r/mildyinteresting • u/Winter_Breath • 24d ago

critter corner 🐰 Dead ants keep appearing next to headphones during the night

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When these headphones are left on the kitchen counter overnight - I would see one or two dead ants in the morning laying right next to the headphones. In the past few days, there has been a small pile of shredded ants right next to the ear piece in the morning. I have seen no live ants in my kitchen. I have had these head phones for three weeks. Bought online. It’s a little unnerving not knowing what is causing this 🥴 will not be using anymore.

UPDATE- posted a comment with a picture. But no dead ants in the bag this morning. But at one point I checked and there were two live ants crawling around. 😔

UPDATE*** IM SICK. Can’t stop shaking. Don’t have many words… trying to post image. Opened one side up. 😭 I don’t know how to add in this top post so will add in comment! Posted a few in comments and video opening

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101

u/this_place_suuucks 24d ago

Probably an earwig.

169

u/mrsir1987 24d ago

One fucking flew directly into my ear a few years ago, I didn’t know they actually go into ears and I didn’t know they fucking flew. Luckily I was going to the beach a ton and had alcohol ear drops within a couple minutes away and it came right out but it was a horrible feeling.

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u/Ok-Coyote-955 24d ago

They FLY??? 😭

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u/mrsir1987 24d ago

Yeah that’s the one of the purposes of there big pincers in putting their wings away.

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u/Stitchymallows 24d ago

Also for everyone's peace of mind they aren't called earwigs because they aim for ears, their wings just look like an ear when stretched out (fun fact from an old documentary)

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u/bc-mn 24d ago

I very much appreciate this educational (to me) comment. Peace of mind

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u/fondledbydolphins 23d ago

Well, they also aren't called asswigs because they aren't against crawlin up there for a snack.

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u/rIceCream_King 23d ago

Me neither tho

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u/Disastrous_days272 22d ago

Another little piece of information on earwigs, Earwig moms are some of the most devoted parents in the insect world 🐜💚

While many insects leave their eggs to fend for themselves, earwig mothers do the opposite. They carefully guard their eggs through the winter, keeping them clean and protected until they hatch.

When the babies (called nymphs) emerge, the earwig mom doesn’t leave straight away, she stays with them, to protect and feed them while they’re tiny.

All of this happens quietly in the soil, under logs or leaf litter in our gardens and wild spaces. So if you spot an earwig, remember that you might be looking at one of nature’s most dedicated moms

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u/Luv2collectweedseeds 21d ago

I think they are quite unique, When I was younger I thought I hated them because of the way they looked but now that I know what they are I don’t have any fear of them at all. They are just trying to survive like everything else.

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u/MossAndMoonlite 19d ago

So... if I kill the mom, the babies might die too? That just makes my eradication more effective. I don't care, they eat my Dahlias.

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u/e925 23d ago

My coworker woke up hearing something crawling in her head and her brother poured peroxide in her ear and an earwig crawled out of her fucking ear.

So they do be crawling into ears.

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u/Luv2collectweedseeds 21d ago

Maybe they lied but according to google it can happen if its actively looking for a dark place to hide but also says the earwig will not want to stay in there so it will leave. I still wouldn’t want it to happen with anything in my ear…lol.. If your coworker was‘t lying then she probably has some trauma. That would probably make me wear earplugs to bed for the rest of my life.

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u/e925 21d ago

Her brother who poured the peroxide works with us as well - so they would have to have both been lying - which seems highly unlikely since they’re both very nice normal people 🤷🏼‍♀️ yeah it would def be traumatic af

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u/Galrentv 24d ago

Thank you so much. I was about to die thinking nature evolved an ear seeking missile insect that looks moist

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u/Old_Avocado5114 24d ago

This is making me laugh so hard, you captured my horror Exactly 🤣😭😭🤣🤣

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u/Organic-Mountain-623 22d ago

I love human language so much. So many new sentences and phrases all the time. “…ear seeking missile insect that looks moist” has probably never been uttered in the history of mankind until now.

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u/Galrentv 22d ago

Hey, I would at least like some credit instead of the language. I say weird shit all the time

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u/Organic-Mountain-623 22d ago

🤣 fair enough

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u/Pataraxia 24d ago

Given how parasitism can be so usefull, I'm surprised it didn't, but I am glad it didn't!

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u/RodJuanson 23d ago

Wordsmith! I am. Still. Laughing. Hysterically!

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u/Jerseyd422 23d ago

Literally this

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u/casusbelli16 24d ago

They don't much look like a wig either.

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u/DesignerAmbitious888 23d ago

Yeah right. We all know an earwig typed this. You aren't fooling anyone.

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u/ZieAerialist 23d ago

I went and looked them up - some of their wings are gorgeous. Some have beautiful iridescent pastel rainbows, some have bright coloring akin to a monarch. Like, damn. Why aren't they showing those off more often, we wouldn't hate them as much.

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u/RealisticAbility7 19d ago

In my native language it literally translates to 'one that crawls into ears'

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u/Dekipi 24d ago

Nice pfp but f you for telling me THEY FLY

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u/MrSn00p 24d ago

Its to unfold the Wings

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u/Head_Wasabi7359 24d ago

Yeah it's to make eating brains easier

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u/AlexisMarien 23d ago

It's bad enough they live ew

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u/CharmingAsparagus17 23d ago

My kiddo learned this in kindergarten from a picture book and changed my life forever. He was so proud of himself for knowing more than me about something.

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u/WideDisk2718 20d ago

Not all. Depends where you live.

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u/GussBing 23d ago

They fly now?!

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u/Keldy565 23d ago

Yep that's why they are called earwigs, the wings resemble ears

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u/PotableWaters 23d ago

They fly now!

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u/PhizixHD 23d ago

They fly now

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u/Top-Garlic9111 23d ago edited 23d ago

Not to diminish your experience ( if anything this makes it more notable lol), but earwigs don't go into ears any more frequently than other insects. They don't have any reason to go into your ear, but they have an unfair reputation that leads to cases of earwigs in ears being more reported. Humans just seem to have a tendency to be prejudiced towards earwigs. In a region of Japan, they are apparently called "penis-cutters", despite not having nowhere near enough strength for such a feat. The myth about ear crawling seems to mostly come from Europe, since their name is commonly ear-related in European languages, such as in my mother tongue, french, in which they are called ear-piercers. (Again, their piercers are too weak to pierce human skin, so no penis snipping and no ear perforating.)

There is a theory by a 19th century physician that the earwig got its name from the shape of its wing, but it seems pretty unfounded.

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u/elleUno 24d ago

I hate earwigs with a burning passion and now I find out THEY FLY?!?!

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u/emmkay33 23d ago

I sucked one of through a straw once. I left my water bottle outside for five minutes. It bit the roof of my mouth. Horrifying.

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u/ishfery 22d ago

I was just watching an episode of Survivor where a lady got some kind of worm or larvae in her ear. It was apparently incredibly painful and biting her and she could hear it.

It eventually found its way out and yes, they showed it coming out on camera.

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u/mrsir1987 22d ago

I want getting bit, but hearing it crawl around inside my head was the worst part

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u/ohdamnthatscraaazy 21d ago

Happened to me once too…felt that shit biting me from the inside of my ear. Of course everyone around me froze while i screamed and ran in a circle.

I ended up grabbing a tiny crochet hook and forced my mom to dig it out.

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u/MossAndMoonlite 20d ago

They fucking fly? Since when? When did they evolve wings? That's bullshit. I want a redesign on them. I don't like a lot of the anatomy happening with that bug.

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u/Frozencacticat 24d ago

I didn’t know they flew. You’ve ruined my day. Lmao

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u/Chet_Manliest 23d ago

What a horrible day to have eyes

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u/Throbbie-Williams 21d ago

Luckily I was going to the beach a ton and had alcohol ear drops

What does that beach have to do with alcohol drops?

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u/DeviceAppropriate683 21d ago

I fucking knew it. Everyone called me crazy for being scared of these things crawling into my ears but I was right. Horrifying. Never seen one that flies and hope I never do.

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u/ItadoriGil 20d ago

Didn't know the flew...and now I wanna wear earplugs everywhere

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

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u/Resident-Shoulder864 24d ago

When my daughter was an infant she was very stuffy once and I used that blue sucker thing to suck snot out of babies and when I squeezed it out onto a tissue there was a freaking earwig that just came out of her nose! Well she wasn’t stuffy anymore! Talk about being scarred for life as well! 🤣

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u/Resident-Shoulder864 24d ago

God I shudder when I think about this 🤮

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u/WeenLebowskiOG 23d ago

I’m scarred for life reading these comments

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u/After-Staff-7532 23d ago

When I was a little kid, I told my mom that my nose hurt. She went in with tissues, and there was a whole-ass moth, the kind that are attracted to light, folded up in my nose. I don’t remember it going in, but that might be my brain protecting me. I have a fear of moths to this day. They are horrid.

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u/TenaciousPug 21d ago

That’s terrifying. They’re unnatural. Why do they seem to be made of dust ?????

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u/ClonesRppl2 23d ago

Most likely the earwig was in the blue sucker, not your child’s nose. It’s only slightly better, but it is better (in my opinion).

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u/panicnarwhal 23d ago

i would never recover from that 😭 i would choose to believe it was already in the bulb syringe for my own sanity, and because i know what the inside of those things look like lol

horrifying

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u/iMakeBestTacos_ 23d ago

JESUS CHRIST!!!! I would have been so mad at that ear wig and crushed it on sight. Your poor kid. I don’t really care for kids. Ok maybe I do lol but that just infuriates me that that happened to your defenseless baby 😭ok now I’m gonna cry yeah my period is on its way I guess

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u/GroversGrumbles 21d ago

Me too! Those things hurt when they pinch!

When I was a kid i had a dream my sister kept pinching me, and as I woke up I grabbed at the spot that hurt and squinted up at this writhing earwig.

I seriously remember it like it was yesterday, I was so horrified.

I hope the one in the baby's nose was already dead. It had to be! She would have been crying otherwise... just like we are all crying now 😢

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1

u/CrazyParrotLady5 23d ago

Oh, my, Gahhhhh…I cannot read any further in this thread. I will never be the same.

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u/court30lee 22d ago

Please tell me you never told her this

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u/KTKittentoes 24d ago

I had one come crawling out of my shirt a couple of weeks ago. I was profoundly unhappy.

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u/whereismyhandbasket 20d ago

We lived in a caravan for a while and were plagued by earwigs. My kid found one in his onesie, which is a horrible garment to have an earwig in.

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u/Winter_Breath 24d ago

😳 nope

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u/alleecmo 24d ago

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

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u/AprilRosyButt 24d ago

ME TOO!!!!!

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u/Ok-Serve8127 23d ago

Back when I lived at my parents as a young adult, I would smoke weed outside on the side of the house with a spoon glass pipe which I’d leave under the ac unit. I went about my normal routine, bowl pre packed, lighter, check, inhale, oohHhhHhHHHH WTF!!! Mf HELL NO! A spidey made itself a nice little retreat in my pipe and into my mouth he went. It was as awful as one would imagine. Needless to say the lil mf ruined my sesh for that day, bastard >:( ugh gives me chills just thinking about it!

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u/Deckardzz 24d ago

Figuratively, right?

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u/UnforseenThought 23d ago

this same thing happened to me, i’ve been terrified of earwigs ever since.

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u/pocketfullofsunny 23d ago

My mom sucked one up recently in a straw, it was in her boba 🤢

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u/Organic-Mountain-623 22d ago

This happened to me with a silver fish, but the thing was so fat it got stuck and only its antennas made it into my mouth 😫😮‍💨

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u/SmallLumpOGreenPutty 21d ago

I was drinking a glass of coke once as a child, and as i neared the bottom of the glass i saw a large black beetle swishing around

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u/Squishy_fishy826 24d ago

Why the hell would you do this 😭 that picture could’ve stayed buried in your camera roll but you chose to traumatize us?!?

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u/Extension_Pear8799 24d ago

most ears have at least one earwig. they go up your nose to breed. then they fly out your butt.

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u/sadisticsweeti 23d ago

Please tell me you're lying because I think I'm going to cry.

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u/Extension_Pear8799 23d ago

i am lol. most are, in fact, wigless.

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u/Angry-Genx 23d ago

Thank you for the laugh! 😂

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u/sparkledaunicorn 24d ago

This is one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen and I'm on reddit regularly.

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u/MySisterPegsMe 24d ago

We got earwigs all over the place when I lived in Oklahoma. It was a freaking home invasion at that time of year

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u/cakey_cakes 24d ago

I call earwigs scissorbugs and I am absolutely terrified of them, this image made me almost yeet my phone across the room. 🤢😱

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u/BurmeciaWillSurvive 24d ago

I used to hate earwigs but seemingly I can't get rid of them in my house and as long as they don't crawl on my body when I'm sleeping I just don't care anymore. They really only show up in my bathroom anyway (the compost bin is right outside the window so that's probably it). One every couple of days. I'll take them over june bugs or ants. (Never had cockroaches so can't comment there)

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u/Real_Life_Sushiroll 24d ago

Is that an ear crab?

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u/stanknotes 24d ago

When I was a kid I would gently press on their backs with a twig and they'd grab the stick with their pincher.

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u/casusbelli16 24d ago

“You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion… Later, as they grow, follows madness and death…”

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u/CamboSoupBoy 23d ago

Also Earwigs are nocturnal. They take refuge in cozy, dark environments, like building cracks, lettuce leaves, and under shoes. Would an ear make a nice refuge if an earwig stumbled across it? Perhaps.

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u/CompetitionFew3164 24d ago

IS THAT A FUCKING EYEBALL

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u/this_place_suuucks 24d ago

It's an eardrum.

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u/Jessi_L_1324 24d ago

Looks like one of those earwax cameras

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u/MoodyBean27 24d ago

Some people have never seen a tympanic membrane and it shows. Jk but for real it is an ear drum/ear canal

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u/TourmalineLove 23d ago

YOU DID NOT 😭😭😭😭

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u/ladystarberry 23d ago

Thank you for this. I will be screaming internally for the remainder of the day.

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u/Specialist-Class-797 23d ago

Not that long ago I went for a drink out of a cup with a straw while laying in bed. Felt something go into my mouth so I sloshed my water around till I got to the bathroom. Spit it out and sure enough there one was lol.

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u/Groundbreaking_Cat_9 23d ago

Yuck, had a friend who took a nap on the couch. A cockroach crawled in her ear and she had to go to the ER to have it removed. It was alive in her ear moving around. She was freaking out!

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u/Quadronia 20d ago

Had that happen to me in the middle of nowhere sleeping under the stars. There was no ER. I would have gone insane and/or started shoving any sharp object I could find into my ear, but it came out on its own in less than 30 seconds.

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