Earwigs why in house

As leave piles build up and start to decay, they can create a lot of benefits for earwigs. First of all, earwigs feed on the decaying leaves. As a food source for other pests as well, this also attracts other pests to the leafy area.

The earwigs can eat those pests as well. Fall in general also attracts pests into your home from colder temperatures, so as other pests come into your home earwigs can follow. Excess moisture is common from things like decaying leaves which is an attractive food sources for earwigs, but also creates an ideal environment for breeding.

Earwigs like to lay eggs in moist dark areas as well. To help prevent this, you can clear out leaf piles and leaves in your gutters. Fixing leaky faucets and pipes is another step to reduce moisture. You may also consider installing dehumidifiers to reduce excess moisture in places like basements and attics, where these pests can gather. Earwigs also release a special pheromone that attracts more of these pests together. Pheromones are communication scents that some pests release.

Earwigs use these scents as a means of both defense against other threats, as well as to attract more of their same species. Since these pests enjoy tight knit quarters, bringing in more of their friends only makes sense! The last major reason you can have an influx of earwigs in your home leading into winter is that your exterior lights may be bringing them in. If they do manage to find an area of your home that is damp enough for them to survive indoors, they might scavenge on food scraps, insects, mold, or plants.

Earwigs are usually found indoors in cracks and crevices near moisture, such as in house plants, in stacked newspapers, under carpeting that gets wet, in under-sink cabinets or around baseboards in kitchens and bathrooms. Reducing mulch, correcting leaky spigots or faulty downspouts, and moving piles of grass clippings, leaves, or other decaying vegetation will help.

There are also things you can do to reduce the attractiveness of porch, yard, or pool lights. Many newer types of LED and other bulbs draw in far fewer insects than our old incandescent bulbs. Indoor treatment with household residual insecticides such as for cockroaches could be used in cracks and crevices that serve as points of entry, and along baseboards, window sills and door thresholds. Such treatments may provide limited benefit as more earwigs may wander in from outdoors.

In addition eliminate damp, moist conditions near the house as much as possible. Repair dripping faucets and air-conditioning units and channel water from rain gutters and spouts away from the house foundation. Remove landscape mulch and debris wood chips, gravel, old boards and bricks, etc.

Outdoors earwigs can cause damage to plants and it is particularly annoying when they feed on the flowers. Management of earwigs is not easy and there is probably no way to completely eliminate them from your yard.

Consider trapping and physically destroying earwigs. Place burlap bags, boards, newspapers or other materials on the ground, then daily collect individuals that congregate under the cover and discard. As a last resort insecticides can be sprayed on plants to reduce damage.

Select a home garden labeled for this purpose and apply according to label directions. Avoid applying insecticides to flowers because you will harm beneficial pollinating insects.