| By :
Jamie Simpson
Silverfish are small, wingless insects sometimes called carpet sharks, paramites, or fishmoths. They get the name silverfish from their light silver colour. It's movements are also like a fish swimming and they move very fast. They are usually one half inch to one inch long. They have two small eyes and long antennae. The body is wide at the front and then tapers down to become narrow at the end. They are born a white colour and turn silver looking as they age. They can live for two to eight years and can live for a year or longer without eating. Silverfish like to eat things such as glue, dandruff, sugar, paper, hair, carpet, linen, and dead insects. These items have polysaccharides and dextrin in them that the hungry silverfish feed off. If they are really hungry they will eat leather and synthetic fibres. They also eat book bindings and this can cause damage to books. They like to get behind wallpaper to eat the glue because it contains dextrin. They like to live in bathrooms, basements, attics, and garages or anywhere that is really moist and dark with a humidity in the range between 75% to 95%. This is why they are found in boxes of books stored in warm, damp garages or attics. Silverfish can be found in the Pacific area, Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, and Australia. Humans do not like silverfish because of their destruction to items such as books but they do not carry any disease among them to transport to humans. The female lays less than fifty eggs in small places and the eggs will hatch anywhere in the time frame of two weeks and two months. In its lifetime a female silverfish will not lay 100 eggs. It takes about three to four months for the silverfish to go from egg to adult. To get rid of silverfish find any sources of moisture and remove it such as leaky drains, water pipes and get rid of any standing water. Using a dehumidifier to remove moisture from the air can also be a help. To get them from any hiding places put the narrowest nozzle on your vacuum cleaner and vacuum them up. Keep dried foods up and stored in tight containers to keep the silverfish for eating them before you do. Get rid of any piles of newspapers or magazines you may have piling up. You can also use sprays and powders that are specifically made to get rid of silverfish.
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