If your Chantilly home has a dark, damp basement, attic, or kitchen, you’re fostering the ideal environment for a cockroach-like creature called the silverfish – especially during the hotter, more humid months of summer. But what makes silverfish so different from other insects in the area? Here are 3 facts that may just surprise you:

1. Silverfish are true “bookworms.”

Silverfish prefer meals high in starch – things like fabric, wallpaper, cereal, and books. That means if your boxes of old photos, children’s artwork, or scrapbooks are stored in that humid basement or attic, they’re at risk of becoming a food source.

Tip: Eliminate humidity in areas where you can, move your important papers to a drier part of the home, and use stringent housekeeping practices to keep other food sources out of reach.

2. Silverfish are sneaky.

Silverfish are quick and travel and feed primarily at night. For this reason, it’s easy for an infestation to go unnoticed.

Tip: If you’re worried about an infestation, keep an eye out for silverfish feces, which look like pieces of black pepper.

3. Silverfish are hard to kill.

Here’s proof of the silverfish’s staying power: It’s one of the oldest insects in the world, dating back before the dinosaurs. That could explain their impressive resistance to bug poisons, and their ability to go for up to a year without eating. The lifespan of a silverfish is three years on average – and more often than not, this insect dies of old age, not starvation.

Tip: Since so few home remedies are effective with silverfish, it’s best to call in a professional to address an infestation. The experts at Green Pest Services will create a customized treatment plan to not only kill the individual insects but the tiny eggs as well.