Many of us living in Brisbane will have seen silverfish in our home before. If you haven’t actually seen silverfish themselves, it’s likely you’ve seen evidence of them in your house, shed or garage. You might have even seen evidence without even knowing it!
This is why we’ve put together this article to help you identify them, their habitats and what you can do about them if they’re in your home.
What are Silverfish?
Silverfish have been around for a very long time – longer than humans. They’re actually considered one of the earliest, most primitive insects and evolved around 400 million years ago. So you could say throughout the entirety of human history we’ve had to live with silverfish.
If you look at them closely you will see they actually have a silvery scale like appearance – hence the name Silverfish, and they certainly look very prehistoric when compared to other prehistoric animals like the Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, the Eurypterida and the Arthropleura.
What do Silverfish eat?
Silverfish love eating things like cardboard, cloth and paper. It’s not so much that these are a tasty food source – it’s the cellulose, carbohydrates, sugars and starches they find in these items they’re really going for. Many customers complain of Silverfish eating photos, books and documents in storage. This is because paper-based products are a great food source for silverfish.
Where do silverfish live?
Anywhere that’s dark, damp and has a readily available food source is heaven for Silverfish. This means all those boxes you have in storage in your shed, garage, roof or spare room filled with books, photos, clothes or documents are a prime target for silverfish and you may find that you head on out to go through your collection, only to find it’s been eaten and chewed.
What are the signs of silverfish in the home?
Most customers will usually see a live Silverfish and that brings to their attention they may have a problem and need a silverfish treatment. Brisbane has a fairly humid temperature, which Silverfish love, so keep an eye out either for:
- Live silverfish in your home
- Feces that looks like small black balls (looks like tiny peppercorns)
- Damage to boxes, books or clothing
- Yellow stains around boxes or papers that have been damaged
How to stop Silverfish in your home
As we said earlier in the article, Silverfish have been around for over 400 million years so we’re never going to get rid of them entirely but we can deny them their food source to reduce the opportunity for them to feed, along with using pest control methods to stop them coming into our homes in the first place. Making sure you regularly vacuum areas where there’s dust and make sure food isn’t stored in cardboard boxes in the bottom of your cupboard for extended periods.
The best way to make sure that you stop Silverfish in your home is to have us conduct a thorough pest inspection and subsequent pest treatment on your home that will not only kill the Silverfish, but also their eggs.
Call us today on 1300 057 067 to find out more about our Silverfish treatment options.