If you had had a sprayer of soapy water with you, you could have fought
back very effectively. Earwigs are *extremely* vulnerable to soapy water.
You just need to score a direct hit.

Spray them while they are feeding at night. Then spray their hiding places
during the day. (Bark crevices, cracks where boards meet, wood piles, wood
chips -- the places they explode out of when disturbed during the day.)


Really, spraying them with a soap solution will kill them? Seems too
good to be true, but worth a shot nonetheless.

So what, a couple spritzes of dish soap in a spray bottle, shake it up
and spray?