House bug ID

[Ananke]

I've been finding bugs on my kitchen floor recently, I'll try and get a picture (rubbish camera phone though) next time I see one but wondered if anyone could have a guess at what they are just with the description.

They are around 1cm long, brown in colour. I can't see any legs and they look like tiny caterpillers, i've seen them kind of roll onto their side and curl like a caterpiller. The head end is wider and it tapers in at the tail. I've tried google images but don't see one like it, plus looking through all those bug has me itching all over lol.

It wasn't so bad when I found one every few weeks but its almost nightly now and two or three of them at a time, I need to do something before they infest the place.

[Ananke]

Correction, OH has just told me that they have lots of legs down the length of each side of the body and they can move fairly quickly. I clearly wasn't getting close enough to see them lol.

[Jeanied]

The only ones I can think of are millipedes. Not renowned for being indoors though.

Have a look at this link.

[Ananke]

Thanks Jeanied

I don't think they are milipedes though, not long enough and these taper in whereas milipedes seem to be the same width from top to bottom.

[taff]

The only one I can think of are silverfish, but they're silver...but they do taper

[Ananke]

Taff, I've just had a look at google images and I think that you may well be right, i've just never been close enough to get the detail right but from a distance they look very similar. I'll show the images to OH tomorrow and see what he thinks.

Thanks

[vicky]

Sounds like silverfish to me too. I think they like damp places - ie kitchens and bathrooms

[Two_Sheds]

They are around 1cm long, brown in colour. I can't see any legs and they look like tiny caterpillers

Sounds like woolly bears (clothes moth larvae) to me. What a nightmare. They're getting to be a real problem with centrally heated houses. I have holes in my woollen clothes and even some cotton ones

[Ananke]

That thing is gross TS.

OH has just had a look at the images and they are definately silverfish, just need to find a way to get rid of them now.

I'm itching all over again looking at all these bugs ***shudder***

[Nicos]

Interesting fact of the day......

'silverfish are prehistoric- dating back to before the cockroach'.

(...not a lot of people knew that! )

I'm lucky enough to say I've never seen one.
Yup- those woolly bears , and weevils ( from the indoor bunny food)....but never silverfish.

[DGoulston]

I know its time to clean my shower room when I see silverfish, it seems to me to be a sing of dirty/damp room.

Darren

[snohare]

My uncle's house used to have silverfish. This was considered by my aunt to be a disgrace - tantamount to recognition of the fact that they lived in a slum. Actually, they lived in a remote cottage next to a bog, and there was no damp proof course in the house, so both the lime mortar walls and the wooden floors were damp.
Was I you Ananke, I'd be checking for damp under the floorboards, and thinking about what kind of damp proof membranes the builders put in.
The good news is, to the best of my knowledge silverfish are not known to carry, encourage or cause any disease.