Earwigs

We quite often find earwigs in our playground, under rocks or logs. We have also found them in Dow’s wood.

About The Earwig

The Common earwig is nocturnal, scavenging on dead plant and animal matter at night and retreating to hide under stones or in rotten logs during the daytime.
These insects are known for their unique appearance, with pincer-like structures at the end of their abdomens. They could give a small nip, they are used to scare off predators.

Life Cycle

Common earwigs start as eggs, which are laid by the female earwig in moist soil or rotting wood. The mums guard the nest and clean the eggs. They guard the young until they look after themselves. After hatching, the young earwigs, called nymphs, look like smaller versions of the adults but without fully developed wings. As they grow, they shed their exoskeletons several times in a process called molting. Eventually, they reach adulthood and develop wings, which they use to fly around in search of food and mates.

Fun Fact

Contrary to popular belief, earwigs do not crawl into people’s ears while they sleep. They prefer to stay outdoors and are not interested in living inside houses.

In Roald Dahl’s children’s book George’s Marvellous Medicine, George’s Grandma encourages him to eat unwashed celery with beetles and earwigs still on them.

A big fat earwig is very tasty,’ Grandma said, licking her lips. ‘But you’ve got to be very quick, my dear, when you put one of those in your mouth. It has a pair of sharp nippers on its back end and if it grabs your tongue with those, it never lets go. So you’ve got to bite the earwig first, chop chop, before it bites you’.