People respond to insects intellectually, aesthetically, and viscerally. Intellectually, earwigs are fascinating insects; viscerally – Ick!! Earwigs are Stealth Insects, and it creeps the BugLady out when masses of earwigs scramble away as she picks up a flower pot or flips up the cover of the garage-door-opener keypad or opens her mailbox. This week, the BugLady takes a look at Earwigs, and more specifically, the European Earwig.
The BugLady puts out oranges for the birds—orioles, house finches, catbirds, and several species of woodpeckers eat the pulp. The BugLady guesses that ants, flies and German yellowjackets and raccoons would be the first and most numerous guests at the table, but that some interesting stuff would come to the night-time table.
Earwigs are harmless nocturnal omnivorous scavengers whose chewing mouthparts allow a diet that includes organic debris, other insects (they stalk aphids by night), and plants. They metamorphose simply, shedding, growing wings and adding segments on their antennae until maturity.