Pinchers in the garden? Not for long.

Earwigs thrive in San Diego thanks to our mild Mediterranean climate, regular landscape irrigation, and the dense ground cover common in San Diego County neighborhoods. While they're most active in spring and summer, our coastal humidity and year-round watering schedules mean earwig populations rarely die back the way they do in colder climates. Many homeowners see them on patios and inside garages well into the fall.

The European earwig (Forficula auricularia) is the species most San Diego residents encounter. They're nocturnal, hide during the day under mulch, planters, stones, woodpiles, and decorative ground cover, and come out at night to feed on decaying plant matter, seedlings, fruit, and other small insects. They don't sting and they don't crawl into ears (despite the myth) but their pincers, sudden appearance in sinks and bathtubs, and tendency to swarm under doormats and patio furniture make them one of the most reported nuisance pests in San Diego.

Earwigs get into San Diego homes through gaps under exterior doors, weep holes in stucco, foundation cracks, crawl-space vents, and around plumbing penetrations. Heavily landscaped properties, homes with irrigation along the foundation, coastal neighborhoods, and houses backing up to canyons or open space tend to see the heaviest pressure. Once inside, they're drawn to damp areas. Think bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens, and basements.

Professional earwig control works because it treats the outdoor harborage where the population actually lives. Bite Away combines exterior perimeter treatment, targeted granular baits in mulch and ground cover, exclusion work along doors and vents, and recommendations for reducing moisture and harborage around the foundation, so the earwigs you're seeing today don't keep coming back next week.

The most obvious sign is finding earwigs themselves, in bathtubs and sinks (they get trapped after coming up through drains or wandering in at night), under doormats, inside garages, or scattered across patios after dark. You may also notice ragged, irregular holes in seedlings, leafy greens, and soft fruit in the garden, or small dark droppings near baseboards and in damp corners.

If you're seeing earwigs indoors regularly, it almost always means there's a much larger outdoor population in the mulch, ivy, or ground cover near your foundation. Treating only the indoor sightings rarely solves the problem. A professional inspection identifies the harborage areas and entry points so treatment actually resolves the issue.