Silverfish: Useful or Harmful?

Silverfish, also called silverfish, usually only want to be fought or otherwise somehow get rid of. We'll introduce you to the animal first.

You enter 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 animals scurry like arrows into the shadows of walls, baseboards and crevices in the floor. As you step into the shower, you will find a specimen of the little troublemakers there: 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 small subtenants.

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 They also wear the shiny silver scales when they molt. 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 shy away from the light and are therefore nocturnal.

Tip: In addition to the silverfish, there are other related fish that also like to move in with us: firebrats (Thermobia domestica) love higher temperatures and cope better with drought than silverfish. paper fish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata) love 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 tonatural enemies of the silverfish: The silverfish has enemies both outdoors and indoors – and not just us humans. Also house spiders and the Common catchy tune (Forficula auricularia) hunt and eat the fish.

silverfish in the house

Outside of our homes, silverfish are found in bird nests, which are also warm and humid and provide food from bird droppings and other debris. But above all, the little fish appears as a follower of cultures in our houses and apartments.

Depending on the preferred living conditions, it is most often 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 protected manner. 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 adhesives in books, paper, wallpaper or starched textiles also contain starch, they can be damaged by scraping or 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 ours Plantura ant remedy, that too ants (Formicidae) and woodlice (Porcellio scaber) effectively combated - 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 humid. 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 too Home remedies for silverfish find out what you can do against damp rooms.

Bottom Line: Are Silverfish Beneficial or Harmful?

Silverfish are not hygiene pests, rarely stored product pests 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. Nevertheless, we usually don't want them around us - at least not in the kitchen, bedroom and other sensitive areas.

We have therefore determined for you how to The best way to fight silverfish can. Among other things, we put our Plantura ant remedy before, which can also be used against silverfish. It reliably leads to the early death of your silver subtenant. Also, we have all the effective ones here Home remedies for silverfish gathered for you.