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Index of Subjects 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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