Biology of Silverfish
Understanding a pest is the key to integrated pest control, a process which seeks to eliminate a pest problem by using the least toxic, effective approach possible. Today talk of understanding can be misleading, as the word has seem to taken on a meaning that suggests sitting down with the average household pest and coming to an agreement where both pest and human can live in harmony. This isn’t what we mean when we are referring to integrated pest management.
Instead, integrated pest management seeks to understand the biology of common pests, including their preferred habitats, feeding habits, and life cycles, in order to come up with a good plan of action to use in controlling a problem. This is radically different, and far more effective (and less dangerous) than previous popular methods of pest control which involved large quantities of chemicals to reduce the problem. In this article we are going to take a look at silverfish and their biology. Before we do, though, it is important to note that as with most pests, neither integrated pest control nor more toxic approaches will ever rid a home or garden of one type of pest permanently; pests are pests because of their remarkable ability to adapt, hide, and reproduce. The key to pest control is deciding at what population level a pest becomes a problem, and why.
Appearance of silverfish
Probably the only thing that silverfish have going against them, as far as pest classification, is their appearance. They are pretty creepy looking insects, with a shiny exoskeleton that is bluish in color. They have long, thin antennae and legs, and a long protrusion on the end of their tails which look like an effective weapon but are in fact not.
Silverfish life cycle
Silverfish are very long lived within the insect world; an individual can actually live up to three years. That’s equivalent to three generations of wasps, or 900 or more generations of fruit flies. Female silverfish may lay up to three eggs at a time, doing so after finding a spermatophore left behind by the male. Young silverfish are white in color and take on the blue of the adult after three months or so.
Silverfish diet
Although we mentioned above that silverfish are really only aesthetic pests, that was not entirely true. Silverfish love to eat starchy food or polysaccharides, and one great source for these foods is in the bindings and paper of books and photos. They are also very attracted to the cellulose contained in many bathroom products.
Habitat
Silverfish require damp and warm conditions to live in, and prefer a nocturnal activity cycle. Combined with their love of toiletries, this makes the bathroom the ideal living place for this small pest, although they can also be found in attics and kitchens.