As my family was sitting down to dinner in our backyard recently, one family member let out a yelp.

As they pulled up one of the lawn chairs, they noticed a couple of earwigs crawling out of the seam between the back and bottom cushion. 91裸聊视频淵uck, there91裸聊视频檚 an earwig nest in here!91裸聊视频�

Someone else then found a couple of the pesky pincer bugs in the same place on another chair. No nests, but the chairs were quickly replaced with cushion-less seating.

I also received a recent earwig surprise. When I picked up a dish of catfood that had been left on the back porch overnight, a well-fed gang of the creepy critters erupted from the middle of the kibbles.

91裸聊视频楥reepy91裸聊视频� mainly because of their six slender legs, two antenna and two sturdy pincers, I guess. Although they apparently don91裸聊视频檛 bite people or badly damage plants. Or inhabit ears, despite the name.

When a friend who had been staying on Shuswap Lake came into town to visit the other day, she also had an earwig tale.

Every year she puts up her tent under a tree near her relatives91裸聊视频� cabin. Not this year. Someone else had stayed there a couple of nights earlier, and awoke to find a group of six-legged roommates inside their tent.

And these weren91裸聊视频檛 the only instances this year of an abundance of earwigs.

At Nico91裸聊视频檚 Nurseryland, manager Maaike Johnson says it91裸聊视频檚 been an earwig year.

91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檝e definitely increased. A lot of people are asking how to get rid of them.91裸聊视频�

She recommends Diatomaceous earth, which she says is a good natural product.

91裸聊视频淚t seems like every year there91裸聊视频檚 something. Last year it would have been ants, this year it91裸聊视频檚 been earwigs,91裸聊视频� she says.

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Looking for more observations, I called city hall. Although public works hasn91裸聊视频檛 noticed an increase, a quick chat with Stephanie Gibb at reception revealed she91裸聊视频檚 definitely seen an influx. Her outside plants in pots with holes in the bottom will sometimes have 50 earwigs under them, she says.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 just blown away.91裸聊视频�

No bug specialists were available to explain why so many. But the all-knowing Internet shed a little light.

Earwigs like dark, moist environments with access to a food source. They need to stay someplace moist so they don91裸聊视频檛 dry out. It91裸聊视频檚 likely then that all of the rain earlier this summer provided them with just what they need.

If the Internet sources are right, and it91裸聊视频檚 the additional rain that has attracted so many, I think I91裸聊视频檒l gladly share the earth with them. When it comes to forest fires versus earwigs, the little creepies are the clear winner.

marthawickett@saobserver.net
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