Silverfish (was - Insect help)

woywover

Hi all- please tell me what this is?? Finding lots of them (Dublin) and their glasslike babies!

Alun

It's a silverfish.

The Pheasant

woywover wrote: »

Hi all- please tell me what this is?? Finding lots of them (Dublin) and their glasslike babies!

Looks like a silverfish, you may need pest control to get rid of them

Alun

Yes they're nasty little buggers. They got into our bookshelf, and started eating paper .. lots of pages of our books now have little holes nibbled in them. They like some foods too, especially starchy foods, so if you have them in your kitchen, inspect all paper and cardboard packaging in your presses.

woywover

Oh God!!! That sound awful, thanks for your quick responses. Pest control required???!?

Desmo

woywover wrote: »

Oh God!!! That sound awful, thanks for your quick responses. Pest control required???!?

You may just need to tidy up damp areas and old shelves. If you kill them off and do not get rid of where they live, they are likely to come back anyway. Damp kitchen corners are a classic habitat. They like the heat and the damp and the food scraps.

The Pheasant

They reason they like books is because they like to eat the binding glue; a friend of mine had an infestation because they were eating the glue in the wallpaper! How weird is that?

woywover

Thanks a million everyone. I have a friend who's brother in law works in pest control who gave me great advise. Happy to share.
What's needed is a product containing Permethrin. Readily available but the stronger ones are tricky to find.
B&Q had a few choices - best ones are cock roach spray. Procedure is to apply to perimeter of rooms they are found in. Kills them in 48 hours (my experience is that it killed 3 of them within 3 hours. Hoping I can nail them all.
If any eggs laid and hatched ill just have to keep reapplying.
Thanks for your help.

Silverfish

Alun wrote: »

Yes they're nasty little buggers. They got into our bookshelf, and started eating paper .. lots of pages of our books now have little holes nibbled in them. They like some foods too, especially starchy foods, so if you have them in your kitchen, inspect all paper and cardboard packaging in your presses.

I never did.

recedite

The great thing about silverfish is that they can digest celluose, so they can live off tiny amounts of wood in your floorboards or skirting boards.
I wouldn't worry about them, I'd say most houses have them, even a modern house with central heating. I saw one recently in a new apartment block, on the second floor.
The only time you would normally see them is if your eyesight is very good, and you go into a room late at night, and switch on a light suddenly.
Anyway, I'd prefer to have silverfish in the floorboards than have pyrethrin in the air I'm breathing.