Silverfish
Silverfish are household pests, silvery to grey in colour and approximately 1 1/2 – 2 cm long. They are wingless and look a little ‘fishlike’ having scales like fish and a tapered body at both ends.
Adult Silverfish (L)-Do-it-yourself Pest Control, Adult Silverfish (R)-Integrated Pest Management of Alaska
Description
They are very quick when surprised, such as turning on a light or a sudden movement.
Habitat and Lifecycle
Silverfish are found worldwide, live in homes, vacant buildings, hospitals, attics, bathrooms and other places that are dark, warm and damp. During the day they are generally hiding in cracks, crevices, baseboards and behind furniture. As long as there is food they will continue to thrive. Unlike most insects having 4 lifestages, these guys only have 3. Males leave their sperm on fine silk threads and females then pick it up fertilizes her eggs. The females lay their eggs 1-4 per day and hatching occurs after 2-3 weeks. Egg to adult is approximately 4 months. They shed thier skins several times per year and can live up to 3 years. In their lifetime they can lay several hundred eggs.
Silverfish damage (L)-Home & Garden Information Center, Silverfish damage (R)-Clemson University
Diet and Damage
Thier main diet is high in protein and carbohydrates. This includes food stuffs, books, paper, wallpaper, attic insulation, cardboard, drywall, cotton clothing and many other household items. Indications of silverfish includes small irregular holes and also tiny yellow stains.
Control
1 Pot Stickers – you can buy these or make your own with bright yellow card coated with a sticky substance like tanglefoot. Sticky traps placed on the floor are very effective.
2 Reducing moisture in the home is the most important since they need dampness to survive. Using dehumidifiers in areas where silverfish are present will help reduce their numbers.
3 Silica Dioxide is a non-toxic dust that can be applied to baseboards and areas where they have been seen. This works by drying them out so they shrivel up and die.
4 Vaccuum regularily to keep the population at bay
5 Keeping moist debris out of the house is also good practice
August 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I have a “critter” something like this one (silverfish) but it has white dots on it and the tail looks more like a lobster or scorpion tail than the one shown. Can you please help us figure out what this is and if it is harmful to my children (can it go in their ears or mouths while sleeping?) ? I hate the things! They’re always falling from the ceiling or out of nowhere and I am desperate to find a way to get rid of them. There are not a lot of them but enough to notice from time to time and I hate the sight of them! Thank you.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hi,
I am seeing a bug in my apartment that looks like a Silverfish but it doesnt have the antenae? other than that they look alot like a Silverfish. I have a bit of a bug phobia, so this is freaking me out. I want to know what kind of a bug this is, and if they are dangerous, and how to get rid of them.
please respond
Thanks
Eric
August 25th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Hi i’m Alice i’m only 11 by the way but what exacly are “sliver fish” the internet (apart from your website) wasn’t much use are they harmful please reply.
ALICE
August 28th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
how harmfull are they?!?
September 5th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Hi Alice,
Here is the Wikipedia on Silverfish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverfish
evidently they are not harmful to humans, which is good because i really do not like them. very yucky, but not harmful. Currently, trying to findout what is the best way to get rid of them. I will post that once i find something concrete.
Thanks
Eric
October 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
silverfish are ugly, gross, and scary! what do they feel like???
October 16th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I am currently keeping a very cute little SILVER FISH as a pet. It’s fun to watch. I think Mr. Sleazy is a good name. Don’t you? Pease reply!
December 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hey i have a petty small bathroom and they always seem to be in there they are like really gross and quick please tell me hoe to get rid of them like kinda really quick
thanks
January 6th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
hey from OZ
I have used lavender and rosemary mix, in areas with silverfish and has successfully deterred them.. hope this helps…
cheers
wayne
January 31st, 2009 at 2:01 am
Im keeping a little one as a pet as well…I have it in an old margerine container with a bunch of pinsized holes in the lid…i put a few rocks, some cereal, a leaf, a cotton swob that is damp and a little damp dirt. A funfact that I read said that they can go for up to a year without eating…so im assuming keeping one little bug wont hurt. I dont have the heart to kill it. I cant kill any bugs…its just not in me…I saved it when i washed my hands and nealy sent it down the drain with the water…I think I hurt one of its antanae in the process so I will see how long it lasts…but its my entertainment for a little while
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Wow! Wonderful and very informative! Thank you for all this. I’m hoping to get more into vegetable gardening so this gave me great inspiration
April 9th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
The house we live in is a rental and the silverfish were here when we got here. Can’t find a good way to get rid of them. Our house and garage have straight up been invaded by them! Any good ideas on getting rid of them? They’re absolutlely invasive and disgusting!
Thanks,
Hope
April 16th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Lavender sometimes works… as does mothballs… eradicating them will be impossible but controlling them is easy with the above methods… Funnily enough, I have found a few here, of all places, in my bath tub..lol. Also I found that keeping the outside clean and maintained with lavender plants and other insect repelling plants.
give it a go and see what happens..
cheers
May 13th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Way to go Jacquie! Did you name him(or her)yet? How long are you going to keep the little guy? I agree with you silverfish do make great pets!!!!!!!
June 30th, 2009 at 3:04 am
ugh! silverfish are GROSS!! they fall from my ceiling light…its so nasty,i need to get rid of them like NOW!! please tell me an easy method to get rid of them as soon as possiable…
Thanksz..
Haz3l..=p
July 7th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Yaw crazy!! Keepin insects as pets… Get a hobby dudes!!!!
July 14th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I have a lot of silver fish in my house and they r huge. i need to get rid of them but dont no where excactly to find them. i tried speadin salt arund and that worked 4 like a week. but ineed something perniment. blog back!
freaked
September 21st, 2009 at 3:06 am
Great blog. Thanks for the interesting article. I will send this story to my friends.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
hello,my friend has silver fish in her room.how do we get rid of them???
please reply
victoria
October 17th, 2009 at 1:30 am
I’ve got silverfish in my bathroom and I think they are cute.
When you see them blow lightly on them and watch them freak out and run around. Then suddenly it’s like they forget why they were running and calm down again.
Don’t hurt their antennae. If you break one they seem to just stay there and die because they can’t see any more.
I’ve fed them corn chips, honey, and other things. I even put a popcorn piece on the floor and they dig little holes in it. One night I went in the bathroom and the popcorn was moving. I got on the ground and looked and there was a silverfish laying on his back holding the popcorn chewing on it.
I’ve tried to make friends with them but they are always scared and can’t seem to recognize that I mean them no harm.
They really are fun to watch. They move around like fish and can make you laugh if you watch them. They do stuff that seems silly.
Yeah I’m weird but they are fun to watch.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:44 am
The first time I saw a Silverfish I was sitting on the couch studying for an organic chemistry test last into the night. Something caught my eye and there sitting right next to me on the arm of the couch was one! I didn’t scream but I sure jumped off the couch as fast as could!
I had never seen one before so I didn’t know what it was. I spent a lot of time researching it since I only had one sighting to go on and finally figured it out. There is another insect called a Firebrat which is very similar to Silverfish, but a little more brown. Firebrats have almost the same living conditions as Silverfish, but can withstand lower humidity and like higher temperatures. Other than that most of the following would apply to both-
Not to harmful to humans, but a nuisance.
Habitat: they like places that are warm and humid/damp/wet such as bathrooms, sinks, laundry rooms. They also prefer dark, low light places so they mostly are active during the night. Try to keep things like bathtub/shower stall clean and dry. A dehumidifier will help too or increasing airflow in your house with a fan.
Food Sources: they feed on starchy things, carbohydrates, etc. What this means is that they will feed on the starch in book bindings, paper/cardboard, wallpaper paste, clothing/cotton/silk, and LOVE dry starchy foods (like cereal, grains, etc). Make sure you keep dry cereal in airtight containers because they will lay eggs in it and you might just end up eating them. It wouldn’t hurt you and you probably would never know, but that’s just gross!
Reproduction: they lay eggs in crevices, cracks, and in food sources and it takes about 4-6 weeks from egg to adult. REGULAR (one a week at least) vacuuming around the baseboards, dusting of books and bookcases, cleaning out the cabinets etc will help get rid of the eggs so more don’t hatch.
How I did it:
Since I had a lot of books I also vacuumed the books (cover, around the pages and binding) and shelving frequently as I didn’t want them getting ruined. Since I have a dog who is inside during the day while I worked and went to school, I didn’t want him getting curious and eating any poison so I found natural home remedies.
Somewhere I read that cucumber skins are a deterrent – I couldn’t think of why, so I tested this by placing a silverfish in a jar with a cucumber peel to see what would happen. It didn’t really “deter” the thing – he just sat there. So I left it overnight with a lid on and a hole poked for air. Well the next morning he was dried up! Whatever compound is in the cucumber peel must suck up moisture or something.
So I put cucumber peels on all the shelves around my books hoping to kill/deter any adults or eggs. The peels took about 10 days to dry up and then I vacuumed well again and put another round of fresh peels around the books. I also sealed up my cereal (I did end up throwing a box away that looked like it had egg casings in it). I vacuumed by the floor boards more often and kept the bathroom drier by running the fan longer after I showered and taking a dry cloth and wiping down any condensation on the outside of the shower glass.
As I knew lavender is a good deterrent for scorpions and moths, I also put dried lavender and rosemary sprigs around here and there, then sprayed the baseboards with a simple mixture of lavender essential oil and rosemary “tea” (I would have used rosemary essential oil but didn’t have any at the time, so I seeped dried rosemary in water).
I saw one silverfish after the first round of “extermination” but none after that. I’ve read cloves work well too – so maybe add that your dried lavender/rosemary potpourri if you have a bad problem.
You may find other unwanted house pests disappear with the triple threat of lavender/rosemary/cloves and the great thing is that even if a baby ate it or put a dusty dried cucumber peel in his/her mouth while crawling around it’s not going to hurt them. And you’re not breathing chemicals either…so good luck!