Addison's 3-in-1
Earwig Extermination in Toronto, ON
You want…
To quickly eliminate an earwig infestation near Toronto, ON, stop the earwig bites, and sleep peacefully in your own bed...
An affordable, professional, honest, and warrantied earwig exterminator...
An environmentally conscious treatment that is safe for the whole family, including your pets.
Here’s what to expect:
Answers to all of your questions
A no-obligation quote over the phone in seconds
Flexible scheduling with 24/7 same-day service throughout the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario.
No hidden service fees or follow-up costs.
Addison has...
Decades of experience near you
A trusted track record
All-inclusive warranty
Comprehensive customer service
Rigorously trained technicians
Tried and tested extermination methods
The safest, most effective insecticides
Service Area Near Toronto, ON
Downtown Toronto, Midtown, Chinatown, the Annex, Burlington, Little Italy, Harbourfront, Cabbagetown, Summerhill, Forest Hill, Rosedale, the Junction, Parkdale, Bloordale, Scarborough, North York, Brampton, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Pickering, Hamilton, London, and beyond!
Our process for Earwig Extermination in Toronto, Ontario
Step 1: Earwig Heat Treatment
Category:
Physical
Equipment:
Handheld heat treatment gun.
Method:
Direct heat applied locally to areas of earwig concentration.
Harbourage sites are located and exterminated
Moist crevices, under baseboards, basements, cellars,
Strengths:
Heat Kills earwig eggs.
No damage to furniture.
Instantly kills all bugs and eggs treated.
Avoids pesticide resistance.
Weakness
No residual protection.
Only kills the bugs and eggs that are visible and accessible to technicians.
Not sufficient without other complementary extermination techniques.
Step 2: Earwig Powder Treatment
Category:
Physical + Chemical
Equipment:
Power duster
Method:
A fine silica dust insecticide is injected into all crevices and wall cavities through electrical sockets and gaps underneath baseboards.
Electrical items, such as a power bars are also treated with powder
injected into any wall void or drain where earwigs are particularly active.
Strengths:
Cuts up the earwig abdomen.
Coats the insides of the wall cavities to create a protective powder barrier around your home.
No earwigs can spread to or from attached houses, adjacent apartments or condo units.
Essential lasting protection.
Fully approved by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, safe and non-toxic for humans and animals of all shapes and sizes.
Weakness
Only suitable for crack and crevice treatment.
Step 3: Earwig Spray Treatment
Category:
Chemical + Residual
Equipment:
Precision surface sprayer
Method:
A fine mist of residual spray is applied to areas of earwig concentration such as basements, cellars, under baseboards, porches, bathrooms, around appliances, laundry rooms.
Strengths:
Kills earwigs on contact and remains active as a protective surface treatment to continue to kill earwigs as they come out of hiding.
Keeps your Toronto, ON home and furniture protected for up to 6 months.
Fully approved by Ontario Ministry of Environment, safe and non-toxic for humans and animals of all shapes and sizes.
Weakness
If used improperly, may promote pesticide resistance
Beware of Discount Pest Control
These companies use low quality or low concentration surface sprays with only 10 to 14 days of protection.
The tip off is when companies offer to do a “follow-up spray” two weeks after the first treatment. While this may seem extra thorough, earwigs may remain hidden without feeding for an extended period of time in a deep recess or crevice
New eggs can hatch up to 70 days after they are deposited.
By this time the cheap treatment will have long worn off and the new population will be free to re-infest your home.
These budget services can breed pesticide resistance in the earwigs in your home, making future treatments increasingly challenging.
Using high quality, long residual insecticides, varied extermination methods, and thorough single applications is the key to our success at Addison
What you need to know for an effective earwig treatment
If you suspect you have an earwig infestation in your Toronto, ON home - clear and complete information is the first step to getting rid of them. Here are a few facts, myths, and tips that will help you to make a well-informed decision about what to do next.
How to Identify Earwigs
The most common earwig species in North America is the European earwig (Forficula auricularia), also known as the common earwig.
What do earwigs look like?
Length: 16mm
Shape: Elongate and flattened body shape
Colour: Dark reddish brown
Texture: Shiny exoskeleton
Legs: pale yellow
Features: Forceps (cerci) protrude from the back end of abdomen
Males: Forceps curved, 3.5-9.5mm in length
Females: forceps straight sided on females
Antennae: Long beaded, 15+ segments
Mouthparts: Chewing mouthparts
Wings: Winged but rarely engage in self-powered flight
Keep wings folded close to body under a pair of forewings
Development: Nymphs have similar anatomy to adults lighter in shape and shorter, antennae gain more segments wings grow larger
Foraging Behaviour
Omnivorous scavengers
Feed on almost any plant or animal organic material
Feed on household food products such as stored dried good, produce, meat, cheese
Feed on living and decaying plant matter such as: lichens, algae, fruit and flowers
Attracted to lights when they emerge to forage at night time
Pincers are employed to hold prey, to defend from predators and to explore narrow canals
Mother earwigs provide food for their young until their second moult
In second instar stage, forage independently at night time and return to nest in the day time
In third and fourth instar stages earwigs are free-foraging insects with no fixed nest
Common to find them in laundry, furniture, loaves of bread, clothing and bedding
Life Cycle and Reproduction
Eggs are shiny and pale yellow oval about 1mm
Deposit 25-50 eggs per batch
Produce one brood per year
Pincers are used as part of elaborate male mating displays
Females lay eggs in moist dark soil enclaves in the fall or springtime
Eggs laid in fall hatch in 73 days
Eggs laid in spring hatch in 20 days
Females hibernate with eggs use their mouths to keep the eggs clean
Females guard eggs and rear their young until their first or second moult
Nymphs are anatomically similar to adults
Nymphs go through 4 instar stages, with a moult of outer cuticle at the beginning of each one
Nymphs remain in nest site until their second instar stage
during second instar, begin to show sexual dimorphism
Nymphs are independent after two months of motherly care
Families will often continue to nest together into their adulthood
Most nymphs reach full sexual maturity by late summer, approx 68 days
Overwinter as adults after mating occurs in late autumn
Most earwigs live for 1 year in the wild
How do I know if I have an earwig infestation in my Toronto, ON home?
Earwigs are a common and beneficial insect that lives in the soil around the home
Earwigs demonstrate aggregation behaviour and can gather in large clumps and congregations in moist dark areas
If you see a single earwig it does not mean that a full-scale infestation is active.
If you begin seeing large groups of earwigs more frequently it may be time to consider a professional pest control program
Where do I look for an earwig infestation?
prefer moist, dark, undisturbed areas of your Toronto, ON home
close to a feeding and water source
may find their way inside as colder weather approaches
Some common hiding places include
Near sinks
Under stones
Hollow aluminum doors
Garden furniture
Bathrooms;
In shady cracks or openings or anywhere that they can remain concealed during daylight.
Earwigs search for food at dusk, they crawl over the ground, climb houses, fences, and trees, and may begin to wander into homes in June or July.
How did earwigs get into my Ontario home?
Introduced into North America in 1912 widely distributed through urban environments
Secrete an aggregation hormone attracts other large numbers of earwigs to suitable feeding and nesting sites
may be discovered in abundant clumps in crevices around the home in dark areas such as cellars, basements, under sinks, under cabinets behind appliances
Attracted to light when they emerge to forage at night time
May enter homes around doors and windows with insecure weather stripping
May travel into the home on newspapers, in luggage, cut flowers
What do earwigs eat?
omnivore scavenger
Plant and animal matter such as ripe fruit and other insects
Have demonstrated cannibalistic behaviour by consuming other earwigs
Insect prey includes
Plant lice
Bluebottle flies
Woolly aphids
Plant food sources include:
Clover
Dahlias
Zinnias
Butterfly bush
Hollyhock
Lettuce
Cauliflower
Strawberry
Blackberry
Sunflowers
Celery
Peaches
Plums
Grapes
Potatoes
Roses
Seedling beans
Beets
Tender grass shoots and roots
They have also been known to eat corn silk, damaging the corn
How serious is an earwig infestation?
Very common and also beneficial species when found in moderate numbers in the garden
If numbers grow to become invasive they may need to be controlled
Secrete a quinone rich substance which can cause skin irritation and stain fabrics and surfaces
Produce a foul odour when disturbed
Can be detrimental to crop installations
earwigs have been known to pinch humans with their pincers
Pinch is not very painful and does not contain any venom or irritant
earwigs do not spread pathogens, bacteria or parasites through their pinch
earwigs may deposit pathogens, bacteria or parasites on food preparation or storage surfaces acumulated on their leg hairs while foraging
How do I prevent an earwig infestation in Toronto, ON?
Since earwigs are such a common pest in the GTA, being proactive is the key to ensuring an earwig-free home and garden.
Give us a call today for more information or to schedule same-day earwig removal in seconds.
Addison’s earwig service includes a comprehensive earwig inspection and prevention plan:
a 360º perimeter inspection of the interior and exterior of your home and garden
identification of potentially vulnerable access points
exclusion of any entry points with spray foam and steel wool
pheromone baited professional sticky traps to monitor earwig activity
Can I prevent an earwig infestation on my own?
Eliminate their congregation areas under floorboards, in tree holes, and in any moist and dark enclave
Inspect the home and garden to uncover their breeding places
Remove piles of organic matter close to the home like leaves grass or food waste
Seal all screens, eaves, weather stripping, dryer, and exhaust vents
Eliminate any attractive nesting site that gives access to homes
Many commercially available traps are available to monitor and reduce the number of earwigs in the garden
How can Addison help eliminate an earwig infestation?
Our goal: remove an infestation as quickly as possible and keep your home near Toronto pest free for good
Combine three pest-control techniques applied on a single appointment on a single day
Guarantee the effectiveness of the treatment to eradicate the infestation completely
No pest control method is perfect
With a three-part treatment, each method compensates for the shortcomings of the other
Yields quick and dependable results to eliminate earwigs.
Every treatment accompanied by preventative and monitoring measures
Ongoing protection against future infestations
Prevention includes:
thorough inspection
Entry point sealing
Identifying and eliminating feeding sources
Sticky traps and other monitoring techniques.
Do earwigs bite humans?
Some species of earwigs can deliver a pinch with their forceps
The European earwig only very rarely pinches humans, and their pinch is not painful does not contain venom
Do not spread bacteria, pathogens or parasites through their pinch
Earwig’s name comes from the superstition that they enter the ear canal, burrow into the human brain and lay their eggs there
This is a myth, though there are some stories of earwigs finding their way into the human ear, likely because it is a dark and moist canal