Let’s clear this up right away: earwigs won’t lay their eggs in your ear canals and they won’t eat your brain.
Still, they’re super creepy, prehistoric-looking insects with a set of pincers that look pretty intimidating.
It’s a safe bet you don’t want them slithering all over inside your house, startling you when you move a damp towel in the bathroom or skittering out at you in the laundry room.
(Let’s pause for a group shudder.)
How to prevent earwigs in your house? Try these tips.
First, What Are Earwigs? (Besides Gross)
We’ll try to get this icky part over fast:
- Earwigs are nocturnal. They hide in cool, moist places during the day and come out at night to feed on small insects, insect larvae, and plants.
- They have a slender, oval-shaped body and those pincers extending from their abdomen that make them great for starring in nightmares.
- Earwigs tend to live together in large numbers, so they can do damage in your garden if they all start munching.
- What do earwigs eat? Just about anything: other insects, plants, mold, rotting wood.
- Are earwigs dangerous? Not really. They don’t bite. Those pincers can pinch, but it doesn’t hurt. They don’t spread disease. But they are a nuisance if they chow down on your garden.
- If it’s damp, earwigs love it. How to get rid of earwigs? Dry it up. They love damp basements, wet yard debris, leaky pipes, wet hoses.
- They move inside your Idaho home through spaces in the foundation or gaps under basement or exterior doors. Once inside, they love basements, crawlspaces, under the kitchen sink and in bathrooms.
If you really hate earwigs, move to the desert. If that’s not practical, try these earwig prevention tips:
1. Keep Mulch Away From Your Foundation
Keep a barrier between any soil or mulch and your home’s foundation. The moisture in mulch and soil attracts earwigs.
2. Seal Up Openings to Prevent Earwigs in Your House
Inspect your home’s foundation and exterior walls for cracks or openings and seal them so earwigs can’t wriggle through.
3. Keep Your Yard Tidy
Earwigs love to hide in damp, messy yard debris, so keep things clean. No fallen branches, wet leaves, piles of soggy grass clippings, piles of wood. Keep trash cans and recycling bins up off the ground to help prevent earwigs in your house.
4. Damp Basement? Dry It Up
Earwigs are notorious for their preference for damp basements. Use a dehumidifier to keep your basement dry and prevent earwigs.
5. Pack a Punch with Perimeter Pest Control
How to keep earwigs away from your house? Prevention. Perimeter pest control is an outdoor barrier protection that helps prevent earwigs and other insects from entering your Idaho home and foundation.
Perimeter pest control is all about prevention, carrying out insect control before bugs make it into your home and begin to cause problems.
Lawn Buddies technicians in Idaho Falls, and Boise, ID spray around the perimeter of your home and yard to send insects packing for about three months.
Technicians typically treat about three feet up on the house and six feet out, creating a wide protective barrier around the house that includes the landscaping and lawn directly around your home.
The spray leaves a residue on surfaces that kills insects and continues to work for about three months.
Fall is a great time to pair that outdoor perimeter pest control with an interior pest control treatment, extra protection as bugs try to make their way in out of the cold.
We’ll deliver your insect control while we’re already on your property for lawn care treatments. No extra hassle for you.
Let Lawn Buddies Protect Your Home From Earwigs
You have enough to worry about without stressing about icky earwigs crawling into your house.
How to get rid of earwigs? Let us take care of it.
The first step to taking advantage of Lawn Buddies perimeter pest control is to sign up for our 6-step complete lawn care program.
You’ll be glad you did.
Choose an Idaho Falls or Boise professional lawn care service that makes it easy, bundling your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Fertilizing, weed control, grub control. Done. Add pest control. Banish earwigs. Double done.
We’ve got your back.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. You can simply:
- Fill out the form on this page.
- Call us at (208) 656-9131.
Image Source: earwig
