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Hello, this is Ben with Ben’s pest control. And it’s time for another one of our Ben’s pest control podcasts. And today I thought I would do an episode on silverfish since it is winter here in Florida and it seems like silver fish are are much more prevalent for us this time of the year. And so in case you’re not familiar silver fish are silver or pearl gray in color. And they have scales on their body. They’re also they’re often described like fish like but they have will look like antenna and legs that stick out to antenna at the front of their heads and at the base of their body they have three almost looking like antenna coming off in a T formation. silverfish are very commonly seen in pantries, closets, bathrooms, those types of areas. But one of the interesting facts about silver fishes they are one of the simplest, least evolved orders of insects in the world. Not that that’s important to most homeowners people can’t stand silver fish. But let’s talk about where silver fish and where they like to live and their food source. silver fish they prefer starchy materials such as paper and wood. They have been known to go after books bindings. I’ve seen them under insulation, especially rolled insulation that has paper backing. They also feed on sugar, and cellulose, clothing, cotton, vegetables, cereal, dead insects. Those are all the things that they like to eat. We have seen silverfish especially in places that have wallpaper, they’ll eat the glue that’s used to use the wallpaper. And then when you talk about the glue for the wallpaper, they also like the glue that is used for bookbindings. So we’re the glue that holds the binding together. They love to get into those areas. Now you’ll notice we also mentioned fabric so silk and linens are things that they’ve been known to eat cotton. We have had people who have pulled out shirts that have been sitting in a closet for years and years and years and there’s almost these tiny little holes that they’ve been eaten through and can I tell you 100%? It’s been swordfish? No, not necessarily. I mean, it’s possible if they came from an area where close mosques are, are more prevalent there, there could have been some close MOS activity. But in Florida, more than not, we get a lot of silverfish so swordfish would be the thing that would come to my mind immediately. Now, one of the things that that people don’t realize is silverfish love high humidity environments. Which is why when we talk about things like closets, pantries, cabinets and bathrooms and kitchens, you have dark, very humid areas. They seem to prefer temperatures between 72 and 81. But they are able to survive all sorts of different temperatures. What I find is that this time of the year, people seem to notice them more because the temperature in their house especially when they’re not running the air conditioning becomes very similar to the areas where the silverfish might normally survive. So they seem to come out more so example if you have silverfish living in the attic, around the insulation, or you have cellulose insulation where they’re very happy with that. Now listen, the temperature in the house becomes a little more constant with the temperature in the attic, they definitely seem to be more visual, they come out, they’re seen a lot easier. So that’s one example. Now you take the same thing with your pantry, or your closets or your shelves in your your bathrooms. Again, though it’s dark in those areas, it would be very common that when it’s dark or the lights are off, they would find it very easy to come out and thrive in the environments that the temperature is now more constant than it is in summer. So when I say that, understand that summer most people are running their air conditioner. So you don’t have that necessarily perfect amount of humidity where the air conditioning is running. The cooler temperatures seem to break that humidity down a little better. Even though you’re still in that temperature range of 72 to 81 Because it seems a lot of people run their their AC somewhere between 75 And let’s say 78. But because you don’t have the humidity because of the cooler air, that’s, that’s one of those factors that affects their ability to come out in summer as much as they do in the winter months. Now, a lot of people don’t realize, but there are some great essential oils that are used for silverfish. Personally, we prefer to use baits, we have found great success with baits in really bad situations, we can find that, especially baiting areas like the attics are very, very helpful. So in controlling them, but we do have baits for inside the house we have baits for in the attic, in our experience baiting is is the most effective way to set them back. But it’s also important that you take a look at the areas where you’re having them and try to make sure that if there are any areas that might be open to the attic, or any cracks or into the walls where they could be going that if possible, you get those sealed up to try to prevent them from coming out. And then it’s just a matter of really protecting your clothing or especially you got to worry about things like antique books, sometimes really old photos. That paper if people have wallpaper, those are the types of things you’re looking to protect from the silverfish. So keep an eye on those areas. Sometimes it can look like it’s been knocked through or there’s little holes in it. That’s usually a pretty good example of some damage that could be being caused by the silverfish. So again, this is Ben with Ben’s pest control. If you are interested in our free 58 Point pest survey analysis, please give us a call at 772-878-1972 Or feel free to check out our website at WWW dot bends pest stop is and let us know how we can help you even if it’s something if you’re not looking to hire us if you have a question if there’s a way we can help you we will. We also offer weekly tips on Instagram Facebook, we have a YouTube channel with videos. And of course if you found this podcast, you know that we have the podcast so thank you and have a great day. Transcribed by https://otter.ai
