Earwig

Despite its name and threatening appearance, the common earwig is a harmless and interesting creature. Earwigs can be found in damp crevices in houses, gardens and woodland where they feed on decaying plant and animal matter and other insects. Their pincers can give a small nip to a human but they are normally used to scare away predators and to help them tuck their wings away. It was once commonly believed that earwigs would burrow into people's ears at night and lay eggs in their brains. In fact the story still circulates as an urban myth. Earwigs are not parasitic and would rather lay their eggs under a stone. The best method of avoiding a plague of earwigs is to deny them suitable living conditions close to the house. Heavy plant growth and compost heaps near to the house provide excellent habitats for them. Chemical control of earwigs is not necessary in the majority of cases.

How to Prevent Entry

In the garden, earwigs are only likely to be a problem if you are growing prize flowers. Only control them if you really need to.

If you do need to control earwigs in the garden:

remove all debris and hiding places close to vulnerable plants
use inverted flower pots stuffed with straw or crumpled newspaper perched on top of a short cane as a trap
earwigs will use these as daytime sleeping quarters
take the pot and shake out the earwigs in another part of the garden, or in a local woodland

If you need to prevent earwigs entering your home:

earwigs generally seek out moist areas so if you have earwigs in a building, check the infrastucture for water leaks and rectify the problem
you may find the occassional wandering vagrant indoors in which case collect it with our insect collection tool or a piece of tissue
the earwig may have been carried indoors hidden within a bunch of flowers
in the case of persistant entry, spray or pencil a barrier insecticide across window and door thresholds
ensure that there is no debris close to the house where earwigs may be hiding through the day and accessing your house from at night