Earwigs like it dark, moist, and hidden. That’s why they love mulch beds, leaf litter, and landscaping timbers — and why those features close to your Boone home’s foundation are a direct pipeline to your basement and first floor.

Earwigs are medium-sized, dark brown insects with a distinctive pair of pincer-like cerci at the rear — those pincers are what gives them their alarming appearance. Despite how they look, earwigs rarely pinch people and aren’t venomous. What they will do is invade in significant numbers when conditions are right, showing up in bathrooms, basements, and kitchens throughout the warmer months in Boone.

Signs of an Earwig Infestation

Earwig activity is usually noticeable once populations build up. Here’s what to look for:

  • Visible insects: Earwigs in bathrooms, basements, laundry rooms, or dark corners — especially after rain or when exterior conditions dry out and push them indoors.
  • Outdoor aggregations: Large numbers under doormats, in mulch beds, under stones or landscape timbers, or in leaf litter around the foundation.
  • Plant damage: Ragged holes in leaves, flower petals, or seedlings in garden beds — earwigs feed on plant material as well as decaying organic matter.
  • Moisture zones: Earwig activity concentrated near moisture sources — floor drains, under sinks, in basement corners, near sump pits.
  • Night activity: Earwigs are most active at night. Turning on a porch light and checking the foundation area after dark often reveals the extent of outdoor populations.

Why Earwigs Are Common in Boone

Central Iowa summers give earwigs everything they need to thrive. Boone has plenty of landscaped properties with mulch beds, ground cover, and ornamental plantings close to home foundations — ideal earwig habitat. Mulch retains moisture, provides cover, and offers the decaying organic matter earwigs feed on. When populations build up in the landscape, earwigs naturally push inward looking for more harborage. Any gap at the foundation level becomes an entry point — and Iowa homes typically have plenty of those.

Our Earwig Control Process

For earwig control, Miller Pest Solutions focuses on the exterior first. A residual perimeter treatment around the foundation disrupts earwig movement toward the structure and reduces the population staging in landscaping and mulch. We follow up with interior treatment in any areas showing activity. We also identify and address harborage zones — dense ground cover, landscape timbers, woodpiles, and debris close to the foundation. Reducing moisture and harborage outside is the most effective long-term solution.

Why Choose Miller Pest Solutions

Miller Pest Solutions is QualityPro certified and an NPMA member. We’ve been in business since 2001, and Joel has been working in pest control personally since 2007. We serve Boone and the wider Des Moines metro. Our approach is practical: we identify the problem, explain what we’re doing and why, and treat it effectively. If there’s a conducive condition contributing to the issue, we’ll tell you about it rather than just treating the symptom.

Get a Free Phone Bid Today

Earwig invasions don’t resolve themselves — the population outside keeps replenishing what you kill inside. If earwigs are showing up regularly in your Boone home, call Miller Pest Solutions at (515) 329-8801 for a free phone bid. We’ll give you a straight answer on what’s driving the problem and what it’ll take to fix it. Visit us at millerthekiller.com to learn more.