Hobbies And Interests
Identification
An adult silverfish is typically 1/2 inch long. The insect garners its name from the silver color it has over the entire body's upper portion. The body is slender and flattened in appearance, in some ways having the same shape as a carrot. Silverfish lack wings, and possess a pair of long antennae on the head with three appendages in the rear that remind one of antennae. Two curve away from the body while one goes straight back.
Habits
Silverfish are nocturnal insects, moving about freely at night and hiding during the daylight hours. If someone moves something that conceals a silverfish, the bug scampers rapidly away to find a new place to secure itself from view. Damp and cool places along with humid spots are havens for the silverfish, with bathrooms, kitchens, attics and the basement the parts of the house where these pests normally live.
Diet
Some of the things silverfish like to eat include wallpaper paste, which explains why these bugs often exist in walls. Their diet includes sugars, proteins and starches, with cereal, wheat flour and the starch found in the bindings of books all on their menu. Glue and paste attract silverfish and put books at risk from their feeding habits. Silverfish will chew minute holes in linen, silk and cotton fabrics despite not having the ability to digest the material. The fungi and mold that grow on certain surfaces will also appeal to silverfish as food.
Life Cycle
It takes three months for a silverfish to progress from the egg stage to an adult. The adult will lay eggs anytime year round. The eggs take from 19 to 43 days to hatch. One female can produce well over 100 eggs during its lifespan, laying the eggs by themselves or in groups of two or three. The young closely resemble the adults but are considerably smaller. Most insects do not keep shedding their skins once they achieve the adult stage, but silverfish continue to molt their entire lives, often giving themselves away in a home when the owner discovers the shed skins.
Prevention/Solution
By bringing the relative humidity in a home down, the owner may limit the appeal of certain spots to silverfish. The removal of old newspapers, books, fabric and magazines can rob silverfish of food. Leaky plumbing causes wetness and moisture to build up, so fixing any pipes will deter silverfish. Placing lighting in usually dark spots can drive the bugs to somewhere that the homeowner can more easily deal with them. The fact that silverfish can live inside a wall makes it difficult to eliminate them with the application of insecticides, but treating every crack and crevice with powders and sprays is a start in controlling populations.