'It Was A Female, And She Laid Eggs:' Harmless Earwigs Just Creep People Out

DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) - The moisture we've been having lately is a perfect environment for earwigs, the brown-bodied bugs with giant pincers on their back end.

But contrary to belief, they don't actually crawl in your ears -- it's just an old superstition.

"The whole notion that they crawl into your ears and chew their way into your brain is all false - it's just superstition," said Michigan State University Entomologist Howard Russell.

Russell says earwigs especially love homes with gardens:

"People with pretty extensive and well maintained foundation plantings of landscape plants around their homes actually encourage earwigs because the plants provide shade - if they are mulched it's even better for earwigs they can get down into the mulch and if it's well watered - they prefer moist, shaded areas.

Russell says seal up your home to deny them entry points into the house.

But adds that once they are found indoors they tend to have a life expectancy about the "time it takes a person to lift their foot and stomp it onto the earwig."

And for those of who have seen the Night Gallery classic we leave you with this: "It was a female ... and she laid eggs."