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How to find earwigs?


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10 replies to this topic

#1 Offline gs5248 - Posted January 9 2021 - 5:21 PM

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My tetramorium colonies favorite food are earwigs, they went crazy over those things. However, now that winter has come, I found it harder to find earwigs. Does anyone have any idea on how to find them?



#2 Offline ponerinecat - Posted January 9 2021 - 5:26 PM

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It's actually easier to find earwigs in the winter for me. They'll huddle up in groups, and in California winter is the breeding season. Look under rocks, manmade debris, and bark.


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#3 Offline gs5248 - Posted January 9 2021 - 5:33 PM

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It's actually easier to find earwigs in the winter for me. They'll huddle up in groups, and in California winter is the breeding season. Look under rocks, manmade debris, and bark.

Hmmm, interesting. I have never seen that behavior before, although I don't really know anything about earwigs anyways :lol:



#4 Offline Devi - Posted January 9 2021 - 6:46 PM

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Ooh, earwigs!  I've never thought of these as a food source.  I will most certainly try this for my tetramorium once they come out of hibernation!



#5 Offline UtahAnts - Posted January 9 2021 - 6:58 PM

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I find that they enter a diapause state, making them slow and unresponsive. Curiously, I find large amounts of them in tunnels of tetramorium, as the ants vacate them for deeper parts of the nest. If you have any decaying matter, have a garden, or have landscaping fabric that you can pull up easily, I would recommend those places. My ants never went crazy for them, but good to know yours do.


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#6 Offline Spazmops - Posted January 9 2021 - 7:15 PM

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I find them under rocks quite often. Like AntsUtah said, landscaping fabric is also a good place to find them.


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#7 Offline gs5248 - Posted January 9 2021 - 7:19 PM

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Ooh, earwigs!  I've never thought of these as a food source.  I will most certainly try this for my tetramorium once they come out of hibernation!

When I first started ant-keeping and did not have a feeder insect colony, earwigs were the only insects I could find, and my ants seemed to like them.



#8 Offline ANTdrew - Posted January 9 2021 - 7:52 PM

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All my ants go nuts for earwigs. I find an almost infinite supply of them in my yard in early spring. I can’t give you much tips for finding them in midwinter, though.
"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#9 Offline KitsAntVa - Posted January 9 2021 - 8:29 PM

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Try under rocks in rich soiled places, I find them in my yard a lot in mulch under rocks, they usually huddle a lot even in summer like that so I can’t imagine what winter would be like, as well as them not running once you pick up the rock. 


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#10 Offline gs5248 - Posted January 9 2021 - 9:40 PM

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Yeah, I tried everything you guys said, no luck. I guess there is a possibility that the argentine ants in my yard have hunted them all down. They definitely could have. They wiped out an entire monomorium minimum colony in my backyard. It's a shame really. You don't see many native ants in my part of Sacremento.


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#11 Offline MysticNanitic - Posted January 15 2021 - 11:08 PM

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In our raised planting beds, earwigs wreak havoc on our radish and spinach. They feed at night, and if I water in the evening I find them all over the leaves after dark. I pluck them off and pop them in the freezer, I still have a lot from summertime, like little swanson ant dinners.
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