Have you recently observed indications that pests are damaging your home? Even worse, you see strange, silvery insects slithering around at night. What are these ominous creatures? How did they enter your home?
There’s good news and bad news.
You most likely have a silverfish infestation, which is terrible news. The good news is that you don’t have to put up with it indefinitely.
As part of our residential pest control services, Pest Police Australia can deal with silverfish infestations right in your Melbourne home.
In the meantime, here’s a guide on what a silverfish is and a few of our best tips on preventing it and keeping your home bug-free for years to come.
What Are Silverfish?
One of the most prevalent nuisance insects worldwide is the silverfish. Their scientific name is Lepisma saccharinum, and they are occasionally referred to as bristletails or paper fish.
Silverfish are omnivorous eaters that only eat items rich in carbohydrates. They particularly enjoy eating paper and will devour boxes, books, and other household items.
These insects are silver or grey in colour and people frequently compare them to fish because of the small scales covering their bodies.
The body is largest at the head and narrows towards the back, where three long, bristle-covered appendages are located. One of the appendages extends straight from the body’s end, while the other two protrude at 90-degree angles from the left and right sides of the torso.
Silverfish can live for up to eight years and range in size from 0.5″ to 1″. Because they are nocturnal, the insects are rarely found during the day.
What Attracts Silverfish to Your Home?
If you have a silverfish infestation, you may wonder where the bugs come from. The following are some factors that will draw silverfish into your home and where you will most frequently find them:
Decent Habitat
Silverfish typically inhabit moist, secure spaces like the crevices beneath logs and rocks or in the leaf litter. However, in a home setting, they are typically found beneath furniture, in books, in basements, or close to sinks. They require moisture to survive, so they’ll settle anywhere in your house where there’s a lot of moisture.
A Place Where They Can Lay Eggs
Silverfish tend to lay their eggs in a home’s concealed, dark, and moist spaces. The eggs are bulbous in form and either yellow or white in colour.
A Place Where They Can Hide
Silverfish prefer to settle in safe spaces, such as in bookcases, behind furniture, or in moist basements. Making your home uninhabitable for silverfish will help eliminate them, but if the infestation is serious, you may require a pest control expert’s assistance.
Food Sources
Silverfish, like all insects, need to eat. These insects eat 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.
Pest Police 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.
We Provide On-Going Pest Control
Once the initial silverfish infestation has been eradicated, we’ll offer continuous pest management services to prevent them from returning.
Although we often offer quarterly or monthly pest control services that countless Melbourne residents trust, we’ll decide what frequency is best for you based on the characteristics of your home and the severity of your current silverfish problem.
The inspection specialists employed by Pest Police Australia are thoroughly qualified, accredited, and licensed. We always adhere strictly to the applicable Australian Standard and provide obligation-free quotations to further highlight the value we offer for all our pest control services.
For any pest control services you may need, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free quote today!