Pest Library: Silverfish

Silverfish are wingless and adults are about 1/2 inch in length. They have carrot-shaped bodies with three antenna-like appendages projecting from the abdomen. Silverfish prefer environments between 71-90 degrees and are very comfortable in manmade structures. They feed on glue bindings of books, wallpaper, cloth labels and sometimes dead insects. The female lays eggs, one at a time, and molts after two or three. She may shed her skin as many as fifty times after becoming an adult. Young silverfish look identical to the adults, only smaller.