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Earwigs/Forky tails??PLEASE HELP

L

lucyj

Mama Doe
Yesterday, I went to move the boys from their main hutch to a temp 1, so i could get theirs washed out and water treated. When I lifted the roof there were about 8 Earwigs ( I think that's what most ppl call them, here they get called Forky Tails!) in the roof. They seemed to come out of the crack between the board part of the roof and the frame part. I cleared them all out and gave it a good blasting throo with the hose. When I painted it today, there were at least 6 more appeared. Ive made sure Ive given it all a good clean out, and painted right along into every crack, but Im still worried. Later I saw 1 in the run beside Harlys feet, prob 1 of the 1s Id blasted out of the roof, so I killed it.

Are they harmful to my boys?

How can i get rid of them for good?

Why are they there? Is it because the hutch was needing water treated?
 
i have loads of them to they are everywhere .
i'm not sure if they are harmful or not but someone on her will know that .
they are natuarally attracted to wood i've tried everything to get rid of them but nothing has worked so i just go around squishing them (gross i know but nothing else for it)

:x :x
 
They're horrible ugly things, I hated them before, ever since I found one in my bunkbeds when i was little, but I braved my phobia to get close enough to squish 1 2day, i thought he was going to nip my baby boys feet! (Harly's my baby boy and Honey's my big boy, sad, yes I know :oops: )Surely they can nip them? HArly didnt seem to have noticed it, but Im not taking any chances!
 
Oh I used to get them all the time!! :x :x :x :x I HATE them. Had some HUGE ones a few months ago :shock: Luckily I found a really good hutch disinfectant, use that weekly on the hutches and it seems to have got rid of them :D
 
Ive got a disenfectant just for animal hutches which i sue every day when I clean their litter area. Im wondering if its because, H&H wont stop digging, so I put a tarpaulin on the ground under their run about a week ago, and it jst seems to be since then? (They have a hutch/run combi, the hutch sits on top with a ladder 4 access). The tarpaulin is atemporary measure til I decide what to put in, dont think the council'll let me lay slabs as communal garden and some people say mesh hurts their feet, while others say its fine :? .

Either that or it could be because the last few days here have been really hot? We'v only jst started catching the tail end of the heatwave (we dont get much sunshine here 8) )
 
please can any1 advise re this? As im worried about them being there and will be willing to try any advice any1 can offer.
 
soak as in totally sub-merge that whole roof in a tank of water for 5 min. That way, whatever is inside, can't survive without oxygen, they'll surface on water level.

If you don't have a big tank, best advice is to borrow one of those summer children plastic round water ring, it's about 6 to 10 ft. in diameter, one big rubber ring for children to soak themselves in and play with.

Borrow one of those and soak the whole thing in water.

I suppose if worst comes to worst, you can soak HALF of that roof in your bathtub, then soak the other half, but it is not as good as those insect could crawl to the other side, and if you swap them, they'll crawl again. So you probably have to switch side several times and soak it longer per side.
 
just a note on the tarpaulin alternative, would it be possible to just put slabs on the floor, rather than bedding them properly, they wont be amazingly level, they will kill the grass, but theyarent a permanent fixture so maybe they wouldnt mind?
 
They can't fly so remove all the current ones and wrap tape (sticky side out) around the legs of the hutch. No more earwigs :)

They don't sting just pinch so are very unlikely to cause bunnies any trouble - they probably won't even notice them :)

Tam
 
Gr8 suggestions all of them, dont think Ill get sticky tape all the way round legs as hutch is on top of run, but could try masking tape right down them. Was thinking of putting slabs down but not laying them, or putting in mesh sheets, but not sure which is best. Have asked in other post so hopefully get sum advice. I have a baby sis whos 4 and Im sure shes got a paddlin pool I could use to dip the roof, and if its not big enough maybe Ill jst buy her 1, use it 1st, then not mention the forky tails and she'll be pleased 2! like I say a lot came out when i was paintin but think they may jst come back.
 
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