The Earwig Redeems Herself

Remember my post about the female earwig who wasn't exhibiting the proper maternal care towards her eggs? Well, I think my first hypothesis was correct, that maybe she didn't have time to reach the eggs when I turned over the brick, because she was already in the burrow at the time. Yesterday I photographed the eggs again and discovered that she had moved them a few centimeters. Earwig mothers commonly do this, moving the eggs one by one, often cleaning them. Compare the photos:

Sunday.

Monday.

And I noticed with disappointment that the mother was in her burrow as before, away from her eggs:

But today she redeemed herself, for on turning over the brick I saw that she had moved the eggs into her burrow and was guarding them as a proper earwig mother should. Her body was also covered in dirt, indicating that she had been "remodeling" the burrow a bit to accommodate her young. And you can see evidence of that, for the hollowed-out area where the eggs were yesterday has since been covered over.

I'm going to keep checking in on her and the eggs, and hopefully there will be some baby earwigs scurrying around before long. I'll try my best to get some photos.