When you see a bug in your house, it might scare you, depending on what it is. Common spiders are fairly harmless, roaches are disgusting, wasps are scary… Your opinions may differ, but one thing is true in nearly every home: encountering a pest you can’t recognize is never a fun feeling. Silverfish are one of the strangest looking pests in the Costa Mesa area, and the more you learn about them, the less you’ll want them hanging around.
What’s So Bad About A Silverfish Infestation?
It’s a bit of a misnomer, the name “silverfish.” In reality, these tiny pests look more like grey lobsters with a slightly shiny appearance. Their bodies are grey or off-white, but they sport a shiny outer shell that gives them a silver shimmer. Featuring two front antennae and a three-pronged tail, these home invaders look part-lobster and part-alien. If it weren’t for their incredibly small size, they would be very frightening figures inside your home.
While they may not live in the ocean, silverfish do prefer very damp conditions, which is why you’re likely to find them in the areas of the house with the poorest ventilation or the highest moisture content. Unfortunately, these areas tend to be the places you’d least like to encounter a scary-looking pest: the bathroom and the kitchen. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night is scary enough without the threat of a miniature lobster scurrying out from under the bathroom counter!
Another thing that attracts silverfish to kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and crawlspaces is their diet. Any sort of starch will attract them. In the kitchen, it’s your stored foods. In the basement or crawlspace, it’s the carcasses of dead insects. In the bathroom, it’s your hair. (Sorry for the goosebumps.)
On a positive note, silverfish don’t present much of a health threat within your home. They don’t transfer bacteria or bring the potential for diseases into your home like other pests. However, they do bring the potential for home damage. Due to their taste for starches, they’ll eat or chew anything inside your house from stored foods to carpet fibers.
Typically, a severe silverfish infestation results in damaged wallpaper and books. They’ll also invade linen closets and chew up other paper items like magazines and newspapers. If you begin seeing damaged paper items around the house, you probably have a severe silverfish infestation.
How Can You Keep Them Out?
These small pests are very fast for their size, so they are incredibly hard to capture and difficult to keep out of your house. The best things you can do on your own to prevent them involve making your home less attractive to these invasive pests. Since silverfish are highly attracted to damp environments, moisture control could be your key to preventing an infestation. The best ways to control moisture on your property include:
Dehumidifiers: in areas like basements and crawl spaces, poor ventilation could create high levels of humidity and condensation.
Monitoring pipes for leaks: leaking pipes could lead to moisture buildup in cement areas or under the sinks in your house.
Lawn maintenance: reducing clutter in the yard and allowing moisture to disburse evenly in the yard can limit your chances of moisture buildup in the house.
Along with moisture control, storing your food in plastic containers with tightly secured lids is also recommended, as these pests can chew through cardboard boxes.
Unfortunately, you can do all of these things and still wind up with a silverfish infestation. That’s why you need the prevention professionals that you can count on. Contact Smart Pest Control to protect your home from this destructive species. We can help with silverfish or any other invasive pests you may be dealing with. Reach out to us today for pest control in Costa Mesa, CA.
View All BlogsWhen you see a bug in your house, it might scare you, depending on what it is. Common spiders are fairly harmless, roaches are disgusting, wasps are scary… Your opinions may differ, but one thing is true in nearly every home: encountering a pest you can’t recognize is never a fun feeling. Silverfish are one of the strangest looking pests in the Costa Mesa area, and the more you learn about them, the less you’ll want them hanging around.
What’s So Bad About A Silverfish Infestation?
It’s a bit of a misnomer, the name “silverfish.” In reality, these tiny pests look more like grey lobsters with a slightly shiny appearance. Their bodies are grey or off-white, but they sport a shiny outer shell that gives them a silver shimmer. Featuring two front antennae and a three-pronged tail, these home invaders look part-lobster and part-alien. If it weren’t for their incredibly small size, they would be very frightening figures inside your home.
While they may not live in the ocean, silverfish do prefer very damp conditions, which is why you’re likely to find them in the areas of the house with the poorest ventilation or the highest moisture content. Unfortunately, these areas tend to be the places you’d least like to encounter a scary-looking pest: the bathroom and the kitchen. Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night is scary enough without the threat of a miniature lobster scurrying out from under the bathroom counter!
Another thing that attracts silverfish to kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and crawlspaces is their diet. Any sort of starch will attract them. In the kitchen, it’s your stored foods. In the basement or crawlspace, it’s the carcasses of dead insects. In the bathroom, it’s your hair. (Sorry for the goosebumps.)
On a positive note, silverfish don’t present much of a health threat within your home. They don’t transfer bacteria or bring the potential for diseases into your home like other pests. However, they do bring the potential for home damage. Due to their taste for starches, they’ll eat or chew anything inside your house from stored foods to carpet fibers.
Typically, a severe silverfish infestation results in damaged wallpaper and books. They’ll also invade linen closets and chew up other paper items like magazines and newspapers. If you begin seeing damaged paper items around the house, you probably have a severe silverfish infestation.
How Can You Keep Them Out?
These small pests are very fast for their size, so they are incredibly hard to capture and difficult to keep out of your house. The best things you can do on your own to prevent them involve making your home less attractive to these invasive pests. Since silverfish are highly attracted to damp environments, moisture control could be your key to preventing an infestation. The best ways to control moisture on your property include:
Dehumidifiers: in areas like basements and crawl spaces, poor ventilation could create high levels of humidity and condensation.
Monitoring pipes for leaks: leaking pipes could lead to moisture buildup in cement areas or under the sinks in your house.
Lawn maintenance: reducing clutter in the yard and allowing moisture to disburse evenly in the yard can limit your chances of moisture buildup in the house.
Along with moisture control, storing your food in plastic containers with tightly secured lids is also recommended, as these pests can chew through cardboard boxes.
Unfortunately, you can do all of these things and still wind up with a silverfish infestation. That’s why you need the prevention professionals that you can count on. Contact Smart Pest Control to protect your home from this destructive species. We can help with silverfish or any other invasive pests you may be dealing with. Reach out to us today for pest control in Costa Mesa, CA.
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