17 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

I found a female earwig with a bunch of eggs at the bottom of a plant I was re-potting, and I decided to keep it to watch the eggs hatch. I put them in my vacant termitarium I had laying around, and about a week later they hatched into a bunch of babies. I never realized how much they behaved like ants.

 

 

 

[nurbs]

I've caught tons of these with eggs. Fed them to my ants. They lovem. Especially the babies and the eggs!

Edited by nurbs, June 21 2016 - 11:23 PM.

[Subverted]

You should rear Labidura riparia next!

[ctantkeeper]

I found a female earwig with a bunch of eggs at the bottom of a plant I was re-potting, and I decided to keep it to watch the eggs hatch. I put them in my vacant termitarium I had laying around, and about a week later they hatched into a bunch of babies. I never realized how much they behaved like ants.

 

 

 

I have always admired the field of speculative evolution and have once hypothesized that this form of maternal care would someday possibly turn into some form of eusociality, the same way wood eating, communal cockroaches evolved into termites.

Edited by dspdrew, June 22 2016 - 11:43 PM.
Fixed duplicate quote

[dspdrew]

Earwigs seem to love Formula Blue.

 

 

 

 

[Goldsystem]

Do they behave like social insects?

[dspdrew]

While they are young they kind of do. The mother takes care of them for a while.

[LC3]

Do they behave like social insects?

Earwigs aren't exactly social but they're not very territorial either it seems. A lot of species do care for their young and often times the young do get mixed up somehow and the mothers are totally fine with that.

Once flipped over a rock to find at least 50 baby earwigs. No adult earwigs I can remember though.

[123LordOfAnts123]

The mothers certainly make good parents. Ring legged earwigs (this species) are one of the most abundant insects here. I've attempted to rear them in numbers but once the babies leave the mom they're quickly eaten by conspecifics, as well as any smaller ones. They're surprisingly efficient predators and I fed mine almost entirely on live roaches.

[Salmon]

Do these guys use their pincers to grab prey? Considering how similar they look to maritime earwigs I'm guessing yes.

[Tpro4]

earwigs become cannibals when out of food right or is it just me

[123LordOfAnts123]

earwigs become cannibals when out of food right or is it just me

The colony I had ate the babies and some small juveniles would disappear no matter how well I fed them.

[Goldsystem]

My mom freaked out when I showed her this journal

Edited by Goldsystem, June 30 2016 - 10:27 PM.

[dspdrew]

 

earwigs become cannibals when out of food right or is it just me

The colony I had ate the babies and some small juveniles would disappear no matter how well I fed them.

 

 

Haha, yeah. I can't even find the babies now.

[LC3]

 

 

earwigs become cannibals when out of food right or is it just me

The colony I had ate the babies and some small juveniles would disappear no matter how well I fed them.

 

 

Haha, yeah. I can't even find the babies now.

 

Wow. What a sweet mother she is. eh?

[Canadian anter]

In my area, we don't have ring legged earwigs but have the European earwigs.The wings are so cool!

Edited by dspdrew, July 11 2016 - 5:25 PM.
Removed duplicate content

[T.C.]

Earwigs seem to love Formula Blue.
 

 

 

 

Earwigs like everything. Fish food, lettuce, spiders, select meats, etc. Happy to see I'm not the only one with some interests in earwigs. Of course I use mine for ant food these days, but now it seems the second generation won't reproduce which is rather odd.

These are mine: http://www.insectboa...-earwig-journal

[sgheaton]

I'll have to admit that those of you who take on other insects have made me open my mind towards and appreciate them that much more. I mean, I'm not going to have earwigs. Ever.  But being able to see what they do in a "laboratory scale" setting is incredibly fascinating.