Silverfish infestation!

Not much you can do about them - but they don't do much damage and aren't a disease threat.

They feed on starchy materials, including cellulose, so paper can be grzed.

They need some moisture - even when we can't detect it - so the usual control is to make sure that there's absolutely no damp, bone dry conditions are hostile to them. Ventilate.

They're fascinating creatures, among the oldest on Earth.

Mary

I had silverfish in my last, old property. They're not a problem, really. I also had lots of spiders, but curiously never a mouse. Well, not one I ever saw. I think there were birds in the loft, and I definitely had a dead one behind the boarded up fireplace.

MM

Residual insecticide and mothballs are supposed to help, but they are so simple a creature that they can be a problem.

Spiders cleared mine some time ago.

AFAIK you can't get rid of them. The last place I lived had them, quite a few in some places, and nothing seemed to touch them. Can't say we tried all that hard to get rid of them though as they pretty much stayed behind the plaster.

Do a google search (in the groups) and you'll find lots of info.

Why are they called "Silverfish" ?

Can remember seeing a few at my grandma's years ago.

Mark S.

No idea - except that they're silverish and look a bit like fish ... why are we called people?

Mary

It's a derivative, via french, of the latin "populus".

And what's the origin of populus?

;-)

Mary

We are unfortunate enough to have to share our house with colonies of wood lice.

Interestingly enough, there are quite a few varieties of them and I believe they too are one of the longest living species on the planet. Although their survival rate decreases alarmingly once i've spotted them.

Any ideas how I can exterminate one of the longest running species on the planet?

A couple of hens will convert them into wonderful eggs. I never see woodlice now - pitty because I don't mind them, they don't do any harm to us or ours.

Mary

Are you suggesting that I should keep livestock in my house in order to reduce my wood lice infestation?

Seems a bit drastic. What about all the chicken s*it/piss and pests from that?

The Harvester spiders (OK, I know they aren't strictly spiders) that live in my garage seem to polish them off. There's a pile of empty woodlice shells under each web. I've never actually seen a spider tackling one, but they clearly do so.

Fix the damp timber they're almost certainly living on. Dry houses don't get woodlice.

It's OK, the cockroaches will eat that

It was an Amiga game.

Mark S.

Thought to belong to one of the most primitive existing insect orders, more than 400 million years old. Is called silverfish because, when it moves, it has side-sway reminiscent of a swimming fish, and because of its silver-coloured scales and fish-like structure.

About 350 species are known throughout the world.

Control Control requires correct identification, surveillance, drying out the infested area(s) to below 65% relative humidity. Eliminate potential infestation sites by sealing cracks and crevices with putty or caulking. It is possible to remove them by physical means such as vacuuming. Infestations are usually treated chemically with a residual synthetic pyrethroid dust or wettable powder formulations.

You'd only needthem for a couple of hours.

You don't know much about hens do you!

They only have one deposit, it's very easily moved and is second only to pigeon dung for fertilising the garden. There are no pests on hens which leave the hens or are a problem - even to you :-) Hens don't usually have pests on them.

And just think olf the eggs!

Tell you what, if you live anywhere near I'll bring mine around and clean up after them. and I'll have the eggs :-)

Mary

No they won't.

Mary

Spiders are wonderful at killing and sucking out the soft innards of other invertebrates. Except, pehaps, silverfish.

Mary