Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina)
Crawling Insects
Silverfish is a common pest frequently appears, in Kitchens bathrooms and normally comes out a night to feed on crumbs and loose scrapes of food. Silverfish are capable of digesting cellulose from packaging and so can derive nutriment from paper. Silverfish probably date back over 300 million years ago. This insect can now be found anywhere from the home to the working environment, over the last couple of years office and apartment blocks have shown heavy widespread infestations. Central pest control has always recommended a risk assessment survey be carried to locate the source of the infestation and to apply safe residual insecticide work in compliance with health and safety and MSDS guidelines. In some cases, damage may arise in the lifting of tiles in bathrooms and kitchens.
The life cycle: About a hundred eggs are laid by each female, sometimes singly or in batches about three or four in cracks and crevices around skirtings door frames and under objects. The eggs are oval about 1 mm in size and white.
Nymph stages: During the first three months the insect is whitish in colour, then silver, spade shaped scales that make their appearance at the third moult. The external genital appendages appear at the eight moult, but it is not known at that stage the insect becomes a fully mature silverfish and goes on moulting throughout its life and in doing so is able to regenerate organs such as legs.
