Pincher bugs, formally called earwigs, are attracted to moisture and darkness, so getting rid of them starts with making your home and yard less hospitable. They’re not dangerous to people (they don’t carry venom and rarely break skin), but they multiply fast in damp environments and can damage garden seedlings. A combination of removing their hiding spots, trapping them, and sealing entry points will clear most infestations without an exterminator.
Why Pincher Bugs Are in Your Home
Earwigs need two things: moisture and shelter. Leaky pipes, condensation around windows, and damp basements create exactly the conditions they seek. If your home has cracks in the foundation, gaps under doors, or unsealed utility lines, earwigs will find their way inside, especially during hot, dry stretches when they’re looking for water.
Outdoor lighting plays a role too. Earwigs are drawn to bright white and blue-toned lights at night, which leads them straight to your doors and windows. Once they’re congregating near an entry point, it’s only a matter of time before a few slip inside.
Remove Their Hiding Spots First
Before you reach for any product, clean up the areas around your home’s foundation. Earwigs hide during the day in cool, dark, damp spots, then come out to feed at night. Removing those daytime shelters is the single most effective long-term fix.
Pull back mulch, bark chips, and ground cover plants so they aren’t touching your foundation walls. Clear away leaf litter (especially from gutters), stacked newspapers, firewood piles, and any other organic debris sitting against the house. Ivy or dense ground cover growing up exterior walls gives earwigs a direct highway inside. The goal is a clean, dry perimeter with no piles of material for them to nest under.
Fix Moisture Problems
Inside, repair any leaking faucets or pipes, particularly under kitchen and bathroom sinks. Run a dehumidifier in damp basements or crawl spaces. Make sure your home’s gutters and downspouts direct water away from the foundation rather than pooling next to it. Outside, improve drainage in garden beds that stay waterlogged. Even small changes in moisture levels can make a space far less attractive to earwigs within days.
Switch Your Outdoor Lights
Replace white or blue outdoor bulbs with yellow LED bulbs, which are far less attractive to insects. If possible, move porch lights or security lights away from doors and windows, or use motion-activated fixtures that aren’t on all night. This simple swap reduces the number of earwigs gathering near your entry points each evening.
Build a Soy Sauce and Oil Trap
One of the most effective DIY earwig traps uses ingredients you probably already have. Here’s how to make one:
- Container: Use any small, fairly deep container like a yogurt cup, tuna tin, or small jar.
- Fill it one-third full with water, then add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
- Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil on top, just enough to coat the surface. You don’t need more than a few millimeters. The soy sauce attracts the earwigs, and the oil traps them on the surface.
- Bury the container in the soil near where you’ve seen earwigs, leaving the rim just slightly above ground level so dirt doesn’t fall in and clog it.
- Cover it with a larger lid or plastic saucer to keep rain from flooding the trap.
Place traps near woodpiles, rock borders, garden beds with young seedlings, or along the foundation of your house. Leave them for a few days, dump the contents, and refill. You’ll often catch dozens per trap in areas with heavy activity.
Rolled-up damp newspaper works as a simpler alternative. Set a few loosely rolled sections on the ground near problem areas in the evening. Earwigs will crawl inside for shelter overnight. In the morning, pick up the whole roll and toss it in a sealed bag or drown the contents in soapy water.
Use Diatomaceous Earth in Dry Areas
Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a fine powder made from fossilized algae. It works by damaging the waxy outer coating on an earwig’s body, causing it to dry out and die. It’s not harmful to people or pets, which makes it a good option for indoor use along baseboards, under appliances, and in dry corners of basements.
Sprinkle a light, even layer anywhere you’ve noticed earwigs or along paths they might travel. Outdoors, dust it around the base of plants earwigs are chewing on. The one limitation: diatomaceous earth stops working the moment it gets wet. You’ll need to reapply it after rain, watering, or any humidity that clumps the powder together.
Seal Entry Points
Walk around your home’s exterior and look for gaps earwigs could use to get inside. Common entry points include cracks in the foundation, spaces around pipes and utility lines, gaps under exterior doors, and torn window screens. Seal foundation cracks with caulk, install or replace door sweeps on exterior doors, and patch any damaged screens. Weatherstripping around windows and doors handles both energy efficiency and pest exclusion at once.
When to Use a Perimeter Spray
For heavy infestations that traps and exclusion haven’t resolved, a perimeter insecticide spray can create a chemical barrier around your home. Products containing bifenthrin or similar active ingredients are labeled for earwig control and are applied in a band along the foundation, typically covering the soil and vegetation up to about 7 feet out from the structure and 2 feet up the foundation wall.
If you go this route, follow the label directions carefully. Avoid spraying areas that drain into storm drains or sidewalks. Perimeter sprays work best as a supplement to the habitat changes described above, not a replacement. If the moisture and shelter problems remain, earwigs will return once the chemical breaks down.
Protecting Your Garden
Earwigs are most damaging to soft, young seedlings and tender flowers like dahlias, marigolds, and lettuce. They feed at night, leaving ragged, irregular holes in leaves that can look similar to slug damage. One way to tell the difference: earwigs leave no slime trail.
Interestingly, earwigs also eat aphids and other small soft-bodied insects, so a small earwig population can actually benefit a garden. The problem is when their numbers get high enough to cause visible plant damage. At that point, placing soy sauce traps directly in affected garden beds and clearing excess mulch and debris from around vulnerable plants will reduce their numbers without harming your soil or beneficial insects.
Are Pincher Bugs Dangerous?
Earwigs are not venomous and do not spread disease. Those pincers at their rear end can pinch your skin, and in rare cases the pinch is hard enough to draw a small amount of blood, but most of the time it just leaves a red, slightly swollen mark that fades quickly. Because earwigs live in soil and decaying plant matter, it’s worth washing any pinch that breaks the skin with soap and water to avoid a minor skin infection. Beyond that, they pose no health risk to you or your pets.