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Silverfish

Silverfish and firebrats eat a wide variety of foods, including glue, wallpaper paste, bookbindings, paper, photographs, starch in clothing, cotton, linen, rayon fabrics, wheat flour, cereals, dried meats, leather and even dead insects. Silverfish often live in damp, cool places such as basements and laundry rooms. Sometimes, they are found in a bathtub, sink or washbasin, unable to climb out. Firebrats live in hot, humid places such as attics in summer and near furnaces, fireplaces and heat pipes in winter.

Identification

Silverfish and firebrats have flat, elongated bodies 1/3 to 3/4 inch long and broad near the head, tapering toward the rear-somewhat "carrot" shaped. These fragile, wingless insects are covered with scales and have two long, slender antennae at the head and three long, antennae-like appendages at the rear. These three appendages, one directed straight back and the other two curving outward, plus the two antennae, are nearly as long as the body. Sometimes these insects are known as "bristletails."

The silverfish adult is about 1/2 inch long with a uniform silvery or pearl-gray color, whereas the four-lined silverfish is about 5/8 inch long and the back displays four dark lines the length of the body. The gray silverfish is about 3/4 inch long and uniform light to dark gray. The firebrat is about 1/2 inch long, grayish and mottled with spots and bands of dark scales. Young resemble the adults except they are smaller. Eggs are whitish, oval and about 1/32 inch long.