> She's ok to buy from, bloody expensive though


As above. She may be more expensive than some dealers, but everything is captive bred and well looked after. Virginia herself is a lovely person, very honest and fantastic to deal with. Don't just use her website, give her a call up for info etc too.


----------



## lovespids (May 10, 2010)

*Virginia cheesman*

She is Mrs arachnid and a really nice lady,her creatures are always healthy and she is very helpful :2thumb:


----------



## mcluskyisms (Jan 24, 2010)

ph0bia said:


> As above. She may be more expensive than some dealers, but everything is captive bred and well looked after. Virginia herself is a lovely person, very honest and fantastic to deal with. Don't just use her website, give her a call up for info etc too.


I heard that she buys most of her stock from various German breeders?


----------



## Mrs Mental (May 5, 2009)

:2thumb::2thumb: can't speak highly enough of her, she's great, very knowledgable, friendly and always has the animals interests at heart. Have bought hermit crabs and a few different millipedes from her and not experienced any problems : victory:


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

mcluskyisms said:


> I heard that she buys most of her stock from various German breeders?


yes, she does breed a bit of her own though.

where do you think TSS gets his stock? Hardly any of it is bred by him. Most online shops' CB stock comes from hobby breeders.


----------



## mcluskyisms (Jan 24, 2010)

garlicpickle said:


> yes.......
> 
> where do you think TSS gets his stock? He doesn't breed it himself.


Yeah I know......

:whistling2:


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

mcluskyisms said:


> Yeah I know......
> 
> :whistling2:


I'm talking about captive bred slings here, not wild caught. As I'm sure you know.


----------



## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

garlicpickle said:


> yes.......
> 
> where do you think TSS gets his stock? He doesn't breed it himself.


I imagine TSS would bypass the European traders and import from countries of origin...well we know they do.

Same with pretty much all other places. Folks if a sling isn't from a pretty common/easy to breed species then it's probably from a CH sac or a gravid WC T has laid it in the sellers care. If it's an adult it's probably WC anyway, obviously if it's uncommon species and they're selling a fair few of them, you can guarantee it is.

I love it when folks go "well X shop has basically ALL WC STOCK! Phibs, reps, inverts, everything!"

and I'm all "....no...really! Wow...like every other shop then, and I mean EVERY other shop, hell even the one near me saying they only do CB, have a few things on their stock list missing CB at the end...mysteriously.":lol2:


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Virginia seems relatively ethical regarding WC stock from what I've seen and read on her blog. 

I reckon that's why she doesn't have a lot of adult spiders for sale on her site. She buys in CB slings from Europe which means she gets some of the less easy to breed species (the ones we in the UK haven't got the hang of yet) :lol2:

But on her blog she has mentioned breeding some of her own too.


----------



## Tavor21 (May 24, 2010)

I brought 3 tarantulas off of her. no problems I don't order from here because i live round the corner, i pop round. i have to say she looks after her animals well. In the right size enclosures, she feeds and waters them properly. Also very chatty and nice to speak to. Only problem was the avicularia amazonica which is supposed to be a nice tarantula tries to bite me and squirt poop at me at a daily bases but that's hardly her fault lol


----------



## kos (Jul 31, 2008)

over priced £8 post now:bash: sort it out cheeseman
i got fruit flys:lol2: it said small pot well they were not joking it was a film pot with a bit of smelly fruit in it & i got no flys from it.

i did get some roaches but they were really small for the money
well that was my last order from them a while ago
but now the extra cost that site gos in the bin for now it costs too much


----------



## perthchickie (Mar 15, 2008)

She can be pricey but her stock is good.


----------



## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

lovespids said:


> She is Mrs arachnid and a really nice lady,her creatures are always healthy and she is very helpful :2thumb:


Mrs Arthropod would be more accurate 



mcluskyisms said:


> I heard that she buys most of her stock from various German breeders?


Yes, I mean she doesn't import from WC-Exporters. It's explained on her site.



garlicpickle said:


> Virginia seems relatively ethical regarding WC stock from what I've seen and read on her blog.
> 
> I reckon that's why she doesn't have a lot of adult spiders for sale on her site. She buys in CB slings from Europe which means she gets some of the less easy to breed species (the ones we in the UK haven't got the hang of yet) :lol2:
> 
> But on her blog she has mentioned breeding some of her own too.


Exactly 



Tavor21 said:


> I brought 3 tarantulas off of her. no problems I don't order from here because i live round the corner, i pop round. i have to say she looks after her animals well. In the right size enclosures, she feeds and waters them properly. Also very chatty and nice to speak to. Only problem was the avicularia amazonica which is supposed to be a nice tarantula tries to bite me and squirt poop at me at a daily bases but that's hardly her fault lol


Lucky :censor:

I usually call and ask for more details than the site can give, including breeder info etc. She's very good to talk to and if you're considering a T, you can ask her about it.



kos said:


> over priced £8 post now:bash: sort it out cheeseman


Don't be so rude! :whip:

Imagine you're running a business alone. That price isn't "Post", it's "Post and Packaging". Spidershop is more than one person (I know at least 5 of the guys there) and so someone can be dedicated to packing up whilst others are doing all the care etc. She has to do it all. Also, for a larger business like TSS, buying in the shipment boxes, the effort of packing (you try packaging some spiders xD) and then the journey to the post office, that's the extra price. It's £2 more than the cost of the postage itself, a price I'm more than willing to pay to fund such a wonderful dealer who sources far more stock than TSS ever has.

I love TSS, but their stock is usually "Tarantulas (60)", whereas Virginia is usually into the 90's or 100+. I just consider that £2 extra a "donation to the upkeep and running of an ethically centred spider supplier".


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

5 guys at the spider shop?? :lol2:

Wonder when Lee took on those extra staff, last I heard it was him and one part time girl who answers the phone and feeds the stock.


----------



## Tavor21 (May 24, 2010)

Yeah i am an lucky guy. Arent i maybe i take some pictures next time I go round there, you see my brothers away walking from lands end to John o'groats for help the heroes and he hates spiders so when hes not here parents say got money you can buy it tehehehe only problem is money is going towards reptile show kempton park


----------



## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

She's a lovely lady, fantastic spiders kent in really good conditions. Postange is a little pricey, but then it doesn't matter to me as she only lives a 5 minute drive away


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

Well my critters arrived today, i was under the impression i was purchasing a 4cm chile flame which ended up being 1cm but i dont really care. I also ordered 4 adult dubia and some nymphs in which they arrived healthy and she threw a couple extra in, i also bought a mixed tub of feeder roaches which are all different sizes as it stated, overall i'm happy, just a bit dissapointed about the size of spider, i've never owned a tiny sling like this before, what do i feed this thing? its barely 1cm legspan


----------



## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

Smurfinator said:


> Well my critters arrived today, i was under the impression i was purchasing a 4cm chile flame which ended up being 1cm but i dont really care. I also ordered 4 adult dubia and some nymphs in which they arrived healthy and she threw a couple extra in, i also bought a mixed tub of feeder roaches which are all different sizes as it stated, overall i'm happy, just a bit dissapointed about the size of spider, i've never owned a tiny sling like this before, what do i feed this thing? its barely 1cm legspan


That'd be one of my babies :2thumb:
It's a small species, and a fairly slow grower. The ones I kept here have had 3 moults now and are happily eating small crickets, I guess yours may be a moult or two behind as I imagine she doesn't have the time to feed them as often as I do here.
When they were smaller they were happily eating the smallest crickets from a box of smalls - the length of their abdomen or even a tiny bit bigger. If they were bigger then that I squished the crickets heads with tongs and they ate them fine


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

Ally said:


> That'd be one of my babies :2thumb:
> It's a small species, and a fairly slow grower. The ones I kept here have had 3 moults now and are happily eating small crickets, I guess yours may be a moult or two behind as I imagine she doesn't have the time to feed them as often as I do here.
> When they were smaller they were happily eating the smallest crickets from a box of smalls - the length of their abdomen or even a tiny bit bigger. If they were bigger then that I squished the crickets heads with tongs and they ate them fine


How often should i feed it and should i wait a few days before feeding?


----------



## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

Smurfinator said:


> How often should i feed it and should i wait a few days before feeding?


I fed mine every 5 days or so until they got a little bigger, now it's at once a week like the rest of my spids 
It'll probably eat tomorrow, they're little piggies!


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Ally said:


> I fed mine every 5 days or so until they got a little bigger, now it's at once a week like the rest of my spids
> It'll probably eat tomorrow, they're little piggies!


how big are yours Ally? I've got a couple of them here and they hardly ever seem to eat anything.


----------



## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

garlicpickle said:


> how big are yours Ally? I've got a couple of them here and they hardly ever seem to eat anything.


I guess about 8mm legspan? Ok, hardly huge but with what I'd been told about the species and how slow they are, it seems big!


----------



## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

Ally said:


> I guess about 8mm legspan? Ok, hardly huge but with what I'd been told about the species and how slow they are, it seems big!


about the same as mine then, I think they have moulted twice but didn't seem to grow much!


----------



## Tavor21 (May 24, 2010)

With by b smithi sling who doesn't eat live food only pre killed (its weird i know) i just killed a baby roach every two days eats most of them if it does i take it out


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

OK thanks again for the replies. These tub of mixed roaches i bought, on the box it said Porcelain, so i assumed they were all just Porcelain Roaches lol. I opened them and tipped them all into a 35 litre RUB, well these are really fast and can easily climb up the sides of the tub and can fly :gasp:. I was under the impression that roaches couldn't climb smooth surfaces? I then opeend up the adult dubia and put them in the same tub, is it ok to keep these together?. I knew that the dubia didnt climb, or even try to, but these other things are bloody quick and are really eager to escape. I wasnt quite prepared for these, i thought that all roaches just walked around on the bottom and didnt climb the sides. The dubia are ok i knew they wouldn't climb as soon as i put them in the tub because they were just kind of waddling around and then stopped for a bit of juicy orange, its just them other ones are a real handful. I read to put vaseline around the sides of the rub, but i have none so could i smear a bit of cooking oil or something similar?


----------



## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

Smurfinator said:


> I was under the impression that roaches couldn't climb smooth surfaces? I then opeend up the adult dubia and put them in the same tub, is it ok to keep these together?.


Only some species of roaches cannot climb smooth surfaces (B. dubia for example) many other species including hissing cockroaches, lobster roaches etc. can climb and/or fly just fine. This is why Dubia and Red runners are so popular as feeders, because they don't climb and are therefore very easy to contain. I think the deal with porcelain roaches is that the nymphs can't climb but the adults can.

Here is a great site with descriptions of many different roach species and whether they can climb and fly (including several popular species of feeder roaches): http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/Roaches/


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

Chaika said:


> Only some species of roaches cannot climb smooth surfaces (B. dubia for example) many other species including hissing cockroaches, lobster roaches etc. can climb and/or fly just fine. This is why Dubia and Red runners are so popular as feeders, because they don't climb and are therefore very easy to contain. I think the deal with porcelain roaches is that the nymphs can't climb but the adults can.
> 
> Here is a great site with descriptions of many different roach species and whether they can climb and fly (including several popular species of feeder roaches):Allpet Roaches ; Blattodea Rearing.


Ahh right, so its just dubias which i want ideally. Theres about 20-30 of these porcelain roaches, i dont fancy having them escape all over the house when i want to take a feeder out so i will need rid of them. Yeah as you said its just the adults that are pests, they are super quick and take a little run before they take off before crashing into the side of the RUB lol. I think i could give the porcelain nymphs to my Curly, but is there a way i can prevent the adults from climbing or escaping? 3 already escaped before but i got them back and luckily the females of the family werent in lol, they absolutely detest bugs and insects lol.


----------



## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

Smurfinator said:


> Ahh right, so its just dubias which i want ideally. Theres about 20-30 of these porcelain roaches, i dont fancy having them escape all over the house when i want to take a feeder out so i will need rid of them. Yeah as you said its just the adults that are pests, they are super quick and take a little run before they take off before crashing into the side of the RUB lol. I think i could give the porcelain nymphs to my Curly, but is there a way i can prevent the adults from climbing or escaping? 3 already escaped before but i got them back and luckily the females of the family werent in lol, they absolutely detest bugs and insects lol.


You can smear some vaseline in a 2in layer at the top of the enclosure. It won't stop them flying but may prevent them from being able to climb to the top of the tub and make a runner from there.


----------



## kos (Jul 31, 2008)

ph0bia said:


> Don't be so rude! :whip:
> 
> Imagine you're running a business alone. That price isn't "Post", it's "Post and Packaging". Spidershop is more than one person (I know at least 5 of the guys there) and so someone can be dedicated to packing up whilst others are doing all the care etc. She has to do it all. Also, for a larger business like TSS, buying in the shipment boxes, the effort of packing (you try packaging some spiders xD) and then the journey to the post office, that's the extra price. It's £2 more than the cost of the postage itself, a price I'm more than willing to pay to fund such a wonderful dealer who sources far more stock than TSS ever has.
> 
> I love TSS, but their stock is usually "Tarantulas (60)", whereas Virginia is usually into the 90's or 100+. I just consider that £2 extra a "donation to the upkeep and running of an ethically centred spider supplier".


You are joking aren't you? :lol2:
do you not no anything about a company's over heads 5 people's wages on top of every thing at the end of the week thats at least £1250 just on staff wages:gasp: so she should sell much cheaper because her over heads are much much lower.

So your saying tss sell over £2000 worth of Ts each week to pay for wages stock & General bill i don't think so.its a nice site but not that many Ts get sold each week.

She may be nice to you and let you go in her bug shed but its not worth the extra money. no one has much money these days & to up the costs is a silly move.


----------



## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

Smurfinator said:


> Theres about 20-30 of these porcelain roaches, i dont fancy having them escape all over the house when i want to take a feeder out so i will need rid of them. insects lol.


You can always send them to me  I'm sure that my house geckos and arboreal Ts will make short work of a few climbing roaches


----------



## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

kos said:


> She may be nice to you and let you go in her bug shed but its not worth the extra money. no one has much money these days & to up the costs is a silly move.


From what I hear Virginia is doing very well and has no shortage of orders despite her marginally higher P&P. And anyway, TSS charges only £1 less for P&P so it's not like it's such a huge difference. 

Her biggest advantage is the large variety of species that she sells compared to the competition; if you want some relatively obscure Taps for example she would be the first place to look. Also regarding noone having that much money, the tarantula hobby is ridiculously cheap compared to other exotic pets (royal morphs anyone?) so would I be willing to pay a bit extra to buy a healthy, CB, difficult to find sling from her? The answer would be yes, even as a student I would have enough money to afford it.


----------



## kos (Jul 31, 2008)

Chaika said:


> From what I hear Virginia is doing very well and has no shortage of orders despite her marginally higher P&P. And anyway, TSS charges only £1 less for P&P so it's not like it's such a huge difference.
> 
> Her biggest advantage is the large variety of species that she sells compared to the competition; if you want some relatively obscure Taps for example she would be the first place to look. Also regarding noone having that much money, the tarantula hobby is ridiculously cheap compared to other exotic pets (royal morphs anyone?) so would I be willing to pay a bit extra to buy a healthy, CB, difficult to find sling from her? The answer would be yes, even as a student I would have enough money to afford it.



Im not saying tss is the best & cheapest site because there not. i was saying that her over heads were alot lower if she has no staff.

I dont keep Ts there not my thing im more into scorpions & reptiles
there scorps are well over priced on there i no two other sites that breed there own stock & sell them much cheaper & i think she gets some of her stock off one of them anyway.


----------



## Smurfinator (Aug 13, 2009)

Chaika said:


> You can always send them to me  I'm sure that my house geckos and arboreal Ts will make short work of a few climbing roaches


Luckily i've managed to seperate the adult climbers from the others, i tossed one in with my Congo Green and she attacked it right away lol, i would imagine my H. membranacea would readily eat these too. I was actually going to ask too if anyone wants them before i tossed one in with the mantids lol. Sorry :Na_Na_Na_Na:

Thanks for help everyone.

Back on topic, overall i'm quite happy with my purchase from Virginia, was just a little dissapointed with the size of the Euathlus sp, i mean there is quite some difference between 1cm an 4cm :gasp:. But whatever, hes a little cutie and i'm looking forward to watching him grow.


----------



## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

Smurfinator said:


> just a little dissapointed with the size of the Euathlus sp, i mean there is quite some difference between 1cm an 4cm :gasp:. But whatever, hes a little cutie and i'm looking forward to watching him grow.


Well, they are a small species. 4cm for a Euathlus (you got sp. red right?) would be half way to adult size so she would probably not list that as a spiderling though you never know. Small is a very all encompassing description for Ts, some terrestrials hatch out barely half a centimeter in legspan whereas others can be 2cm already. I've found that if you call her up she's usually more than happy to tell you what the actual size of the slings is .

Good lick with your sling! Apparently they take aaages to grow so you might be in for a bit of a wait (I'm just not patient enough so I bought an adult female from Ally instead )


----------



## Malti (Sep 17, 2009)

just bought from her yesterday, order's dispatched...till now good communication, will tell you how it goes


----------



## halfmanhalftarantula (Dec 7, 2011)

I've bought a couple of T's from Virginia and had some good communication via email with her and found her very helpful. I bought a Lampropelma Violaceopes and a Thrixopelma Pruriens from her both were in great condition and were sent out well packaged and very quickly. I can't recommend her enough - in lots of ways I don't mind spending an extra couple of quid knowing the service she gives and the condition the T's arrive in.


----------



## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

she won't sex any of her t's, though. tss, bugz uk, & martin goss will all at least try to.


----------



## shellshock187 (Apr 19, 2011)

Well i received my L Klugi and P Murinus Today from, 
Virginia cheesman,,actually i was very pleased, all well packed, roaches where small but good to start a colony and plenty of them, right on time with recorded delivery and i don't think 2 squid is a lot to ask for packaging, and if its good stock you don't mind that little extra...10/10 from me..good old vagina...:gasp: oops:blush::no1:


----------



## jb1962 (Sep 21, 2009)

I freeze some of my dubia if I want to feed larger dead food or just crush the heads if I want stop em digging to hide..
my E sp red isn't a big eater .. and I would say they are great to have even if they grow so sssllllloooowwww ... but I'd have more as they just have that lovely personality  ..


----------



## Malti (Sep 17, 2009)

Just received my beetle grubs with some extras and a xmas card 









100% happy


----------

