It’s maybe an inch long, probably just a little shorter. But I’m not getting closer.
out of its rear end, it has a strange sort of protrusion. It has two curved hook-like things… They curve away from each other and then back towards each other, almost but not touching at the ends.
What is it? I’ve never seen its like. I’m here all alone and want to know if it will eat me. I tried to kill it by hitting it with my sandal but it fell into an empty garbage can and now it’s crawled to the top and it is staring at me malevolently.
Oh fuck, that’s it. shudders Now I am definitely not touching it.
ETA: I am sorry for my rudeness. Thank you for your help in identifying it. Those pictures were really creepy, though.
Here, Aanamika, let me help you with the skeeviness. From the Wiki cite above: “The name earwig comes from Old English eare “ear” and wicga “insect”. It is fancifully related to the notion that earwigs burrow into the brains of humans through the ear and therein lay their eggs.”
But don’t worry! Wiki goes on to assure us: “This belief, however, is completely false, as it would be impossible for an insect to eat through the human skull in its lifetime.”
An ant is to an earwig as a scorpion is to pudding. I doubt they could reach your ear even if they wanted to. They’re pretty clumsy. Not exactly the zenith of evolution. Plus you are a million time its mass - show them who’s boss.
The worst thing about earwigs is that black widows like to eat them, and where you find one you are more likely to find the other–they like similar living conditions. (But how the heck did you get to adulthood without ever seeing an earwig??)
I know a guy who woke up one morning with an odd feeling in one ear, as though something were moving about and scritching. He went to the doctor, and the latter pulled out a spider. Seems the spider had found a warm place to settle for a while, maybe wait for its little ones to hatch…
I had never seen one of those for decades of my life. Hurricane Katrina hits and we see all sorts of new insects around the house. We had a few birds not from the area too. We have had those earwigs ever since, and they are a permenant problem now.
They like moist conditions, and vegetative fodder.
The good news is that they’re not at all venomous. The bad news is that yes, those pinchers are capable of pinching you, and yes, it hurts. Once, when I was a kid, I picked up a baseball card that was on the ground. There was an earwig hiding underneath who then proceeded to pinch the living hell out of my finger for disturbing it.
They also release an unpleasant odor if disturbed.
But! You can get a non-toxic poison for them…I believe it’s made with silica gel. It’s scented so it’s attractive to them, they eat it, and then it dries them up from the inside out. I’ve used it, and it’s very effective.
Whatever is was that nipped you Amazon it wasn’t an earwig, I’d guess it was something like a Devils Coachman beetle, or if you are lucky perhaps even a female stag beetle.
They are interesting creatures, one attribute is the way they protect not only their eggs, but also their young, I can’t think of any other solitary living insect that does this.
I researched them last year and their was mention that a few species can pinch with the rear pinchers. I haven’t been pinched yet so I can’t say they are right.
