Any idea what this insect is?

Shades799

Hi Folks, starting to see more and more of these little buggers at night in my house, kitchen and bathroom mostly, they come out at night and run back to dark when I turn on the lights. They seem to be stored up in cracks in the skirting. Any ideas would be hugely helpful, thanks!

Shades799

Some further searching on a sleepless night lead me to see that's it's a silver fish.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverfish

Harmless enough as far as I can see so I'll leave it be!

Rancid

I regularly see a few in the downstairs loo, a suitably dark place for them until I turn on the light. They seem to survive on the "dust" from the toilet rolls!
Harmless little creatures.

seagull

Rancid wrote: »

Harmless little creatures.

Tell that to your books. They like paper, so if you get a lot, they can do serious damage to the contents of your bookcase.

Rancid

seagull wrote: »

Tell that to your books. They like paper, so if you get a lot, they can do serious damage to the contents of your bookcase.

Yes, I've read that, alright. I'm sure a big enough infestation in the right conditions could do a lot of damage.
I've only ever seen them in the downstairs loo and no more than 2 or 3 at a time. Mostly dark in there, no heat and they seem to come from behind skirting where the pipes are.

Day Lewin

They revel in damp spots, so mainly found around bathrooms, kitchens, cupboards with plumbing and in damp, shady yards and corners.

Unless you keep your books in a damp place (terrible idea) your paper should be safe enough. But sweep out the corners and keep the whole area clean, warm and dry, to be sure. #savethebooks

The_Valeyard

Had them in my old apartment. Near impossible to get rid of. Very high reproduction rate and can survive nearly anything. First found in bathroom, later spread to kitchen and sitting room.

Remove any damp spots or slow leaks. A very deep clean helped us reduce their numbers back to the bathroom. But could never 100% get rid of them.