[NatureNS] Earwigs

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:01:57 -0400
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
From: Angus MacLean <angusmcl@ns.sympatico.ca>
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Hi David:
Wow, David, quite the experiment. Now that I know how fastidious they 
are about their appearance, I find myself changing my mind about 
them! My wife thinks I would do well, in her eyes perhaps, to follow 
their example more.
Thanks,
Angus

At 10:27 AM 18/11/2009, you wrote:
>Hi Angus, Steve & al,        Nov18, 2009
>    The earwig thread prompted me to dig out an old e-mail to 
> another site; pasted below.
>
>    Abundant or sparse they must feed something else. No longer abundant here.
>DW
>
>START OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>
>                        Mar 9, 2003
>    On a related note--
>    Shortly after earwigs appeared in Kentville, and started taking over
>lawns & gardens, I wondered about the feasibility of an active earwig
>trap, i.e. using electric shock to herd them into traps, so I borrowed
>some scrap electronic components that when assembled formed a variable
>voltage and harmless low current power supply. To observe behavior when
>they were exposed to shocks, I made a small chute of lucite with thin
>brass strips spaced such that when an earwig walked along the chute it
>closed the circuit. I don't recall the voltages now but, at low voltage
>there was no response, at higher voltage they stepped lively and at even
>higher voltages tiny sparks from foot hairs could be seen in dim light,
>there was sometimes an odor of burning protein and/or earwigs were
>stunned and remained immobile for ~5-30 seconds. Their behavior after
>being shocked and especially after being stunned, convinced me 1) that
>earwigs were just small people with slightly different body parts and 2)
>that one should not herd earwigs by electric shocks even if a trap of
>this kind could be made to work.
>    After they came to, they sat back so fore legs were free to move and
>laboriously groomed head, antennae and front leg joints (I can't recall
>with certainly that mid and hind legs were groomed) apparently using
>fluids from the mouth. After this bath, presumably to remove materials
>that are released from between joints when under stress, they would
>resume normal posture and walk off.
>
>
>Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
>  END OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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