What attracts pincher bugs in house?

Pincher bugs, also known as earwigs, are common insects that can become nuisance pests in homes. They get their name from their distinctive pincher-like cerci at the rear end of their bodies. There are over 1200 species of earwigs in the world, but the European earwig is the species that is most often found infesting homes in North America.

Earwigs are nocturnal insects that prefer damp, dark places. During the day they hide in cracks and crevices around the home. At night they emerge to search for food. When earwigs get inside your house, they can damage plants, fabrics and paper materials. Their droppings can also stain surfaces. Understanding what attracts earwigs can help you reduce infestations and keep them out of your house.

Why Do Pincher Bugs Enter Homes?

There are a few key reasons why earwigs end up sneaking into houses:

• Seeking shelter – Earwigs prefer moist, dark environments. Cracks, crevices, mulch, and clutter around the exterior of your home provide ideal harborage sites. When these outdoor shelters become too hot and dry during summer months, earwigs will seek out similar dark, damp locations indoors.
• Access to food – Earwigs are omnivores and will feed on a wide variety of foods. Indoors, they can find plentiful sources of food in kitchen pantries, garbage cans, and pet food bowls. Outdoor earwig populations may move inside while foraging for food.
• Accidental entry – Sometimes earwigs come into homes by accident. They may crawl under poorly fitting doors or be carried inside on objects like bags of mulch or potted plants. Overcrowded earwig populations outdoors increases the chances of indoor invasions.
• Attracted to lights – Earwigs are drawn to light sources at night when they are active. Outdoor lighting around entryways can attract nearby earwigs to doors and windows where they may find a way to slip inside.

Knowing how and why earwigs enter homes allows you to identify and eliminate conditions that facilitate indoor infestations.

What Attracts Earwigs to Your Home Exterior?

There are certain features around the exterior of your home that can attract earwigs and provide ideal habitats near entry points. Eliminating these attractive conditions can help reduce earwigs near your house and prevent infestations. Things that attract earwigs to the outside of homes include:

• Mulch – Mulched beds provide moist, dark harborage that earwigs love. Keep mulch at least 1 foot away from the foundation.
• Cracks and crevices – Small gaps around windows, doors, siding, and foundations provide shelter for earwigs. Seal cracks to eliminate hiding spots.
• Clutter and debris – Stacked firewood, piles of stones or bricks, and accumulated debris give earwigs places to hide and breed near your home.
• Trees and shrubs – Shrubs and plant foliage touching your home’s exterior provide pathways for pests to get indoors. Trim back nearby trees and shrubs.
• Outdoor lighting – Lights around doorways at night attract night-active earwigs close to entry points.
• Moisture – Leaky faucets, sprinklers spraying on your home’s foundation, and poor drainage can create damp conditions that earwigs seek out.
• Damaged siding or screens – Cracked siding, ripped screens, and holes in exterior walls allow easy entry points for earwigs.
• Unsealed openings – Any small gaps around outdoor AC units, vents, utilities, and cracks in the foundation provide entryways for earwigs.

Making your home’s exterior less hospitable to earwigs requires some diligence to find and eliminate their favored living spaces. This exclusion strategy can go a long way in preventing indoor invasions.

What Attracts Earwigs Inside Your Home?

Once earwigs have made their way into your house, there are certain conditions that can attract them to specific rooms and allow populations to grow. Identifying and removing these attractions is key to controlling an existing earwig infestation indoors. Things that attract and sustain earwigs inside your home include:

• Moisture – Leaky pipes, standing water in basement areas, and excess humidity provide the dampness earwigs need to survive and breed indoors.
• Clutter – Stacks of newspapers, papers, boxes, and other clutter give earwigs places to hide and nest inside your home.
• Cracks and crevices – Gaps where cabinets meet walls, spaces under baseboards, and loose flooring provide harborage for earwigs inside the home.
• Food sources – Pet food bowls, crumbs, dirty dishes, and open food containers will attract foraging earwigs at night.
• Newly disturbed areas – Renovations and remodeling projects can displace earwigs hiding inside walls and drive them into living areas.
• Damaged doors and screens – Ripped screen doors and loose-fitting exterior doors allow outdoor earwigs to easily get back inside.
• Potted plants – The moist soil of indoor potted plants is an attractive hiding spot for earwigs brought in from outside.
• Night lighting – Lights left on at night will draw in foraging earwigs from adjacent rooms.

Making your home’s interior less inviting to earwigs requires eliminating food, water sources, clutter, and ways to easily move between rooms. This strategy of indoor pest-proofing is key to getting an earwig infestation under control.

How to Deter Earwigs from Your Home

While earwigs will always be present around your home to some degree, there are steps you can take to deter them from infesting your house:

• Install door sweeps, screens, and weatherstripping to seal cracks and prevent entry.
• Caulk and seal openings for utilities and pipes on exterior walls.
• Remove clutter and debris around the outside of your home.
• Stack firewood and other items up off the ground to eliminate hiding spots.
• Replace any cracked siding or damaged screens.
• Trim vegetation away from your home’s exterior walls.
• Keep gutters clean and direct water away from your foundation.
• Use yellow bug lights at entrances instead of white lights that attract earwigs.
• Apply a perimeter insecticide spray to create a barrier around your home.
• Remove moisture sources and fix any leaks indoors.
• Store food in sealed containers and clean up crumbs and spills.
• Seal cracks and crevices inside with caulk or expanding foam.
• Eliminate clutter piles inside your home.
• Vacuum and seal cracks along baseboards and under cabinets.
• Set out glue boards or traps near potential entry points.

Following these tips will help deny earwigs shelter, food, and ways to get into your house. Combined with targeted trapping and elimination of indoor populations, you can successfully deter earwigs from becoming a nuisance in your home.

Effective Traps and Baits for Earwigs

In addition to making your home and yard less attractive to earwigs, using some traps and baits can help capture and kill earwigs that do make their way inside:

Sticky Traps

• Glue boards and sticky traps lure earwigs in with pheromones
• Traps earwigs under an adhesive surface as they cross over
• Place along baseboards, under appliances, and other running paths
• Monitor frequently to remove trapped earwigs

Diatomaceous Earth

• Apply powder made of crushed fossils along cracks and entry points
• microscopic particles abrade earwigs’ exoskeletons causing dehydration
• Sprinkle under appliances, along walls, and on window sills
• Non-toxic but avoid breathing in dust

Baited Traps

• Use traps with oil- or pheromone-based baits
• Attract earwigs into small containers where they dehydrate and die
• Place traps along baseboards, under appliances, and in back corners
• Can trap and kill dozens of earwigs each night

Insecticidal Dusts

• Formulated with compounds like pyrethrins or boric acid
• Kills earwigs on contact and provides residual activity
• Puff small amounts into cracks, crevices, and wall voids
• Wear proper PPE during application

Using traps and baited containers allows for targeted elimination of indoor earwig populations. This tactic, combined with reducing attractive conditions, provides effective control.

Homemade Earwig Traps

It’s easy to make simple, inexpensive earwig traps using common household items:

Oil Trap

• Fill a small jar with about 1 inch of cooking oil
• Earwigs attracted by oil will fall in and drown
• Place along walls, under furniture, and in infested areas
• Oil traps are messier but very effective

Torn Paper Trap

• Crumple and moisten paper towels or strips of cardboard
• Place in small plastic containers near earwig hiding spots
• Earwigs seek out the moist paper to nest in
• Inspect daily and replace soaked paper

Yeast Trap

• Mix 2 parts yeast with 1 part sugar and add water
• Pour bait into jar lids and place along baseboards
• Earwigs attracted by yeast bait will drown in mixture
• Yeast bait ferments and stinks so replace often

Rotating these inexpensive homemade traps through different rooms can help control existing infestations. Just be sure to empty and replace traps frequently.

Preventing Earwig Infestations

While occasional earwigs finding their way inside is inevitable at times, a diligent pest prevention strategy can help avoid major indoor infestations:

• Caulk and seal cracks – Apply weatherstripping and seal gaps around windows and doors to block entry points.
• Clear debris and clutter – Eliminate woodpiles, plant debris, and other clutter near your home’s foundation.
• Trim vegetation – Prune back bushes and tree branches touching exterior walls.
• Fix moisture issues – Repair leaks and eliminate standing water to avoid damp conditions earwigs thrive in.
• Install lighting carefully – Use yellow bulbs at entrances and direct lights away from doors and windows.
• Clean up pet food – Don’t leave pet food out overnight. Store dry food in sealed bins.
• Vacuum regularly – Frequently vacuum along baseboards and undersides of furniture to remove earwigs.
• Take out trash – Garbage contains food scraps that can attract earwigs, so dispose of trash regularly.
• Inspect plants – Carefully inspect any potted plants brought indoors for hiding earwigs.
• Monitor for signs – Look for live earwigs, shed exoskeletons, and odorous secretions.

Diligent prevention and monitoring for signs of earwigs are key to avoiding major indoor infestations. Quickly address any conducive conditions before populations can grow and spread.

Professional Pest Control

For severe earwig infestations or if prevention efforts fail, contacting a professional pest control company may be warranted. Professional exterminators have access to stronger insecticides and can treat more difficult to access areas where earwigs may hide and breed, such as:

• Inside wall voids and hollow doors
• Under and behind appliances
• In attics, crawlspaces, and basements
• Cracks in foundations and structures
• Underneath homes

Professional control options include:

• Insecticide sprays – For exterior foundation perimeters and serious interior infestations
• Insecticide dust treatments – Applied into wall voids and cracks and crevices
• Heat treatments – Raise interior temperatures to lethal levels to kill all stages of earwigs
• Fumigation – For the most severe, entrenched infestations inside homes

While expensive, professional pest control services can thoroughly treat an entire home and access areas that are difficult to treat yourself. This provides the best chance of eliminating a substantial earwig problem.

Conclusion

Earwigs are a nuisance pest that occasionally finds its way into homes seeking shelter, food, and moisture. Their nocturnal habits make them particularly annoying when they come out at night. Preventing earwigs requires diligent exclusion tactics and monitoring for signs of infestation in and around your home. Traps and baited containers can also help capture earwigs that do make it indoors. Addressing conducive conditions promptly is key before populations can grow and spread. For the most severe cases, professional pest control may be required to fully eliminate entrenched earwig infestations and provide long term prevention of these annoying pests in your home.