Silverfish Bug
The Truth About The Silverfish Bug
The silverfish bug has three pair of legs and a carrot shaped body, which is wider at the head and more narrow toward the rear. Firebrats are in the category of silverfish, of which there are also a gray variety. Sometimes referred to as the bristletail, the silverfish bug has two straight antennae at the base of his head, and three more at his rear. One protrudes as would a stinger from the tip of the rear, and the other two are mounted to either side of the rear sticking straight to the left and right of his rear. The antennae are as long as the body of the silverfish bug, and are used for balance and to feel vibrations around him. They may also pose as a distraction for would be predators, as a bird or spider may go for these extremities first giving him time to escape.
Silverfish and firebrats alike enjoy dense humidity, at least 75% but ideally closer to 90%. The difference between them, aside from color and size, is that the firebrat likes it both hot and humid, and can be found beneath wood stoves and on hot water pipes basking in the warmth. He is not quite as long as the most common silverfish bug, and is darker in color as well. The four-lined silverfish is smaller than the others, at about 5/8 inches from antenna tip to antenna tip. For the most part, the silverfish bug enjoys outdoor living and doesn’t deliberately try to get inside. Once he is in however, whether it be by transport or incidental stowaway methods, he quickly becomes acclimated and makes no attempts to leave. And where there is one, especially a female, there are more to come.
What does the silverfish bug eat, you ask? Well, just about anything I would have to say. He is almost as indiscriminant and shameless as the cockroach when it comes to his pallet, and has been caught red-mouthed eating hair, wallpaper glue, boots, sugar, feces, furniture, dehydrated beef and vegetables, flour, other bugs, toothpaste, paper plates, and just about anything else he can outrun. Most people seem to have a problem with his most frequent haunt, however, which just so happens to be the deepest, darkest depths of the pantry or cupboard. Here, the pickings are limitless, and if he can’t get to the food in one nights work, he will just make a meal of the box until the hole is of adequate size for him to squeeze in and pirate the contents. Control of the silverfish bug is mostly born of prevention, though there are pesticides which are quite effective against them. Remember to discard any food items which show signs of being visited by the silverfish bug.