How to tell you have them
Earwigs are long, flat, dark brown insects, about half an inch to an inch long, with a pair of pincers at the tail. They hide by day under mulch, mats, pots, stones and boards, and come out at night. You find them in garages, on patios, under doormats, in pool equipment and sometimes in bathtubs and sinks, where they wander in looking for water.
What they damage
Earwigs do not damage the house. Outdoors they eat decaying plant matter and small insects, and now and then nibble seedlings and soft fruit. The pincers can give a mild pinch if you pick one up, but earwigs are not venomous, and the story about them crawling into ears is a myth.
What treatment looks like
Moisture control comes first. Pull mulch back a few inches from the foundation, fix leaky irrigation heads and hose bibs, and move pots, boards and stored items off the ground next to the house. We treat the perimeter, the mulch beds and the damp, shaded spots where earwigs hide, and check door sweeps and garage door seals, because a gap under a door is their usual way in.
How long it takes
Indoor sightings drop within one to two weeks. Outdoor numbers follow the rain, so the quarterly perimeter treatment keeps them away from the doors.
Florida notes
The striped earwig and the ring-legged earwig are both common in Florida yards, and they move indoors when summer storms soak the mulch beds. Homes with thick mulch right up to the slab and irrigation heads that spray the wall see the most of them. Earwigs are covered on every plan, starting with Quarterly.