INTERESTING FACT

By the way...earwigs are not bugs or beetles. They are their own order, Dermaptera. Bugs are Hemiptera and beetles are Coleoptera.

MerCC wrote:
To say the is a forum for 'facts' I was a bit disappointed. For starters earwigs are not bugs - they are beetles. As such they have wings, which are shaped like a human ear. The name derives from 'earwing' - the clue is in the latin name for the common earwig. The pincers are for folding the wings back into their wing cases after use. I don't doubt that they may occasionally crawl into the ear canal : but there is no way they can go any further that the ear-drum at the end. They do not have biting or piercing mouthparts (bugs do!). A far more interesting fact about earwigs is that the female stays close to her eggs when laid and look after the hatchlings.
They may look fearsome (to an 4 year old) but their pincers are not strong enough to be used for defence - I am more than surprised that they drew blood. Frankly they are totally harmless insects with a rather fearsome appearance and reputation.

david wrote:
i am very scaried to go to the woods

You should be very scared to go to the woods - but not because earwigs are gonna get ya. There's much much worse.....

Kathy wrote:
I posted 3 earwig stories last August and I just wanted to say that in two of them the earwig did pinch. Maybe in general you could say they don't do that, but I have no reason to make it up. I had 3 other people with me at the restaurant plus the bartender that saw the pinch of blood that the earwig drew on my tongue. Maybe I didn't have witnesses when one pinched my finger grabbing the flower hanging, but it happened. Maybe if you just held one in your hands it wouldn't necessarily pinch you, but EARWIGS CAN & DO PINCH!!!

Sorry if I gave the impression I doubted your story - I have no way of knowing that the earwig that pinched you was of the common European species. It could have been a larger, more aggressive type - or maybe an ordinary one in a bad mood. In any case the tongue is a delicate organ and it's very easy to draw blood - even for a poor defenceless earwig you happen to be chewing at the time. As small child I remember earwigs pinching but not enough to put me off them for life. I still say earwigs are much maligned - a caring insect with a bad press. I much prefer them to ****roaches....

I posted 3 earwig stories last August and I just wanted to say that in two of them the earwig did pinch. Maybe in general you could say they don't do that, but I have no reason to make it up. I had 3 other people with me at the restaurant plus the bartender that saw the pinch of blood that the earwig drew on my tongue. Maybe I didn't have witnesses when one pinched my finger grabbing the flower hanging, but it happened. Maybe if you just held one in your hands it wouldn't necessarily pinch you, but EARWIGS CAN & DO PINCH!!!

To say the is a forum for 'facts' I was a bit disappointed. For starters earwigs are not bugs - they are beetles. As such they have wings, which are shaped like a human ear. The name derives from 'earwing' - the clue is in the latin name for the common earwig. The pincers are for folding the wings back into their wing cases after use. I don't doubt that they may occasionally crawl into the ear canal : but there is no way they can go any further that the ear-drum at the end. They do not have biting or piercing mouthparts (bugs do!). A far more interesting fact about earwigs is that the female stays close to her eggs when laid and look after the hatchlings.
They may look fearsome (to an 4 year old) but their pincers are not strong enough to be used for defence - I am more than surprised that they drew blood. Frankly they are totally harmless insects with a rather fearsome appearance and reputation.

That is interesting story. Who knows we might have to revise this article. I hope someone will answer your egg related questions. Can I ask you how cold was it? Since maybe earwig was looking to find a warm and safe spot.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/421.shtml

Earwigs are not parasitic and would rather lay their eggs under a stone. The human ear, though about the right size for an earwig, is not an ideal resting place. So if one were to crawl into someone's ear it would not be typical behaviour but the actions of one very confused and lost earwig.

This is not a myth....I have had the worst headache for the past week, nothing has helped....this morning my ear just plugged....( I shower and use Q-tips every morning). I told my hubby that my ear was plugged and I cannot seem to get it unplugged....He put oil in my ear, left it for about 10 minues then used a lavage with warm water...after the third time low and behold here comes the little bastard a earwig!!!! I am so freaked, that is what brought me to this site.....could the bastard have laid eggs in my ear...I had hubby flushing my ear at least 20 times, I feel water logged. NO MORE HEADACHE!!!!! I am going to the Dr. on Monday and taking that SOB with me to show him, I want to know if I have eggs in there....However, the bastard was dead...so I must have been pushing it back with the daily use of the Q-Tip...worst than RAPE!!!!!!

I was terrified of them when I was a kid since my brothers told me they’d eat my brains out if I went to sleep (not nice I was only 8) now they’re all gonna pay for that sleepless week – I’m sure it didn’t last any longer just felt like it - any I see get a dose of bug killer

These things are super loud when they're buzzing in your ear too. I had one get in my ear when I was little, and playing vedio games at my friends house. It was soo freekin loud and freaked me out soo bad!!!

Earwigs have always freaked me out since I was a kid, I watched some movie where they put these huge earwig type things into people space helmets, and they crawled into people ears and done soemthing to there brain. I was about 5 so I really can't remember much of it!

Now I've read these stories I shall not be sleeping again, ever.

still scaried

i am very scaried to go to the woods

ok i have a true fear of electric toothbrushes now!! the last 2 times i used one i got an earwig in my mouth!! it was inside the head of the brush!!! after the second time, i didnt brush my teeth for 3 weeks! im only 11 and im soooo freaked out to brush my teeth. that cant be good!

I was watching animal planet and it said earwigs dont crawl into people ears. i think this is all a myth.but it does pinch. it kinda looks a little scary. first time i saw it i thought it was a baby scropion.

Wasp spray is the fastest way of killing them that I have ever seen. They just...die. It's awesome. :)

brett wrote: #
i once woke up feelin something rustling bout in my hair when i was eight years old..lo an behold it was an earwig.durin the panic of findin such a wretched horrible creature in me hair, i fell outa the bed which was a bunk bed and hurt me sen somewhat...cant stand the horrible lil bastards...

It is interesting how many earwig confessions we have here. Keep them coming boys...and girls :)

i once woke up feelin something rustlin bout in my hair when i was eight years old..lo an behold it was an earwig.durin the panic of findin such a wretched horrible creature in me hair, i fell outa the bed which was a bunk bed and hurt me sen somewhat...cant stand the horrible lil bastards...

More testimony here. I have 3 ear wig stories. The first one I just got my finger pinched by one quite hard drawing blood when I was lifting a hanging flower pot - the earwig was hiding in the tube wrapped around the hanger. Some friends don't believe me because they say that earwigs don't bite - bite, pinch, whatever - it did.

The second story was at a really nice restaurant. I took my first sip of a gin & tonic. I felt something in my mouth, but at first thought is was a piece of lime that was stale/hard. Just as I was going to get it off my tongue I was pinched on my tongue - and there it was - a frigin' earwig - drew blood too. UGGGGHHHH!!!

The third story happened to my husband last night - that's why I'm on this site - looking for info. He wakes me up at 5am in a panic saying something is crawling in his ear. I look in his ear in the bathroom lighting - I couldn't see a thing. He is going crazy -I'm wondering if he really is. I can't imagine how freaky that must feel. He gets on his knees on the bathroom floor holding his head - he turned it sideways and an earwig crawled out and fell to the floor. He is wigged out to say the least. It was a female earwig, so now I'm concerned about what a few of you are saying about eggs. This is so creapy - it's going to be so hard getting to sleep at night knowing a friggin' bug can crawl in your ear. It's pissing me off that some of the sights say it's a myth - definately not a myth!!!

This is no myth... earwig traps are commonly made of smelly oils, it only serves to reason that they are actually attracted to the scent of the ear wax, not to mention a nice dark canal, and if you are working in an area with lots of peat, an earwig in the ear is not so uncommon! Happened to me on wednesday... that thing crawled up me and went RIGHT for the ear, so it is no urban legend. Old wives tales and home remedies often prove true when scientifically tested generations later. As for crawling in your brain and eating, yes I am satisfied there is a barrier, but when a bug crawls in your ear they are flapping and buzzing, and it does make you a little crazy. I was in such distress on the drive to the walk-in clinic because the thing kept burrowing deeper and biting, or something that caused pain. Once at the clinic, i was feeling ok for a little while but then actually leapt out of my chair screaming 'it's starting to burrow again, aggghhhh!'
And yes they do burrow and deep. They looked in my ear with a scope and saw nothing so it was already past the end of where you can see with the scope. The nurse put lydocaine in there and I felt instant relief. No more burrowing, flipping, biting. They flushied the ear and it came out far enough for her to grab it with the tweezers then.
Do i feel better now? No, not after obsessing there may be eggs, these eggs are small, not something that could get totally cleaned out with an ear flush like a ****roach egg sack would. I read the hatch time is between 2-3 months so i will not feel safe from hatchlings till around halloween 2010 now. I can't sleep now, because at night I hear gurgling noises in that ear and have convinced myself there are eggs.
I am looking into putting insecticide washes in my ear until then.
So ... it didn't burrow into my brain and make me crazy, but I believe the 'old wives tale' should stand, uncontested, as I really believe i am going insane!

I know someone who told me of his friend that worked out in the fields all day long. His friend had a bad pain in his ear. He could feel something moving around in his ear & tried using q-tips to fix the problem but got nothing out of his ear, which made him think he might be hallucinating! SO he decided to go to the doctor. The doctor poured hot oil into his ear & somewhere around 6 or 7 earwigs came crawling out(there were so many because they were the eggs that had hatched). Pretty disgusting if you ask me, but if you have the problem try using hot oil (not sure what kind of oil; you'd have to look it up)!

It is 2:42am and I am freaking out, I just felt sone tickling in my ear and a weird buzzing, so i started sticking my finger in my ear and it would stop, then i put some eardrops in and an earwig literally just fell out of my ear!!! And I'm scared there are more inside me

ok wtf??? am i the only person in the world that when read the info at the top went holy ****... 2 ****s???? and there the size of his body??? then wtf does a girl earwig look like!?!

I'm terrified of earwigs, spiders, centipedes, ect... Or at least the thought of one touching me. I'm trying to study spiders and earwigs and other bugs to get over my fear. And I may have trouble sleeping tonight, cuz it's bedtime soon... Damn Shino...

KORI - Get some electronic pest deterant device?

okay its 3:16 am. i jut woke up cuz what i thought was water in my ear was in fact an earwig. sorry i don't have the best spelling but, after i found the guy i put him in a glass and cleaned out my ears with some q-tips hardcore. my ear does in fact have a nick somewhere and i do have blood in my ear. i sleep downstairs on a blow up mattress because there are no other available beds. about a year ago i was sleeping on my brothers old bed and woke up to an earwig crawling across my face. i then screamed my head of and cried for so long. wtf am i supposed to do now? my mom just told me to sleep upstairs and it will go away. but i don't know. anybody wanna help me out? im a freaking pregnant teen that absolutely hates bugs and crap like this is always happening to me. its a good thing i hadn't cleaned my ears or a while. the only protection i had was my earwax.