Earwig Control in Washington

What's Driving Earwig Control Demand in Washington

The European earwig has a genuinely unusual history in Washington: it was first documented in North America in Seattle in 1907, likely arriving in soil around imported nursery plants, making western Washington essentially ground zero for the species' spread across the entire continent before it reached Oregon two years later and eventually the rest of the country. More than a century of established presence, combined with the region's persistently damp climate that keeps garden mulch and foundation perimeters consistently moist, means earwig populations in western Washington are about as thoroughly entrenched as the species gets anywhere in North America, rather than a comparatively recent arrival still expanding its range the way it is in some other parts of the country. That long establishment doesn't necessarily mean worse damage than elsewhere, earwigs are still primarily a nuisance rather than a structural pest, but it does mean western Washington homeowners are dealing with one of the country's oldest and most settled earwig populations rather than a newly arrived one.

Licensing in Washington: Washington regulates structural pest work through the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), which issues Commercial Applicator pesticide licenses covering the actual application of pesticides in and around structures; both the individual applicator and the business itself must be licensed, and applicators must pass a Laws and Safety exam plus the relevant category exam. Inspecting a building for termites, carpenter ants, wood boring beetles, and wood rot for a real estate transaction requires a separate credential, a Structural Pest Inspector (SPI) license, which is only valid for issuing a complete wood destroying organism report if the inspector works for a business that also holds an SPI company license. Both license types require recertification every five years. Removing nuisance wildlife such as raccoons or squirrels for a fee is licensed through an entirely different state agency: the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife certifies Wildlife Control Operators, who must pass a trapper education exam and a WCO certification course, with permits valid for three years.