I don’t know about you but I find at least 5 earwigs (aka Pincher Bugs) every day. They seem to love wandering around our bathrooms and hallway. While they typically don’t bother us, I have been pinched on occasion and wowzers! They sure are strong little buggers.

I get that earwigs can be useful in the garden preying on decaying matter and other insect larvae. But in reality, they tend to do more harm than good. Ever bite into an apple and have an earwig pop out at you?

I typically leave the outdoor earwigs alone, mostly because I can never find them. But once they make their way indoors, I really want them out. We are not an earwig Travelodge.

I knew that Diatomaceous earth would be my all-natural go-to for earwig control as it coats their exoskeleton and dehydrates them to the point of death. But during the rainy season, it is pretty pointless sprinkling it around the exterior of our home to keep them from finding their way in alive. I do sprinkle a little bit in the corners of our rooms (for ant control and spider control as well) but I definitely was looking to do more. I can’t cover all my floor surfaces with Diatamaceous earth.

How about we make those earwigs a “pool of death” AKA a DIY trap to get rid of earwigs for good.

You think I am kidding? Nope. This little death trap works wonders. Here is how to make it.

DIY Earwig Trap

Yield: 1 trap

Prep Time: 1 minute

Active Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 3 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

This DIY earwig death trap is sure to collect all those annoying earwigs both indoors and outdoors! Stop earwigs in their tracks today.

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Materials

• 1 shallow container or baby food type jar
• ¼ cup sweet molasses (they love this stuff)
• ¼ cup coconut oil - it weighs them down and makes them slippery so they cannot crawl out of the container.
• ¼ cup full sodium soy sauce (the salt in the soy sauce kills them and the dark color makes it look like just the bottom of a hole)

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together and pour into the shallow bowl/small jar.
2. Somewhat cover the top of the bowl with something natural, like a piece of bark or wood. Just make sure you leave a little opening when they can crawl in.
3. Set this out in the evening where you see a lot of earwig action. (This works both inside and outside).
4. The earwigs will crawl in and bam! End of earwigs.

If you are looking to do some major earwig control in your yard, my favorite approach is the wet newspaper trick. Roll up some newspaper and get it pretty wet. Place the wet rolls in the areas you know earwigs congregate. They cannot resist the sweet smell of wet newsprint and in the morning you will have an entire city of earwigs nesting in there. Go ahead and dispose of the newspaper as you see fit. You can stomp on all the earwigs first. Maybe sprinkle Diatomaceous earth on them and put the newspaper in a tightly sealed bag. Set them on fire. (Not that I have done this – just throwing it out there). Anyway, do what it takes to make sure they don’t escape and get back into your garden or yard.

And there you have it! A couple of simple solutions to those little earwigs. Let me know if you try my recipe and how it worked for you!

Be sure to check out all my other great natural pest control posts as well. I will teach you how to get rid of ants, keep mosquitoes at bay, stop slugs from nibbling your garden, keep moths out of your pantry and closets, prevent a spider invasion and more!