{"id":1637,"date":"2010-08-09T16:15:31","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T20:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/?p=1637"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:51:51","slug":"a-hot-sticky-summer-has-led-to-a-population-boom-in-eastern-ontario-of-earwigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/2010\/a-hot-sticky-summer-has-led-to-a-population-boom-in-eastern-ontario-of-earwigs\/","title":{"rendered":"A hot, sticky summer has led to a population boom in Eastern Ontario \u2014 of earwigs."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        A hot, sticky summer has led to a population boom in Eastern Ontario \u2014 of earwigs.\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p>Publication: CBC<br>\nDate: Wednesday July 28th, 2010<br>\nAudience: 1421754<br>\nSource: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/canada\/ottawa\/story\/2010\/07\/27\/earwig-invasion.html\">http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/canada\/ottawa\/story\/2010\/07\/27\/earwig-invasion.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hot, humid days encourage population explosion of the critters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 9:22 PM ET Comments4Recommend11CBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A hot, sticky summer has lead to a population boom in Eastern Ontario \u2014 of earwigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of a population explosion,\u201d <a href=\"[culink page_id=604]\">Jeff Dawson<\/a>, an insect biologist at Carleton University, told CBC News. \u201cThis creates moist dark crevices that are ideal breeding conditions for the earwigs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>European earwigs first invaded the Ottawa region 30 years ago. The fierce-looking creatures carry a set of pincers on their abdomen and a set of ear-shaped wings, though they rarely fly. They can be 1.5 to two centimetres long. Health Canada says that despite the earwig&#8217;s scary looks, the bug isn&#8217;t harmful to humans. Earwigs feed on decaying plants, tender shoots and blossoms, the eggs of other insects, and sometimes each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The boom in population this summer has also driven a boom in business for pest control. Companies in the Ottawa area say they\u2019ve received twice as many calls as usual for earwig help compared with other summers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people in the Ottawa area are taking matters into their own hands. Andrew Balfour says he\u2019s been vigilant about treating the exterior of his home and that, so far, he\u2019s winning his battle against the beasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t need to necessarily use pesticide,&#8221; Balfour said. &#8220;I just use a lot of hot water and soap. I call it my holy war against the earwigs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Publication: CBC Date: Wednesday July 28th, 2010 Audience: 1421754 Source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/canada\/ottawa\/story\/2010\/07\/27\/earwig-invasion.html Summary Hot, humid days encourage population explosion of the critters Last Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 9:22 PM ET Comments4Recommend11CBC News A hot, sticky summer has lead to a population boom in Eastern Ontario \u2014 of earwigs. \u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}