Earwigs aren’t the type of bug that usual invade your home, however I seem to be a bit unlucky there because that’s exactly what happened. On Monday night I was sitting on the couch in the basement watching TV when I saw an earwig crawling across the floor, I stopped to squish it with a tissue and went back to my show. Only a few minutes later I saw another one crawling by, so again I paused the show and killed it, and again I saw on a few minutes later. As the evening went on I continued to kill more and more of them. They were crawling up the walls and looking for any little nook or cranny to hide in. As far as I could tell they were climbing under the sliding glass door in the basement and then back up on the otherside, probably drawn in by the cool air from our air conditioner.

One of the first tricks I discovered was using a piece of masking tape to kill them was much easier than a tissue. Just rip off a piece, stick it on top of them, and they’ll stick to it instead of trying to run away. One piece of tape can easily trap several of them before you need to toss it in the garbage and grab a fresh piece of tape. But enough about that, if you’re looking to trap a large amount of them and in a much more passive manner then this next method is the one you’ll really want to use.

Start off by finding yourself some disposable containers, something you can punch some holes in the lid of, or don’t mind the whole thing going in the garbage after. For me I’ve used anything from the little plastic soy sauce containers you get when ordering sushi to margarine containers. Use what you have around that house, I’m sure you’ll find something that works! Next you’re going to take any kind of cooking oil and then you’re going to add soy sauce to it. That’s it! I wouldn’t even stress much about trying to mix it up, as it’s basically oil and water and will just separate again.

Now place them somewhere dark and at ground level. The earwigs will be drawn to the smell of sweet and oily and when they climb in to take a sip they will just fall in and drown. You’ll also want to leave it out overnight as that’s when they are most active. And of coures if you have any small pets or children make sure it’s not somewhere they can get into it, although everything in it is edible it can still stain or make quite the mess if spilled. I personally put some under the couches and in the corner behind the entertainment cabinet. I also put some outside in the garden under some bushes as there was obviously a much bigger earwig problem outside than in.

After that just sit back, relax, and wait for it to do it’s trick. If there are earwigs nearby they will be drawn in for a treat and will ultimately meet their demise. From there all you have to do is check the traps once a day and refresh them, which can mean throwing them out and making a new one, or just dumping out the dead earwigs and adding fresh oil and soy sauce. You should also notice the amount trapped diminishing each time, and once you’re no longer catching any you can stop putting out traps because the problem has been solved!