Silverfish Pest Control Sydney

Size:
typically between 0.5 and 1.0 inches (12-25 mm) in length

Behavior:
The reproduction of silverfish is preceded by a ritual involving three phases, which may last over half an hour. In the first phase, the male and female stand face to face, their trembling antennae touching, then repeatedly back off and return to this position. In the second phase the male runs away and the female chases him. In the third phase the male and female stand side by side and head-to-tail, with the male vibrating his tail against the female. Finally the male lays a spermatophore, a sperm capsule covered in gossamer, which the female takes into her body via her ovipositor to fertilize the eggs. The female lays groups of less than fifty eggs at once, deposited in small crevices.The eggs are oval-shaped, whitish, about 1/32 inches (0.79 mm) long, and take between two weeks and two months to hatch. Silverfish usually lay fewer than one hundred eggs in their lifetime. When the nymphs hatch, they are whitish in color, and look like smaller adults. As they molt, young silverfish develop a grayish appearance and a metallic shine, eventually becoming adults after three months to three years. They may go through seventeen to sixty-six molts in their lifetime, sometimes thirty in a single year, which is much more than usual for an insect. Silverfish are one of the rare species of insect that continue to molt after mating.