# The grossest insect thingy I've seen in awhile...yecch **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801 "2006-07-17T02:43:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/1 "2006-07-17T02:43:24Z")
When I was coming up from the laundry room tonight, some movement caught my eye on the pavement outside the window. I checked it out to discover an orgy of earwigs feasting on the remains of a baby bird. I’ve never seen this before so I took a photo, naturally. [Ewwww](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v654/MachTurtle/Auuugh.jpg) I didn’t know earwigs were carnivorous. I thought they just ate plant matter. Well, this gives me one more reason to be disgusted by them. _shudder\*\*shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/2 "2006-07-17T03:07:00Z")
I think earwigs are so vile I couldn’t even make myself look at your photo. I’ll rescue bees, wasps, or spiders and gently release them outside, but earwigs? EEK! Shudder. Pick up shoe. SMACK! ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/3 "2006-07-17T03:09:37Z")
Apparently earwigs are omnivorous according to [this site.](http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/earwig.html) ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/4 "2006-07-17T03:15:53Z")
I love that the 1st ad at the bottom of this page is for crocodile repellant. Do you suppose it works for earwigs as well? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/5 "2006-07-17T03:17:26Z")
Wait, now it has changed to frog baby bedding…that one is even weirder. Next I suppose it will be an add for ballet lessons. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/6 "2006-07-17T03:21:59Z")
I’m sort of relieved, for I had mistakenly read the thread title as “The grossest incest thingy I’ve seen in awhile…yecch.” ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/7 "2006-07-17T03:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] I’m sort of relieved, for I had mistakenly read the thread title as “The grossest incest thingy I’ve seen in awhile…yecch.” [/QUOTE] _snort_ 😃 Well, I suppose some of those earwigs in the shot could be having an incestuous relationship with each other… ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/8 "2006-07-17T03:51:28Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] I’m sort of relieved, for I had mistakenly read the thread title as “The grossest incest thingy I’ve seen in awhile…yecch.” [/QUOTE] I thought I saw the same thing and yet… I clicked on the link anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/9 "2006-07-17T05:09:39Z")
Ah, earwigs…the incests of life… ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/10 "2006-07-17T08:53:26Z")
Actually, I thought the photo was quite cool. Skeletonisers at work! Nature just taking care of business. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/11 "2006-07-17T15:06:12Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] Wait, now it has changed to frog baby bedding…that one is even weirder. Next I suppose it will be an add for ballet lessons. [/QUOTE] What kind of bedding do baby frogs need? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/12 "2006-07-17T15:21:04Z")
I don’t take care of frogs myself but my SO’s brother does, and yes, they do need some kind of special bedding. Moss maybe? And I couldn’t look at the picture either. I know myself. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/13 "2006-07-17T16:11:55Z")
Heh. I like how the link to the earwig info posted by **Dragwyr** states that they’re “practically harmless”. I’ve had at least two in my life pinch the living _hell_ out of me. Those ass pinchers **hurt.** Besides that, they let off a really gross smell if you touch them, and they’re mean as well. I rescued one from drowning in a swimming pool once, and as soon as I set it on the ground it turned around and brandished its pinchers at me! Ungrateful little bastidge. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/14 "2006-07-17T16:40:40Z")
Actually, I think dead baby birds might have the edge on earwigs in the “Ewww!” department. Last week I stopped by a public water fountain during a lunchtime run along the Chicago lakefront. As I bent down to slurp, I noticed a dead baby bird on the fountain - inches from my face. Tho earwig free, it was not pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/15 "2006-07-17T23:01:04Z")
[QUOTE=Amazon Floozy Goddess] Besides that, they let off a really gross smell if you touch them, [/QUOTE] It’s funny, but I always thought they smelled like band-aids. Maybe I’m just nuts, but really. Snort a band-aid, then an earwig. There’s a lot of similarity there. And there’s a banquet of squick involved in suggesting you do that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grossest-insect-thingy-ive-seen-in-awhile-yecch/364801/16 "2006-07-17T23:45:34Z")
Oh my goodness, that was terrible! I was expecting to see a house centipede or toe-biter, or maybe one of those big leafy walkingsticks (the sorta gross kind). But that was REALLY gross. Reminds me of that day I came across a dead bird with a bunch of maggots writhing around and partying under its skin. Would that I’d gotten a video. Earwigs creep me out anyway, for no good reason. _shudder_ Thanks for posting!