EarWig Infesatation <span title="!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?">!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...</span>

Question

please please i need your help!! i have earwigs everywhere i mean literally they're in the bathroom, kitchen, front door ect. I have killed about 30 earwigs in each room every night.,I have 3 cats and a dog i don't want to use insecticides because i don't want to poison my cats and my dog eats everything so i cant use traps can some one help pleasssseeee in in desperate need of help theyre even on the celing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Answer 1

Whenever you have an earwig infestation you typically have a moisture problem.  This is true with most insects, including ants and roaches.  With earwigs however, you&#039;ll find that typically you see them in the bathroom area.  This is because they are decomposers.  They are attracted to paper products and will eat books, newspapers, and...  toilet paper.  If you want to rid your home of them sometimes it is simply as easy as lifting all paper products off of the ground and sweeping on a regular basis.  

If you bring in a paper, make sure you keep it off of the ground, remembering that when you open it you are spreading tiny paper fragments that the earwigs love.  If you have wood, keep it raised.  If you use toilet paper, the constant flood of paper fragments will attract legions of earwigs, so by sweeping on a regular basis you&#039;ll eliminate most of the problems with them.

Once you have begun this process to keep them from desiring to stay inside of your home, it is best that you work to create a barrier to keep them out of your house.  If you go to a store and purchase a product called &quot;Home Defense&quot; you can use that to spray around your house.  This will have to be done on a semi-regular basis.  Make sure that you pull back the mulch areas in order to get good penetration around the outside of your house.  Always treat outside to avoid death inside which can attract other insects such as ants.  

I think you&#039;ll soon notice how much of a process it is to take care of the problem on a regular basis and will realize it is sometimes easier and more cost effective to bring out a professional on a regular basis such as those at Terminix to take care of the problem.

Answer 2

Here is some useful advise from wikipedia:

Pest control

While earwigs can be considered in some ways a beneficial part of the garden, especially when they prey on other insects, they can become a nuisance because of their habit of hiding within leaves and feeding on soft plant tissues. Since they prefer cool, moist places, a rolled up damp newspaper placed where earwig activity is suspected can be effective in collecting them. The newspaper can then either be discarded or shaken out. Placing diatomaceous earth in key spots around the home (bathroom, baseboards, window frames) can be a long-term repellent.

Answer 3

woW ThAt sOuNd bAD JuSt rEaDiNg tHe tItLE

Answer 4

Earwigs are attracted to moist areas like the foundation around your house. If you want to get rid of earwigs, it is suggested that you clean and groom the areas immediately around the foundation of your home. Gravel and white stones can be layered around the home to help drainage around the sides of the home, thus limiting the attraction of earwigs.

  

Earwigs can gain entrance to your home through ground level windows. To get rid of earwigs, you’ll want to make sure that screens on your windows are properly fixed and fitted to the window frame. If you find that earwigs are getting in through cracks between the window and the window frame, the problem is easily solved with weather stripping.

  

Earwigs will enter your home through loose or drafty doors. If you’re going to get rid of earwigs, you’ll want to seal the more obvious entrances to your home—the doors. Doors and door frames are the most common access for pests like earwigs. Be sure to examine each doorway into your home and address cracks and holes with weather stripping, caulk, or putty.

  

Earwigs can be controlled with Boric Acid powder. To get rid of earwigs that have made it into your home despite proper sealing and landscaping techniques, spreading a residual insecticide like boric acid near baseboards, cracks, and hard to reach places is recommended. Boric acid is a natural insecticide, and works only if the earwig is forced to travel through the powder.

  

Large populations of earwigs can be controlled with a vacuum. If you find a large colony of earwigs in a concentrated area, the most effective way to get rid of them is to vacuum them up. Be sure to have the vacuum ready before disturbing their resting place, because as soon as you get in there they will scatter. Make sure to empty the vacuum or the vacuum bag in a sealed container and dispose of it immediately. Also, vacuum up any white, egg-like objects around the area.

  

Suggestions or Questions? Check our Pest Control Forum.

Killing Earwigs

There are a lot of insecticides and pesticides on the market that will kill earwigs. Sprays are generally not as effective as granule and residual earwig treatments. For basic earwig control and even treatment of large earwig infestations, both and indoor and outdoor earwig control regiment should be instituted. Boric acid powder, insecticide dusts, and other earwig powders and dusts containing pyrethrins are effective earwig control agents in the home. Outside of the home, earwig control agents should be spread in 6-10 feet from the foundation outwards, all the way around your home. This type of earwig control is made more effective if sprayed lightly with water to help the poison seep into the ground (2-3 inches) where earwigs generally lay their eggs.

Answer 5

there are many pet safe agents used by reputable insect eradication companies, the best thing to do is call an exterminator and have them killed.  If you will not kill them, get used to them-you might want to put cotton in your ears when you sleep, they will crawl into your ears-not a pleasant removal, believe me.

Answer 6

oh, I had this last year!!!  And since I am a Master Gardener, I decided to find out what was going on as I have pets and children, too.

Earwigs live outside and only go inside to keep cool.  So, find out where along your basement walls and windows they are getting in.  Use the waterproof expanding foam sealant.  They like to live under damp, leafy, woody litter, so clean this up around your house.  If you have landscape around your foundation, cut it back a bit from the house as earwigs don&#039;t like light.  

Inside, use the vacuum cleaner.  Throw away the bag.

You can use a pesticide labeled for killing earwigs outside along the foundation if you want to put it under control.  Which I recommend.  If the pesticide doesn&#039;t say it will kill earwigs, don&#039;t get it because it won&#039;t.  Read your label first.  But keep them from coming inside first.

Answer 7

Eww! I had an earwig infestation once too! It sucks! Well they like places that are moist  from what Ive read so maybe there is water somewhere under or near your home. But it was very simple for me to get rid of them, I just put a bug bomb in every room and turned them on and ran out.  i left my house for about 8 hours, came home and they were all dead, and never came back, but make sure you take your animals out of the house before you do it, they cant be breathing that in! Good luck!!