Can you show us a picture of the bugs?

i have one photo, but i dont know if its the same ones i found before. its similar though. the tiny ones i have no clue, just saw it moving and smashed it.

here is one i found today on some babies outside (that was previously left alone, i think they prefer more mature leaves? it never had a damaged leaf before and now has a couple with holes.) and fresh damage indoors since yesterday

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/20150610_113451_zpsvz2y7j7g.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/20150610_145303_zpsqi6mr6ng.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/20150610_145336_zpsczdq6vol.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/20150610_145410_zpswj2xh367.jpg

The insect in your first picture looks like an earwig.

Thats what I thought as well. The ones I've been catching on the basil (usually at night) were similar body shape, but nothing on the rear end. A bit larger and darker. I never got any photos of the ones that I think are eating the basil. The beetle looking things, or the tiny flea looking ones (wouldn't be possible to get a photo of one of those, I just barely was able to kill it in time) The pictures are mostly about the damage to the leaves. I have no idea whats eating it, as I haven't caught anything in the act of eating. I think its happening at night.

i think the earwigs are eating my basil, i kncoked one off tonight to find a hole where it had been.

pretty sure the damage is from earwigs. i squished 2 on my basil this morning. i set traps last night but they were empty. unsurprising because the directions were to set on the ground or bury in the ground (like water or oil traps in containers). i put toilet paper rolls stuffed with wet toilet paper on the pots, and the others next to the pots. added more D.E. before bed, maybe why I caught 2 this morning. I'll try a borax and oatmeal bait tonight too but im getting at wits end. Here is 24 hours worth of ruined leaves:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Lin_171/20150612_170648_zpsgucmwckg.jpg

since i had to figure it out on my own, I thought Id report back on whats finally working for others in the future.

I started with soap spray with cayenne pepper, didnt help the large damage but did help the tiny holes.

Next I added diatomaceous earth (de) to the soil at night. since the soil is so moist, by morning it would be wet and useless against insects.

I flooded the pots to kill as many things living in the soil as possible, and started keeping them inside.

At this point I was still getting extreme damage, losing about a half cup of leaves a day from just 3 small plants.

I tried earwig traps, an oil trap, soapy water with oil around the inside rim trap, and wet newspaper traps. I only ever killed 3 earwigs total with these (this is indoors) while still getting tons of damage.

Next I set up earwig bait, oatmeal and borax, and instead of putting de in the soil dusted the leaves with it. I set up the bait on its own, and put some on top of the soil for anything coming out of it. The next morning I had almost NO damage. I think because they ate the oatmeal bait instead of leaves. I used ground up oatmeal i had leftover from making colloidal oatmeal and sifting out the pieces. After a few days of this and getting NO damage finally, Ive started putting my basil outside during the day. I keep the leaves dusted with de (i use food grade de, I feed it to my pets) and place borax traps nearby but not so close to encourage insects into my basil. Im getting slight damage, but its going to have to be the toss off for bringing the plants back outside where they get the sun they need. I put them out in the morning and bring them back in around 7 pm to stick in the windows. This is so its well before the earwigs come out of hiding for the evening and night meals.