Silverfish

[dopamine]

Hey everyone, recently i've been finding silverfish in my T's enclosure. It's always only one each time though. I'm just wondering if these little bastards are any threat to a tarantula? She's not very big, only 2 inches right now. I don't know why they keep showing up. Anyone else come across these things and have any advice? The only thing i can think of that i'm doing differently lately is having a toiletpaper tube burried in the sub for a burrow. Is it the cardboard maybe?

 

[catfishrod69]

More than likely they are springtails. Are they super tiny, silverish looking, and jump? Silverfish are larger, and closer to the size of your tarantula (atleast some of the ones that i have seen). Either way, they are benifical, and will help clean. They wont harm anything living. Yes get rid of the cardborad, it will mold/rot.

 

[dopamine]

More than likely they are springtails. Are they super tiny, silverish looking, and jump? Silverfish are larger, and closer to the size of your tarantula (atleast some of the ones that i have seen). Either way, they are benifical, and will help clean. They wont harm anything living. Yes get rid of the cardborad, it will mold/rot.

Yikes i should've thought about the cardboard rotting.. Thanks.
The silverfish btw is full size and not a springtail. Good to know they're beneficial

 

[exokeeper]

siverfish are attracted to warmth and moisture. i always find them in my bthroom when they come around. i would remove them because they are freely roaming your house which im sure has numerous chemicals in it. if you are finding them inside your enclosure then your ventilation is wrong and you need smaller holes or screens. i wouldnt want a bug freely roaming my house anywhere near my spiders.

 

[fttwinmomma]

But would a T eat a silverfish? Those little buggers are fast and hard to kill!

 

[catfishrod69]

If the tarantula is the right size. The OP's tarantula is 2", so more than likely a silverfish will end up food.

But would a T eat a silverfish? Those little buggers are fast and hard to kill!

 

[fttwinmomma]

Ahh, you're very right... Although for full grown T's?

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah i doubt full grown Ts would pay much attention to them. Just depends on the species. If its a C. elegans, than yeah that means dinner! If its L. parahybana, than it likely wont pay any attention. If anything, it would feel the vibration and attack it as food, and possibly not be able to catch it.

 

[dopamine]

if you are finding them inside your enclosure then your ventilation is wrong and you need smaller holes or screens.

I appreciate the advice but she's been in the same KK for four years now with no ventilation problems or pests getting inside until recently and it's only been the occasional lone silverfish. I had never used a cardboard tube before recently so i'm assuming it might have something to do with it.

 

[The Spider Faery]

A tarantula will eat silverfish without a doubt. Just make sure the cage isn't overrun by silverfish as to overwhelm the tarantula. And assuming the silverfish haven't been exposed to pesticides, the tarantula should be fine.

 

[Curious jay]

Silverfish main diet is papers/cardboard and the glues used for sealing the spines of books (not their natural diet but that's what they usually feed on in households) so I'm guessing it was the toilet roll tube.

 

[aSpiderificGirl]

I'm fairly certain it's the cardboard tube. I had found tons of silverfish in my old apartment when we first moved in. So to catch them, I put down a glue trap with a toilet paper roll tube in the middle (because I heard they were attracted to things like that) right near where I would always see them. The next morning, there were a ginormous amount of silverfish on that trap. I hate those things.