Have you noticed signs of pests causing harm to your home recently? Worse still, you spot peculiar, silver-hued bugs creeping around during the night. What could these mysterious creatures be? How did they infiltrate your home?
There’s a mix of good and bad news.
The bad news is that you’re likely dealing with a silverfish infestation. The good news, however, is that it’s not a permanent situation.
The Bug Specialist as part of our domestic pest control offerings, can handle silverfish infestations right at your Sydney residence.
Meanwhile, here’s an overview of what a silverfish is and some of our top advice on how to prevent it and keep your home pest-free for the foreseeable future.
What Are Silverfish?
Silverfish, scientifically known as Lepisma saccharinum, are one of the most common nuisance insects globally, sometimes referred to as bristletails or paper fish.
Silverfish are omnivorous feeders that consume items high in carbohydrates. They have a particular fondness for paper and will consume boxes, books, and other items around the house.
These bugs are silver or grey and are often likened to fish due to the tiny scales that cover their bodies.
The body is broadest at the head and tapers towards the rear, where three long, bristle-laden appendages are found. One of the appendages extends directly from the body’s end, while the other two jut out at 90-degree angles from the left and right sides of the body.
Silverfish can live up to eight years and vary in size from 0.5″ to 1″. As they are nocturnal, these insects are seldom seen during the day.
What Attracts Silverfish to Your Home?
If you’re dealing with a silverfish infestation, you might be wondering where these bugs originate from. Here are some factors that will attract silverfish to your home and where you’ll most often find them:
Suitable Habitat
Silverfish usually reside in damp, secure areas like the cracks under logs and rocks or in leaf litter. However, in a home environment, they are often found under furniture, in books, in basements, or near sinks. They need moisture to survive, so they’ll settle anywhere in your home where there’s ample moisture.
A Place to Lay Eggs
Silverfish tend to lay their eggs in hidden, dark, and damp areas of a home. The eggs are bulbous in shape and either yellow or white in colour.
A Place to Hide
Silverfish prefer to settle in safe spaces, such as in bookcases, behind furniture, or in damp basements. Making your home uninhabitable for silverfish will help get rid of them, but if the infestation is severe, you may need the help of a pest control expert.
Food Sources Like all insects, silverfish need to eat. These insects consume dried items, such as cereal and pet food, as well as starchy foods like fibres, sugars, textiles, grains, and dried goods.
The fact that silverfish naturally consume nearly everything, from starches and carbohydrates to protein, contributes partly to why these creepy crawlies are so difficult to eradicate. They consume composting plant matter, leaves, and other decomposing materials in their natural habitat. However, they will cheerfully chow down on food leftovers, lost pet food, and dried products like sugar, wheat, and cereal in your home.
Is having silverfish a sign that your home is dirty?
Contrary to popular belief, dirty homes do not attract silverfish. Instead, silverfish presence usually means moisture is present in a house. Silverfish will thrive in even clean dwellings, since they devour common building and construction materials.
Nevertheless, silverfish view the home’s dusty spaces as a buffet. Silverfish can typically survive on only dust because dust is primarily composed of organic material, such as human skin and dander.
How to Detect a Silverfish Infestation? Do you suspect the presence of silverfish in your house?
Here are some ways how you can detect a silverfish infestation:
Presence of Live Silverfish
The presence of live silverfish is the first indication of a silverfish infestation. The colour of these tiny, adaptable, and slippery insects ranges from blue-silver to brown-grey. They have a teardrop form and move by wiggling back and forth, much like a fish does when swimming.
Since silverfish are nocturnal, it can be challenging to spot them, but even one living silverfish is a good sign that you have an infestation happening somewhere in the house.
Unusual Droppings
The faeces of silverfish are quite distinctive. They resemble tiny black peppercorns and are frequently located in areas where silverfish like to congregate, such as the underside of cabinets or the backs of furniture.
Due to their small size, silverfish droppings are frequently mistaken for dust or other household debris. However, you will know that you have these uninvited guests if you sweep once and their droppings keep coming back.
Skin Moults
Throughout their entire lives, silverfish shed their skin. Despite being tiny, delicate, and translucent, the outer shells they shed are a reliable sign of a silverfish infestation.
Yellows Stains on Some of Your Stuff Even if you don’t see the silverfish moulting their skin, you might observe the golden dust they leave behind on surfaces. These yellow stains frequently appear on clothing, books, papers, and cardboard boxes.
Signs of Damage
Identifying the damage that silverfish are causing is one of the quickest ways to find them. Silverfish eat starchy food, including cardboard, wallpaper, clothes, and linens. To determine whether you have a silverfish infestation, look for holes on items that have been bitten through.
How to Prevent Silverfish Infestation?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of treatment when it comes to silverfish infestations. To avoid future silverfish infestations in your home, follow these tips:
Maintain a Clean Home at All Times
Pests of all kinds can be avoided by keeping the house clean. Additionally, this gives you an opportunity to find moulting skin and other telltale symptoms of an insect infestation, such as droppings. In light of this, dust and vacuum your home at least once a week, or more often if you have pets or children.
Store Your Dry and Pet Food in Airtight Containers
Put food in boxes, such as cereal, into airtight, sealed containers. Large rubber tubs with tight-fitting covers are ideal for storing larger bags. Immediately clean up any food spillage.
Remove Accessible Food Sources
Always remember that silverfish consume both organic and inorganic things. Remove external food sources like brush piles, dead plants, wood piles, and leaf piles to deter them. Keep leaves, shrubs, and other moisture-rich material away from the exterior of your property. Secure all food sources inside (as mentioned above), and clear the inside of your home of clutter like stacks of paper and cardboard boxes.
Eliminate Moisture in Your Home
Store your clothes in a cool, dry location to help reduce humidity in your home. If your house is frequently moist, keep them out of the basement and install a dehumidifier.
Seal Cracks or Any Tiny Gaps
Caulk can be used to fill tiny gaps around windows and doors, blocking potential entry sites used by pests like silverfish to enter your home.
Pay Attention to Proper Ventilation
Keep in mind that silverfish enjoy moisture. Concentrate on ventilation in warm, moist spaces like bathrooms to make your home as hostile as you can for them. To maintain a cool, dry environment, you can also utilise a vent fan or a dehumidifier.
The Bug Specialist Gets Rid of Your Silverfish Dilemma
When you hire an established pest control company like Pest Police, here’s what you can expect from us:
We Conduct a Thorough Inspection Every time, our personnel begin with a careful and thorough inspection. One of our specialists will examine your home’s interior and exterior spaces to spot any locations where pest activity is particularly intense and locate any potential entry points.
Additionally, we will assess the surroundings to see what the silverfish may rely on, such as landscaping, water sources, breeding areas, and food sources.
We Deploy and Create a Customised Plan We’ll create a pest management strategy based on the results of our inspection in order to assist in reducing silverfish populations.
This pest management strategy will include all essential procedures and methods that concentrate on getting rid of the pests and addressing the infestation’s root causes.
Related Posts
