Good news about bedbugs...

[Kit]

When the chap from the council came, he found that they were actually very similar (but smaller) Martin Bugs, from the housemartin nest that fell down in March, and not bedbugs after all. Unfortunately having fumigated the place we've lost all our spiders, but at least the pesticides they use are biodegradable and environmentally responsible, and anyhow the spiders will be back in no time. So all I have to worry about now is impending nits from the nursery!

[Cetti]

That's really good news Kit - really pleased for you! Bit puzzled, though - Were the birds nesting in your bedroom, and how did they get into your bed?

Don't worry about nits - they're nothing compared with what you might have had in the bed ;-)

[Kit]

Thanks Cetti - rather relieved all round! The martins have nested under our eaves for a good 6 or 7 years, and livestock probably makes its way in either through the fascia, blows in through the window or falls into the loft and works its way down. It's not the first time we've shared our house with the housemartins' little chums - the other year we had swift lice, which weren't so worrying because they're species-specific and can't bite humans, whereas bugs have less specialised mouthparts and aren't so choosy about their lunch.
The odds are so heavily stacked against anything so tiny making its way down into the bedroom that the nest must have been absolutely heaving with the things - who'd be a housemartin?

[treaclefight]

lol, good news and good luck with the nits (i now comb my daughters' hair once a week now beacause it's inevitable that they will crop up, but more often i've combed out food and not nits so maybe the epidemic is on the way out) thanks too for the nits reminder, i cant stop scratching now. :-)

[Kit]

I am reliably informed that tea tree oil is every parent's best friend - and the little blighters don't like L'Oreal strawberry shampoo for kids either, apparently... littl'un has really fine wavy hair that spends most of its time looking like explosion in spaghetti factory so I'm dreading having to comb it on a regular basis! (And I'm scratching too now...)