Thus, items purchased at yard sales should be checked, as should cardboard boxes in damp outside areas. It is possible that most areas around homes are likely to be infested with earwigs. While it is unlikely that they can ever be completely eliminated, you can keep populations at acceptable levels. Like other insects, they have three pairs of legs but, unlike other insects, they have a pair of forceps-like pincers extending from the back end. The pincers are used for defense and also to catch the insects on which earwigs sometimes feed.
Young earwigs resemble adults but are smaller.
The female mothers her eggs and young until they are big enough to wander away from the nest and obtain their own food. Usually, earwigs are first noticed in the spring around the outside of the home near the foundation. A certain percentage of adults and eggs last through the winter. Earwigs are noted for the damage they do to flowers, other ornamentals and vegetables. Their feeding gives leaves a ragged appearance.