Bed bugs? Lice? Beasties? HELP!!!! (Poor photo attached)

[BugLady75]

I have name changed because I am mortified! It's also in AIBU for traffic.

In the last 5 days I have found 4 of these critters! One on a t-shirt I was wearing (dead) and then I have found one in my bed everyday since Monday! . They've all been dead apart from one wriggling away on the bed!
They're bed bugs aren't they? Go on, I can take it I can't I've attached a photo but it's not clear, I put it next to a pencil for scale. The pictures of bed bugs I have seen on internet aren't as long as this beastie, more round, but I think I am deluding myself. I have lifted the mattress and checked for other signs but I've seen nothing! There is dust on the bed frame but I've seen no creepy crawlies. I thought they might be nits too as my DS has been scratching his head furiously for about a week but after checking I see nothing there.
Anyway, wise women of Mumsnet, please help! If they are bedbugs, apart from moving, do you have any advice?

Bed frame has been checked meticulously and I have found no evidence. Also mattress is clear.

DP reckons they might be creepy crawlies from the garden. But he's always been a glass half full kind of man!

OP does your local council have an insect ID service (part of pest control if they have one)? You can post them one of your bugs to identify.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions. Usually the first sign of bedbugs is bites and you can be bitten for ages before ever seeing one (if you ever see one). If you do see them you'd be more likely to see an adult (bigger and completely different to your photo) unless you'd really been looking for them.

Do you have pets? We recently had a flea infestation and although fleas are usually very jumpy (if you pick one up it will ping off in the air before you can do anything) our dogs have had flea treatment and the ones we found weren't too perky. We found dead and dying fleas on our sofa cover (eurgh, grim) but because the flea treatment doesn't actually kill all the fleas (it only interrupts the breeding cycle ) there were still a lot of them about.

Anyway, see if you can get a pro to ID these bugs for you but if no one in your house has bites I wouldn't get too worried about bedbugs. If it was bedbugs the worst thing you can do is bomb them (it sends them into hiding and deepens the infestation).

PS. They look like thrips/thunderflies/thunderbugs to me.

Does your room smell? There is a smell associated with bed bugs.

In your situation I would: wash, tumble dry and then freeze sheets etc. found with these "bugs".
Check myself and DH and other inhabitants of the house for bite marks.

I would also check the house for other signs of an infestation. Any flour mites? or Cupboard mites? Clean out wardrobes for moths or other evidence of "bugs".
This seems useful advice

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrips

Stop worrying, it's only a corn fly

Unlikely to be bed bugs if you haven't been bitten. We had them years ago after a house move, first sign was VERY itchy red lumps, three or four in a row, appearing overnight, then we saw specks of blood on sheets and found one of the critters dead.
Contacted council and man came out looking like something from Ghostbusters and sprayed beds, mattresses, floors etc. Only took half an hour and didn't cost us anything.
Got rid of them but it took ages for the bites to stop itching.

9unctured6icycle I was going to post a thread about fleas and how to get rid of them, I have seen a couple in the carpet (shudder). Cats treated but have you any tips to treat the house?!

(Off to check bed for bedbugs, just in case)

Are you sure it's not head lice?

Years ago I kept finding similar dead insects in and around my bed, not often, just now and again and it turned out they were woodworm and had come out of my ancient wooden headboard. I have never seen a bed bug but fleas are a different shape and have long legs. My dds have had headlice a few million times and I never found a dead one in any of their beds so unlikely I think. Can you get a better picture?

So, I haven't noticed any different/new smells in the room.
That picture of headlice looks very similar to the insect I found so will check everyone's heads again later today.
We don't have any pets but am happy to blame DS or even OP!
I threw burned the insect away. If I find another I'll try and take a better picture.
I also didn't know about the council ID pest service. I shall check and see if my council have it.
Feeling slightly calmer. Your messages have certainly helped. Thank you.

YY to the smell. It's a fusty vomitty stink. My friends dd brought them home after gap year travel. The dd vapes and accidentally let a who l e bottle of the vape liquid stuff swap onto the bed. It killed them off stone dead!
what the fuck is in that stuff

^seap

Nicotine is a good pesticide Science paper.

Oh thank you mummytime of course the nicotine!

DatsunCogs commiserations. They are an absolute pig to get rid of. It took a month, and our dogs are already treated with useless expensive shit Nexgard.

Vet suggested hoovering daily (yay! something contructive to do with all my bothersome free time) and out of desperation we sprayed the dogs' favourite bits of the house with Acclaim ('an adulticide and growth-regulator' ). I was covered in bites, more like mosquito bites than flea bites (wondering if I've got an allergy or if they were mutant global warming fleas). It was a fucking misery.

Oh that's not what I wanted to hear! we don't have loads of carpet thankfully but we do have it on the stairs, my favourite bit to hoover ...

I've no idea what you've got, but just wanted to add that we've have flour weevils in the past month, which totally gave me the boak. A CSI-grade kitchen clean seems to have banished them.

Could they be grain weevils? Google a picture. I kept finding them in my bathroom. Turns out they were from an opened bag of bird seed in the cupboard in the room below, but they are attracted to the warm, dampness of a bathroom. Once the seed was disposed of and I cleaned, they were gone.

Categorically not a bed bug. It's body isn't round enough. Looks totally like a head louse... (and now I'm itching!)

Are there any black spots like felt pen marks on your bedding? If you find any of those then they are probably bedbugs. Not everyone reacts to the bites. We brought some back from holiday once and DS2 came out in weals but DH, DS1 and I didn't.
(DH got some insecticide from his farming brother that they use to kill parasites on cattle and that was the only thing that shifted them)

Have you Googled bed bug? It does look like an adult bedbug but it might just been an outside bug especially at this time of year.

I was thinking thunderbug too. Especially in this weather.

No help but I admire your efforts at photography and drawing. Hope the little buggers go away easily.

Haven't spotted any felt tip like marks on bedding. But they are fresh on today so shall keep an eye out. I have googled bed bugs and there is a similarity between the ones I have seen and those on web - depending on their phase of life. I'm just hoping I'm wrong!
I've checked DP's and DS's head for lice and haven't seen any signs of those buggers!
Have also looked up grain weevils and it's not them either.
Fingers crossed for thunder bugs. I've always liked neverheardof thunder bugs.
Thanking you all for your helpful comments.

Thunderbugs are annoying but (I think) benign. The worst they can do is crawl inside the screen of your laptop and die. Then they stay there forever, blighting your view.