by Earwigs are these little shiny long-bodied creatures with six legs and two pincers in their backs. They crawl around mostly during the night looking for smaller insects to eat or wandering through the grass biting small plants. They might look threatening because of their prominent pincers and therefore most people don’t think twice before smashing them with a flip-flop but in reality they are not harmful to humans at all. The intention of this post is to demystify the earwig and clarify a couple of rumours that have been created around them.
I remember being with my friend Alan in elementary school behind the soccer field. We were both squatting looking for cool rocks. For some reason there were some nice rocks in my elementary school’s backyard. We were not in the mood for soccer so we decided to collect a good amount of shiny rocks that day. I remember my friend Alan lifting up a bigger rock. When he looked back to the spot where the rock used to be he saw a little earwig. It was my first time seeing one! I was actually fascinated by its pincers but right before I was able to say something about the earwig my friend smashed it with the same rock it was using to hide. My face went from amazed to disappointed in one second. I asked him why did he do that and he replied, “Are you kidding me? I don’t want it to get in my ears while sleeping in class! These animals look for holes in your body to get inside you!” Then he gave me a pat on the back like saying “I got you, man. I will kill all the earwigs on planet Earth to protect you.” I was annoyed and confused.
The second earwig I saw in my life didn’t run with better luck than the first one. I remember being in my grandma’s dining room when the distinctive shape of an earwig contrasted with the white tiles on the floor. I wasn’t happy with my prior experience with these little animals so I decided to ask my grandma about it. She told me they were earwigs and that during the night they look for external body orifices to crawl in. I couldn’t believe she was saying the exact same thing as my friend Alan. Before I was able to say something she smashed the poor earwig with a magazine and all its interiors now stained the clean white floor. Another innocent earwig was killed in front of my eyes to protect me from them but I honestly didn’t feel comfortable with it. I had to confront my grandma but all she could respond came from years and years of ignorance since it was her parents and grandparents who taught her that myth. She said that earwigs feed on human brains and that they lay eggs inside human ears. I was still eight years old and everything sounded scary now coming from my grandma but I still didn’t believe earwigs did something like that. If I didn’t believe in aliens at that age, why would I believe these insects wanted to lay eggs in my brain, right?
To make the long story short, I have never killed an earwig. I grew up thinking about these insects a lot and even though they seemed scary at some points I never killed one for I didn’t believe what they said about them. Earwigs can pinch your skin, but they have no reason to get inside your ears. It wasn’t until last week that I decided to do more research about the myth behind earwigs and I realized that it’s a worldwide thing! I couldn’t believe that in so many different countries people believe the same about these little insects. I’m telling you this story just in case you still believe those crazy myths about earwigs. They are not dangerous at all and they are not aggressive! Don’t kill earwigs! I swear they don’t want to get into your ears.
