Earwigs
EARWIGS - Some of their more common names are pincher bugs and ear bugs. Earwigs got their name supposedly by an old belief that they would crawl in your ear to nest. Luckily that is not widely believed anymore. These are primarily an outside pest feeding on plant material but become an indoor pest when they invade structures. They can be found outdoors in moist areas like mulch, decaying wood, cracks and crevices of outdoor furniture and structures. When indoors, they are usually in cracks and crevices and under furniture and carpeting. They are considered a pest because of their presence and they appear threatening due to their pincer-like appendages at the end of their abdomen, the forceps. Plus, they can give off a foul odor when crushed.
BIOLOGY- Earwigs belong to the order Dermaptera. The adults are ¼ to 1 inch long, dark brown to black in color, with a red head and pale yellow-brown legs. Their body is long and slim, and flattened. The female lays several batches of eggs with about 50 in each nest-like shallow depression beneath a protected place such as a board or stone. They will hatch anywhere from 20-72 days depending on season. Nymphs, the young, look like the adults and will reach adulthood in about 56 days. They are general feeders and normally dont do much damage but their presence can accelerate rotting of wood.
CONTROL - To control earwigs one of the most important steps is to improve sanitation by removing moist harborages such as wood piles, landscape timbers, stones, and too much mulch. Now because these are mostly outdoor pests you should also try to caulk and seal up any crack or entry way for them to enter your home. Remember, this helps but will not guarantee extermination or prevent an infestation. For outdoor treatments you can use granular insecticides to put a 4-10 foot perimeter around the structure such as Talstar EZ or PL Granular Insecticide, and baits like Maxforce Granular Bait, and Niban Granular Bait. You can also use liquid concentrate residuals to spray a perimeter around your structure such as Onslaught and Demand which are microencapsulated for extra long residual and are better due to their moist environment, wettable powder concentrates like Demon WP, Cynoff WP, and EcoPCO WP-X are also good for earwigs again due to the moist environment they live in, also Suspend SC, Talstar Pro, and Evercide or Conquer are good choices too. Use these to put a 4-10 foot perimeter around your house and make sure you hit any and all entry points such as pipes and cables going into the house, and around windows. Once they move in then you should focus on the inside and how they got in. Control can be achieved using a bait such as Niban FG Granular bait, residual liquid insecticides such as Onslaught, Evercide, Suspend SC, Demand CS, and Talstar Pro, dusts such as Borid Dust or Delta Dust, crack and crevice aerosols such as Cy-Kick, Invader, Intruder, and PT-565 Plus XLO. You can also use environmentally friendly and safer pesticides such as EcoPCO WP-X, EcoEXEMPT Granules, EcoPCO AR-X, EcoPCO ACU, and EcoEXEMPT D Dust. The best approach for an infestation is to use a combination of products such as a granule, bait product, an aerosol, a dust for voids, and a residual liquid, depending on whether the infestation is indoors or out.
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