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Topic: Keeping the beasties away

Lorna1979

31/5/2015 at 8:28am
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Hi, my family are new to camping this year, we've been on 3 trips so far in the last month and love it! The problem is I have a serious phobia of earwigs, or forky tails as we call them (I'm sweating even typing their name) and I was wondering if there's anything I can buy to keep them away from the tent? I know it's coming up to forky season and really need some way of keeping them away. Any ideas anyone?

jelboy53

31/5/2015 at 10:18am
Location: Cumbernauld Scotland
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Not a clue Lorna....Other than spraying a commercial household insecticide on the grass round your tent or on the G/sheet itself...Though both would be questionable to my mind....For a whole lot of reasons...

I have had all sorts of beasties take up residence in my tent over the years....Most memorable was a large oval shaped hard shelled beetle the likes of which I had never seen before....Nor since....Who when I picked him up and put outside burrowed right into the ground at a fast rate of knots....About the size of a ten pence piece he was....

Sorry I can't be of more help

Jelboy.

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Campers of the storm,Into this world are born

Some days are Diamonds...Some days are stone...

ladycake

31/5/2015 at 11:03am
Location: norfolk
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never had earwigs in the tent, just the odd spider and flies. does your tent have a mesh door?

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gym bunny hugs!

VangoMan02

31/5/2015 at 11:03am
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Quote: Originally posted by Lorna1979 on 31/5/2015
Hi, my family are new to camping this year, we've been on 3 trips so far in the last month and love it! The problem is I have a serious phobia of earwigs, or forky tails as we call them (I'm sweating even typing their name) and I was wondering if there's anything I can buy to keep them away from the tent? I know it's coming up to forky season and really need some way of keeping them away. Any ideas anyone?

I am assuming your tent has a fully sewn in groundsheet?

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It is a fool who has to say something.

evochic

31/5/2015 at 11:22am
Location: east midlands
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If its any help in the 30 years of camping I can count on one hand finding an earwig inside...the living area..of my tent,bedroom wise as long as you keep it closed should not be a problem at all,also I had a dreadful phobia of spiders,so much so at aged 13 I jumped out of my mothers moving car(was going slowly) because a spider dangled in front of me from the roof!now although still not good with them the odd occasion I do find one in the tent, in a cup...yuk..or running across the floor I no longer actually have hysterics about it,I guess camping is a little like aversion therapy,the very few times it happens as you are on hols and having a good time you somehow find it not as terrifying..anyhow good luck and enjoy!
evo

Lorna1979

31/5/2015 at 11:34am
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Thanks folks, feeling a wee bit better. The problem I suppose is that we don't have a sewn in groundsheet. We have a tent with 2 bedrooms, one at each end then a middle bit with a separate groundsheet, so there are gaps of grass inside the tent. I always remember earwigs loving awning poles when I was younger so can just imagine them crawling up the tent poles!!

OldRex

31/5/2015 at 11:35am
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I would just keep all the mesh doors zipped if you have them, no insects will get through those.

I wouldn't use insecticide myself in case it did something nasty to the tent material (or me for that matter - that stuff is basically nerve toxin)

I know you will have heard it before, but earwigs are harmless.
They eat mostly dead plant material and pollen. They have no sting or venom and cannot bite you. They can grasp you with their cerci if provoked, but this is a defence mechanism they use against predatory insects.
They can be attracted by light which is why they sometimes wander into houses, and possibly why you found them on the awning poles once.

They want nothing to do with your ears or hair - they probably got their name from their ear-shaped wings, or possibly from the Anglo-Saxon "eard" meaning native soil, and 'wicga' meaning beetle or insect. According to Professor Google.

Post last edited on 31/05/2015 11:43:58

Lorna1979

31/5/2015 at 11:37am
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Just wondering if maybe a separate groundsheet to put under the tent might help??

Tynxuk

31/5/2015 at 11:54am
Location: Sunny Suffolk (West)
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If you don't have a sewn in ground sheet there isn't much you can do as even with a full groundsheet underneath they will use the gaps at the sides to get in if that is what they want to do.

Another insect to consider worrying about is the daddy long legs (my eldest hates these) they come out of the ground so no avoiding them without a sewn in ground sheet .

Lorna1979

31/5/2015 at 11:57am
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Daddy long legs is the one insect I'm actually OK with

Oh well, not going to be a very relaxing holiday for me then during forky season!

glampingtime

31/5/2015 at 6:35pm
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For what it's worth, we've got a zip-in groundsheet and mesh doors on our tent but inevitably, if you're camping in nature, nature will find its way in to some extent. However, we've never had any forky tails (I *love* this) make their way in. By far the most common guests are crane flies. They're uncannily good at finding their way in, but completely useless at escaping, even when the main doors are wide open. The just buzz around uselessly at the top of the tent.

Lorna1979

31/5/2015 at 6:39pm
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Oh just hope we are lucky like you glampingtime! My problem is I sit and look for them and if there's anyone who will see one it's me!! I see there's a couple of natural remedies for keeping them away so might give that a try.

AndyR1969

31/5/2015 at 6:49pm
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Quote: .....
They want nothing to do with your ears or hair - they probably got their name from their ear-shaped wings, or possibly from the Anglo-Saxon "eard" meaning native soil, and 'wicga' meaning beetle or insect. According to Professor Google.

Post last edited on 31/05/2015 11:43:58

Pah...we all know they want to burrow into your ears at night and lay their eggs on your eardrum, upon which the larvae will feed once hatched. The larvae then proceed to munch a tunnel through your brain to your nose where they crawl out as full fledged earwigs, and the cycle is repeated with the next victim. Or so my son told me.

geoffprinter

31/5/2015 at 6:53pm
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I suppose it depends on how much you are prepared to pay to keep the bugs away? If its the price of a new tent, then go for one with SIG and mesh on doors and windows. They really do help. Geoff

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