Silverfish

[JoceAndChris]

They're back! I had thought my treatment of them, which basically involves getting up in the night and stamping on them, had eliminated the problem. But give them a whiff of springtime and they all hatch out! :twisted:

At the moment, they're in the warmest darkest room where the Aga is, tucked up under the ancient flags which are laid on earth. But I understand they can spread, feeding on dust, on silk, on anything.

Is there anything I can do to kill them that is pet and child friendly?

I am resisting this e-book http://www.getridofsilverfish.com/kill-silverfish.php?gclid=CJ_B56CliZkCFRK7ZwodmRh0oA at the moment as I'm suspicious of e-books generally.

They must die.

 

[Lime]

There is nothing wrong with silverfish.
they do no harm to the house at all.
what they signify is that there is damp somewhere.
Deal with the damp and bye bye silverfish.

 

[biffvernon]

Lapisma saccharina. Don't murder them. They are lovely.

This insect belongs to the Apterygota, wingless insects, and they are mostly very small and belong to four orders; 1. Thysanura. 2. Diplura. 3. Protura. 4. Collembola. We will be mainly concerned with the Thysanura. These are the three pronged bristle tails and contain the two commonest, Silverfish and Firebrat, the latter we will cover at a later stage as it is not known to damage textiles.

It is probably about 300 million years ago that the first animal looking something like a silverfish saw the light of day. It was doubtless very widely distributed and occurred in enormous numbers, and it has been suggested that the primitive animals of this type may well have been the ancestors of all the different types of insects alive today. Some insects, including the silverfish, have remained more or less unchanged over long periods. Indeed it is likely that there were primitive insects of this type when the first fish went up onto the land, and that they crawled around the feet of dinosaurs, and they are still with us. Silverfish can in fact be regarded as living fossils comparable with the Coelacanth.

In spite of their antiquity, silverfish have succeeded in exploiting the new opportunities created by man. In southern Europe and in parts of Asia they live out in the open, under stones and in crevices, but elsewhere they are almost exclusively associated with human habitations - house, stables, outhouses and so on. Most people must have seen these small silvery insects run to shelter in the evening when the light is turned on in the kitchen, or may have found them in the bath or wash basin. They do not, as many believe, come up the drainpipe, but become trapped after sliding down the walls of the bath whilst searching for food during the night. They are particularly prevalent in kitchens and bathrooms for they require a high humidity or access to water.

Silverfish are pleasant animals which are easy to keep in captivity and they live for quite a long time, sometimes over 5 years. On the other hand they are not very prolific. Silverfish thrive on the tinniest scraps of food, they prefer starchy food but are quite able to digest cellulose, they also eat the dead members of their own kind.

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th8h.htm

 

[Feltwell]

I view them as part of living with an old house. They don't do any harm, just leave them to get on with it. I might be a bit more concerned if I had thousands of them running around, but I've never seen an infestation of them, just the odd few running about at night.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Biff and Lime and Feltwell, you are persuasive and highly expertful gentlemen who I respect enormously but on this occasion we will have to disagree. You cannot persuade me there is anything remotely nice about these repulsive creatures. And they can be destructive, if not to the house, then to the things in it such as wallpaper and fabric.

Without wishing to be sexist perhaps this tolerance of insects is a male perspective.

I can't remedy the damp, the house is underground up to the point of the window sill. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3373/3328599770_7a8b407537.jpg?v=0

 

[Micky]

When I was a child these lived down the side of my parents Aga I absolutely loved them and they are completely harmless little creatures, really fascinating take a close look at one...I feel the same way about Cheesebobs too...er sorry Wood Lice....I do draw the line at the enormous and I mean enourmous black hunting spiders but thankfully since woodburner and warmer house these seem to have vacated on the whole.
Micky

 

[borischarlton]

Please show us some more photos
Rob

 

[Carol]

I feel the same way about Cheesebobs too...er sorry Wood Lice....Micky

Someone else calls them cheesebobs! I thought it was just me. It's not a West Country word, people give me very strange looks if I use it here.

I'm originally from Surrey

They are much nicer than silverfish.

 

[biffvernon]

Please show us some more photos
Rob

 

[Feltwell]

Without wishing to be sexist perhaps this tolerance of insects is a male perspective.

I wouldn't have dared to have said anything like that! :lol:

But you may be right! Just don't tell us that you want rid of spiders as well. I'm currently desperately trying to convince my (4 year old and recently started school) daughter that she is right that spiders are lovely and help catch the horrible flies, and that her friends who say she should be scared of them are silly.

 

[Feltwell]

you are persuasive and highly expertful gentlemen

Can't speak for Biff or Lime but definitely not true in my case!

 

[biffvernon]

and if Joce doesn't change her Lepismacidal proclivities she may have this fellow to contend with:

 

[Feltwell]

Lepismacidal proclivities

I challenge you to get that one in Scrabble.....

 

[JoceAndChris]

Biff, did you make up that word "Lepismacidal"? I can't find it anywhere!

By popular and kind request here are some more photos of Beacon Cottage.(though I'm sure your own houses are far lovelier and grander)

And is there no one to take my side against these foul insects and perverse men?

 

[Feltwell]

perverse men

How did you find out??? :shock:

House looks lovely! Love the vaulted brick ceiling.

 

[DaveBrigg]

Is there anything I can do to kill them that is pet and child friendly?

We don't have silverfish up here. At first I thought it was because they had all drowned, but it may be because they were all eaten by the chap pictured below, that we caught last night. (I say 'chap', but given its fondness for chocolate, the gender may be otherwise). Boris was set free a couple of miles away, before I read your post, but if his siblings are still here I'll gladly parcel up the next one and send him along.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Biff, did you make up that word "Lepismacidal"? I can't find it anywhere!

By popular and kind request here are some more photos of Beacon Cottage.(though I'm sure your own houses are far lovelier and grander)

And is there no one to take my side against these foul insects and perverse men?

I don't like silverfish much either (funnily enough, the one place I encountered them in numbers more than one a year was the flat I had in ********, about a mile from your lovely house)
At last, some pics of the cottage - and it's delightful, and in my view, listable (if those photos are typical). I suspect it was always rendered - the rubble stone doesn't look right for the formality of the architecture.

 

[biffvernon]

Biff, did you make up that word "Lepismacidal"? I can't find it anywhere!

Etymology:
Lepisma - type genus of the Lepismatidae: silverfish
-cidal - French -cide, Latin -cida < caedere, to cut down, kill

Lepismacidal proclivities - she who would a murderess be.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Mr Hughes-

I'm very happy you like it and I really really want to get it listed and have it safe. I honestly think it was missed; this is the drive:

Thank you too for your verdict on the stone/render conundrum, this is a great relief to be honest as the 30's extension you get a glimpse of on the right side of the photo is brick.

Biff- I don't know which is more impressive, your Latin or your kindness towards what must surely be the ugliest creature to have ever walked the earth.

Dave, that mouse is adorable, your children must have cried to see her go. I made the mistake of befriending a mouse and coaxing it to take food from my hand and now I have loads of them. They can't be bothered to eat silverfish though.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Biff, these monsters are winning. I've been down just now and estimate there are about 100 per flag, so many it looks like the floor is moving! Mostly they're babies, but a fair few adults too and a few centipedes, millipedes and black beetles marching about with them.

It' going to have to be chemical warfare I'm afraid.