Silverfish

Natural Habitat

Found worldwide in moist, humid environments. Inside homes, they prefer dark areas like basements, bathrooms, attics, and inside books or cardboard boxes.

Diet & Feeding

They feed on carbohydrates and startches, including paper, book glue, wallpaper paste, clothing fabrics (cotton, linen, silk), and dry foods like cereals and sugar.

Behavior Patterns

Nocturnal and flightless. They move very quickly with a fish-like wiggling motion (hence the name). They are long-lived insects that can survive for weeks without food.

Risks & Benefits

They do not bite or spread disease to humans, so they pose no direct health risk. However, they are significant household pests due to their destruction of books, paper documents, wallpaper, and clothing.

Identified on: 2/25/2026