Earwig Minibeast Adventure with Jess

Hello, adventurers. I'm Jess.

It's time for a Minibeast Adventure!

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Creeping, sleeping, under stones here and there

# Nesting, resting Minibeasts are everywhere

# Minibeasts are everywhere Look and listen, stop and stare

# Minibeasts are everywhere A Minibeast Adventure

# Feelers out, what's about?

# Minibeasts are everywhere Look and listen, stop and stare

# Many worlds for us to share A Minibeast Adventure

# With Jess. #

Welcome to my treehouse. This minibeast has a very funny name.

It's called an earwig but first let's get one thing out of the way.

They don't go in your ears.

They live in dark, damp places, like in rotting leaves.

They're lovely and shiny, aren't they?

Earwigs usually come out at night.

Ooh, so I've might have woken these ones up. Sorry, earwigs.

Look at its shiny, long, leathery body.

Perfect for sliding into small cracks or under bits of bark.

Earwigs have long antennae

that help them sense the world around them.

As with all insects, earwigs have six legs.

They also have wings which are difficult to spot

because earwigs don't fly a lot.

But the most interesting part of an earwig is its pincers.

Look at these. Aren't they amazing?

Earwigs use their pincers to catch other creatures and eat them.

They also use their pincers to protect themselves

and they could give you a little nip, but it wouldn't hurt.

Now, the really cool thing about their pincers is that you can

tell whether it's a male, a boy earwig,

or a female, a girl earwig,

by the shape of their pincers.

Let's have a look.

This is the boy and he has curved pincers.

And here's a girl earwig. She has straight pincers.

So there's something to look out for when we go on our earwig adventure.

Now, guess what?

You might not have seen it

but there is probably an earwig living right near you.

Shall we go and find it?

Come on!

Whatever the weather, we're off together on a Minibeast Adventure!

-Hi, Muhammad. Hi, Sidney.

-Hi, Jess.

-Hi, Jess.

Great to see you. Today we're going on an earwig adventure.

Earwigs come out at night, but it's day, isn't it?

So we're going to have to look really hard.

Do you think you can do that?

Get your feelers ready then.

Feelers out, what's about?

We're off on a Minibeast Adventure!

What have we got in here?

HE SCREAMS

-I want to pick it up.

-What is it?

That's a slug. Wow! Look at that.

That's a tiny slug.

It's a bit too slimy to be an earwig, though, isn't it?

Shall we put him back?

Because we're not looking for slugs, we're looking for earwigs.

-Is there anywhere else we could look?

-BOTH: On the balcony!

On the balcony! Great, let's go.

Sidney's playing inside but we're

-still going to have an earwig adventure, aren't we?

-Yeah!

I'm going to give you something special in case we find an earwig.

It's a special box to put it in. Can you look after that for me?

Excellent. Now, where on this balcony could we find earwigs?

-In the flower.

-In the flower, brilliant.

Let's have a look then.

Earwigs like damp, dark places,

so maybe they might be living underneath the pot.

Shall we have a look?

Can you see anything down there?

-Yeah.

-What's that?

Wow, that's beautiful. What is it?

-It's got a long tail.

-Shall we see if we can catch it?

-I can catch it.

-You can catch it, can you?

Yes, you've got it!

Wow! We found an earwig.

-High-five. Yes!

-It's got two things.

What are those things?

-Crab snappers.

-Crab snappers! They are crab snappers, aren't they?

They're like crabs' claws on the back of its bum.

What do you think she uses those crab snappers, those pincers, for?

-Eating stuff.

-For catching stuff to eat?

What do her pincers look like?

-This.

-Straight, aren't they? Yeah, really straight.

And that means she is a girl.

And if she was a boy she would have pincers like?

-Fat.

-Fat. Yeah, like curved.

Shall we put her back with her friends now?

Come on then. Put her back under the plant.

Do you know where your skeleton is?

It's right inside your body.

But an earwig has its skeleton on the outside of its body,

which helps to keep it safe.

One way we can help earwigs and other minibeasts in the garden is

to leave an untidy corner, somewhere outside,

so they can come and hide in it.

Earwigs love old logs and leaves so we have some here to build

-an earwig hotel. Can you help me?

-Yes.

-Excellent.

So, we're going to take some of these logs and put them

as tight as we can in that corner down there.

Would you like one, Sidney? There you go.

Lots of minibeasts can come and hide there.

There's one on there already. What a brilliant hotel.

That was a woodlouse. Do you want to put that one down there as well?

We'll make a nice pile. Oh, these ones aren't real logs.

These are cardboard, that's been rolled up to look like

a log, but they've got lots of places for insects to hide.

Keep it in that corner as much as you can, that's it.

-I'm making a slide for them.

-Excellent, a slide.

What do you think would use the slide?

A slug on a slide?

Do you think the slugs might use your slide? Yeah, brilliant.

Who do you think might hide in here?

-Wiggly worm.

-Wiggly worm. Maybe, yes.

Oh, you need another bit, Sidney? Here you go.

-Oh!

-What's there?

-Nothing.

Look in there! Wow, can you see that, Sidney?

Look in there.

-Woodlice.

-What's that?

-That's a bit of old cloth.

One of their favourite things to hide in.

Would you like another piece of wood to put in?

There you go. I think that's the last bit.

Now we just need to leave the hotel alone

and see if any minibeasts or any earwigs move in.

You can find minibeasts wherever you live, and hopefully

Muhammad and Sidney will have some moving into their woodpile.

You could go on an earwig adventure.

You might have to look very hard and you might need

a grown-up to lift things up so you can look underneath.

If you do spot an earwig, you can see if it's a male or a female.

Feelers out, what's about? Happy hunting, adventurers.