Silverfish, also called silverfish, usually just want to fight or get rid of in some other way. Let's introduce the animal to you first.
One enters the bathroom at night or early in the morning, drunk asleep, it is still pitch black outside. You grope for the light switch, the lighting fills the room with glaring light - and a number of silvery little animals scurry at lightning speed into the shadows of walls, baseboards and crevices in the floor. When you step into the shower, you will find a specimen of the little troublemakers: A silverfish (Lepisma saccharina), which was probably caught in the smooth walls of the wet room at night. It's pretty unpleasant when we have small insects romping about at night. We present the silverfish in detail.
Here you can find out exactly what silverfish are, how they feed and what conditions they need to survive. Then we clarify the question of this article: Are silverfish useful or harmful? Finally, you will find tips on how to combat the small lodgers.
What are silverfish?
Silverfish are real urine insects. The wingless animals belong to the order of the small fish (zygentoma). This has populated the earth for about 300 million years, which speaks for a successful survival strategy. The silverfish's body is covered with scales that glisten silver in the light. It has two long feelers on its head, with which it can feel its surroundings. At the end of the body there are also three thread-like appendages, also sensory organs that are sensitive to touch. The eggs of the silverfish are white, only one millimeter in size and are usually hidden in cracks. The larvae that hatch from them are initially white, but otherwise look like miniatures of the adult animals. After the 2nd moult they also have the shiny silver scales. After 5 to 7 larval stages, the larva has grown into an adult silverfish with a length of 8 to 10 mm. Even in the adult stage, the little fish continues to grow very slowly and sheds its skin every 2 to 3 weeks. All stages of development shun the light and are thereforenocturnal.
Tip: In addition to the silverfish, there are other related fish that also like to move in with us: Firebrats (Thermobia domestica) love higher ones temperatures and cope better with drought than silverfish. Paperfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata) like it cooler and drier than silverfish do. They are also very fond of paper in the form of newspapers, wallpaper or books, which gave them their name.
Silverfish: habitat and diet
Optimal living conditions for the silverfish are 27 °C air temperature and over 75 % relative humidity. Below 15 °C the eggs can no longer develop and below 10 °C the little fish stop being active. At temperatures above 35 °C, all stages soon die and even if the relative humidity is below 30%, survival is no longer possible. However, if the living conditions are tolerable, the little fish can survive starvation periods of a maximum of 10 months and live up to 4 years. Their diet is anything sugary or starchy, hence its common name "sugar guest."
Tip on silverfish's natural enemies: Silverfish have enemies both outdoors and indoors - and not just us humans. House spiders and common earwigs (Forficula auricularia) also hunt and eat the fish.
Silverfish in the house
Outside our homes, silverfish are found in bird nests, which are also warm and humid and provide food from bird droppings and other droppings. But above all, the little fish appears as a successor to cultures in our houses and apartments.
According to the preferred living conditions, it is most commonly found in boiler rooms, bathrooms and under the refrigerator. In search of food, however, it likes to roam the entire apartment. An absolute prerequisite for a good life for silverfish are cracks and crevices into which they can flee from the sunlight during the day. Between the gaps, behind loose tiles or baseboards, in wall joints, under and behind pieces of furniture, it then feels comfortable and lays its eggs in a safe place. In the house, it likes to eat supplies such as flour, semolina, pasta, rice or sugar, but yeast, meat or the like are not scorned either. Because many glues in books, paper, wallpaper or starched textilesalso contain starch, these can sometimes be damaged by scraping, sometimes by pitting. Every crumb, dander, and hair on the ground is potential food for a silverfish.
If you are looking for an effective remedy against silverfish, we recommend our Plantura ant remedy, which also effectively combats ants (Formicidae) and woodlice (Porcellio scaber) - without toxic pesticides getting into your living space.
Tip silverfish as an indicator of moisture: Silverfish can only reproduce and multiply optimally when it is cosily warm and fairly damp. So if you don't just have a few, but an entire army of silver subtenants, this indicates that there is such a zone in your house. The problem with this is that moisture and heat also promote the development of mold. This is also eaten by silverfish. So when faced with a silverfish infestation, look for the warm, wet area first and eliminate it. In this article on home remedies for silverfish, you will learn what you can do against damp rooms.
Conclusion: Are silverfish useful or harmful?
Silverfish are not a hygiene pest, they rarely spoil storage and sometimes they cause minor damage to wallpaper or paper. They trigger great disgust and disgust in many people when they are discovered. They only become really harmful when they occur in large numbers. If this is the case, however, the little fish are often not the only problem. Mold and moisture must then urgently be sought, found and fought. Because the little fish reported the problem (and partially ate it), they could definitely be called useful. Their feeding activity is not necessarily bad either: they even eat house dust mites and keep inaccessible cracks and crevices clean. However, we usually don't want them around - at least not in the kitchen, bedroom or other sensitive areas.
We have therefore determined for you the best way to combat silverfish. Among other things, we will present our Plantura ant remedy, which can also be used against silverfish. It reliably leads to the early death of your silver subtenant. We have also collected all effective home remedies for silverfish for you here.