Oct 24, 2023 | Florida Pest Control
Silverfish are a prominent pest found in most Florida neighborhoods, including Hialeah. They typically show up in homes that offer high humidity and moisture, which is the perfect environment for these pests. These creatures aren’t harmful to humans but can become a nuisance if they infest your home.
How to Identify Silverfish in Hialeah
These brown-gray to bluish-silver colored pest can get up to ½” in length and have six legs and an elongated body. They are known to rapidly move with fish-like movements and do not have wings.
You will typically find these pests in bathrooms, usually in the sink, bathtub, or crawling along the floor near a wall. They can survive a year without food but need humid temperatures and moisture to survive. Paper and photos make an ideal meal for these pests, but starchy substances like carpet glue, book bindings, wallpaper, plaster, and some paints will also attract these creatures.
How to Prevent Silverfish in Hialeah
Other than spotting silverfish themselves, there are various signs that these pests have infested your home. Pay attention to their feeding marks, these can look like holes, notches along an edge surface, or surface etchings. Here are some steps you can take to prevent these pests:
Control humidity in home
They prefer to live in areas that offer 75-95 percent relative humidity, which is not uncommon in South Florida. Air conditioners and dehumidifiers are vital for making your home environment less attractive to silverfish.
Store items in plastic bins with lids over cardboard boxes
Silverfish and other pests like to hang out in cardboard boxes, so utilizing plastic bins for storage is a good way to prevent silverfish and other pests.
If you’re having issues with silverfish in your Hialeah, FL home, call your local pest control company today to request a free inspection.
Mar 29, 2023 | Florida Pest Control
South Florida Pest Control: Identifying Silverfish
While silverfish are harmless to humans, if infested, they can become a huge nuisance to your home! These pests are prevalent in most Lauderhill, Florida homes and once they get inside, it’s hard to eliminate them as they can live up to 8 years and reproduce frequently. Learn more about these common household pests and how you can prevent silverfish below.
Why Silverfish Infest
These pests look to our homes mainly for food sources and a warm place to inhabit. They tend to eat sugary substances and will eat books, wallpaper, shirts, clothes, and even photographs! They will also look to lay their eggs in an environment they thrive in, seeking out dark, moist hidden areas of homes, such as our basements or attics.
How to Prevent Silverfish
Silverfish are known to rapidly reproduce, making it harder to get rid of if you do end up spotting these creatures inside. Luckily, there are some easy do-it-yourself preventative measures to place throughout your home.
- Keep dry food in your pantry with tightly sealed containers
- Dust your home often as certain particles can contain starches
- Store your clothes in a dry environment
- Utilize caulk to seal cracks, holes, or openings
- Consider investing in a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity inside your home
- Remove piles of brush, old plants, wood, and leaves
How to Eliminate Silverfish
Even after you’ve placed preventative measures throughout your home and they are still infesting, it could be time for some professional help. Your local South Florida pest control company will be able to set you up with a comprehensive treatment and prevention plan.
Mar 1, 2023 | Pest Control
Ranging from 12 to 19 mm in size, silverfish are household pests that are attracted to dark, damp areas. They range in colors including white, brown-grey, and bluish-silver. Silverfish are wingless with a flat appearance and 3 thread-like tails. Their size and shape allow them to hide in small spaces.
They feed on starch and sugar and find a lot of these options in your home. You can find them eating paste from book bindings, photos, clothing, bedding, curtains, old papers, wallpaper paste, shampoo, dead insects, pasta, flour, cereal, and other common starches. Because of this they are typically found in kitchens and pantries.
Beyond the kitchen, they can be found in bathrooms, basements, attics, and laundry rooms, which provide dark, damp spaces. They usually find their way indoors when the weather begins to get warmer and drier or when there is excessive rainfall.
Their jaws aren’t strong enough to pierce human skin, but they are fast and can usually escape predators fairly quickly. They will cause damage to your home by chewing fabrics, contaminating food they are eating, and triggering allergies.
Common signs of silverfish include:
- Holes, notches, edges on surface they eat
- Yellow stains or discarded scales
- Feces in the form of tiny black pellets
Prevent silverfish by:
- Cleaning out closets and cabinets and dusting bookshelves
- Storing food in airtight containers
- Removing piles of wet leaves from your yard
- Using a dehumidifier in damp areas like basements and crawlspaces
- Keeping the perimeter of your home clean and dry
- Sealing the exterior of your home
If you notice an increase in silverfish in your Georgia home, contact your local pest control company for a thorough evaluation.
Feb 16, 2023 | Pest Control
Laurens Pest Control: Common Winter Pests
During the winter season, we don’t typically see a lot of pests around, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t present! Certain wildlife pests tend to look towards our Laurens home to escape the cold, causing damage and posing a health risk in the process. For homeowners, it’s important to understand the types of winter pests that could invade and the winter pest control methods needed to keep them out. Check out our top 3 winter pests to look out for in Laurens, South Carolina.
Cockroaches
During the winter, cockroaches enter our homes to search for heat and humidity. Common roaches found in homes are American roaches, oriental roaches, and brown-banded roaches. These pests can pose a serious health risk to humans, as they’re known to transmit diseases and trigger allergies and asthma. Roaches will utilize any open gap or hole to find their way inside homes. These pests will also hitchhike on grocery bags, boxes, and used appliances. You will often find them in areas where food and water are available, such as our kitchens and bathrooms.
Termites
Termites are year-round pests and will destroy the structural integrity of homes. The damage termites can cause will often cost billions in repairs. Termites, such as subterranean termites, will eat the wood from the inside out, usually staying hidden until the damage is done. These termite types need soil to live, creating mud tubes to search for a food source. Firewood and mulch are two major attractants to termites and will provide a way inside your home. If they’ve infested, you can often find them in the home’s baseboards, crawlspaces, and wooden beams.
Silverfish
Silverfish prefer to live in damp, colder places. These pests are quite common in the winter months and are often found in basements or bathrooms. If they’ve gained access to your living space, it’s usually because they’ve hitched a ride when you’ve taken items out of storage in your garage or attic. While these pests are harmless to humans, if they infest in large numbers, they can become a nuisance. Silverfish will feed on your books, glue, wallpaper, and boxes.
Preventing Winter Pests
There are several methods and preventative measures you can implement to keep these pests from invading your home! Consider these winter pest control tips when you want to keep these pests away:
- Seal any holes, cracks, or gaps around your home
- Avoid leaving your pet food and water out overnight
- Clean up leftover food crumbs and spills
- Fix any leaky faucets or pipes found as soon as possible
- Avoid leaving your dirty dishes in the sink overnight
- Take your garbage out on a regular basis and utilize a trashcan with a tightly secure lid
- Remove old newspapers, mail, and cardboard that is laying around your home
- Inspect boxes, groceries, and used furniture before entering your home
- If you utilize mulch, place it at least 20 feet away from your foundation
- Consider reaching out to your pest control company to get a customized plan to prevent pests year-round
Aug 10, 2022 | Florida Pest Control
Naples Pest Control: Silverfish Identification and Prevention
While some pests can cause more harm than others to humans, certain ones are more of a nuisance. Silverfish present a mild risk to humans and their property but are known to be an overall annoyance if they infest.
What Are Silverfish?
Silverfish are small, wingless insects, usually shiny grey or silver in color, ranging from 1/3 to ½ inches in length. Females lay eggs year-round and will produce up to 100 offspring in their lifetime. An adult female silverfish can live from 2 to 5 years, usually depending on the species and environment. When silverfish eggs hatch, they takes 3 to 24 months to develop into an adult. Their growth depends on the temperature and humidity.
What Are The Signs of a Silverfish Infestation?
Silverfish are known to infest human areas. You can often find them on the floor, under refrigerators, near a sink, or in a bathtub. If they find their way inside, they will eat grains and chew holes through clothing, furniture, or paper. If they infest in larger numbers, this damage can be more significant. They are also known to feed on book bindings, photos, sugar, dirt, and even glue.
How Can I Prevent Silverfish?
Silverfish are nocturnal and can move quickly throughout an area. While they can survive in most environments, they thrive in areas with high humidity. Humidity in Naples is usually present throughout the year. The best way to prevent an infestation is to control the humidity and moisture inside your home. Ensure that you don’t have any leaky pipes or drains, replace moldy or wet wood, remove books in moist areas, and consider enclosing your crawlspace to control humidity and moisture.
If you notice that your silverfish infestation has gotten out of hand or you want to stay on top of preventing them, consider reaching out to your local Naples pest control company which can provide you with a comprehensive treatment and prevention plan for your home.
