3 replies to this topic

[IdolOfVines]

hey guys, i have a lot of earwigs in my back yard that i have been wondering about breeding for feeders. they are pretty soft-bodied like termites and roaches. has anyone had experience using earwigs as feeders?


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[UtahAnts]

Earwigs are a great food source, especially the younger nymphs. I like to cultivate the broods in containers that I feed with crickets and bloodworms.

 

Here's a video of one such container.

https://www.youtube....rts/_K8-2-aWjtc

 

 

I know quite a few people on the forum have fed earwigs and even bred them in captivity. So yes, you can use earwigs as long as your yard is herbicide/pesticide free.

[Stubyvast]

Well I have used them as feeder insects before, and I have bred them, but not for food. In terms of feeding them to ants, go for it, as they are a great source of protein! However, their rear mandible thingies won't be eaten, as I've tried. I think it's because they are mainly just exoskeleton. In terms of raising them, I kept them in a deep layer of leaves, bark, and kept it moisturized. I would suggest keeping two of these containers, with a connecting tubing, as the males are kicked out after breeding for a while, as I discovered, until the next mating season. But yes, great source of protein, easy to keep, and I assume that they breed pretty quickly! 

For food, the require meat and organics. According to Canada.ca:

 

"While decaying organic matter forms the largest part of their diet, earwigs also feed on the tender shoots, leaves, and blossoms of flowering plants and vegetables. Earwigs, being also carnivorous, are predators of insect larvae, slug eggs, aphids, and other garden pests."

 

Kind of an interesting story about this, actually: I had just introduced some additional litter to the substrate in my earwig farm, and decided to head to bed. However, little did I know that I had left the lid open! 

At 12 o'clock that sighed (not kidding), I woke up to something tickling my foot. I kinda panicked and kicked with my foot, and then got out of bed to investigate. I later found basically every single earwig outside of the substrate and wandering around my room! I found the one I had kicked accidentally wandering around by my bed, missing one rear mandible. It took me about two days to find every single one. So just warning you: Do NOT open the container you keep them in. They will EXPLODE out of there! 

[IdioticMouse26]

Yes, earwigs are a great source of feeder insects. But I do suggest for younger colonies you kill the earwigs(or feed them nymphs) before you give it to your ants. Earwigs are surprisingly good fighters with their pincers and can incapicitate a few ants on their own.