Silverfish

[oldwhy]

Yesterday I was moving my artwork binders because I needed to make some room and noticed a silverfish.

 

I was surprised as the art is stored in the top shelf of a built in closet on the second floor in a dry environment (California) and I always thought silverfish prefer dark, musty basements.

 

Can silverfish damage comic art? What would the damage look like? Should I take out all the artwork to check it for other silverfish? If they can damage the art is there a way to protect it? I'd appreciate any hints and suggestions.

 

Many thanks!

 

 

[Unca Ben]

Yes. Chews. Probably. Kill all silverfish.

[shanester]

Silverfish are very destructive to paper. They can even get inside sealed frame ups. I loathe them.

[AKA Rick]

Silverfish can damage artwork.

 

To my best knowledge if you live in an area, and So Cal is a problem geography, with Silverfish, much like with ants, spiders, and termites, you can fumigate and eliminate them, but it's only a matter of short time before they start coming back and it's near impossible to rid yourself of them.

 

Silverfish love soft wood and paper, so unless you live in a house of bricks and rid yourself of most wood/paper possessions, you'll always encounter them, it's a fact of life.

 

What you can do to minimize the threat however is to entomb your collectibles to avoid penetration by these pests.

 

For comics, the CGC cases of course are iron clad encapsulations. Using bags and boards are okay, but if there's an opening for oxygen and room for the smallest of insects, know that baby silverfish need to feed and will infest your goods potentially, so just a single piece of tape may not be good enough.

 

For comic art, what I do is put them in either a mylar and / or a poly bag, and seal up the entries with tape, complete, so if there were any issues with silverfish or water (water resistant not water proof 'tho), the artwork would be protected 95% of the time against accidents. A mylar or putting it in a portfolio isn't good enough, when you look at the exposed top entry. Seal the deal! You need to mummify it, so to speak, especially the valuable older art, where the paper may have aged and is ripe for silverfish, which tends to like softer papers and cardboards.

 

If you have a lot of paper goods in your attic, garage or home like newspapers, boxes, magazines, posters, etc. then you are basically providing an optimized feeding ground for silverfish. In one breath it may be a benefit in that the silverfish will be lured by the easy eatings there and not bother with your protected collectibles.

 

I don't know of any devices (those electronic sonic pest control units) or sprays that eliminates silverfish, so I don't think getting rid of them is the solution, but the solution is protecting what you have against them, so building the proverbial wall to keep them out.

[Hekla]

I'm in the desert (so no issues with silverfish) but I'm debating a move to the east coast in a year or two, so this is a topic that has been something on my mind. How does a fireproof safe work protecting against silverfish?

[jqa3]

Kill all silverfish.

 

HEY! Be nice.

 

Here I thought this was someone found my Silverfish Art Gallery

(link in sig.) Have not added a new piece in a while (tho' I do have

a couple) but still some pretty nice ones there if you're looking to

kill some time checking out some non-superhero artwork.

(end shameless plug)

 

And like others have said, they probably aren't the best critters to

have running around near your comics/art.

[PmTick]

Hi all - brand new here. I have finally decided to organize my collection after many years and have found some kind of bug in part of a collection I bought a little while ago. Doesn't look like silverfish, beg bugs, roaches, or carpet bugs. Any other ideas? Asked at my store but no one seems to know. Haven't found in any other books yet, thank god.

[tv horror]

It could be a Larder beetle they get everywhere and can even fly, they also start out as larvae and leave dead skin from their shells where they have been. They have a small off white (hey call CGC) across their backs and are dark brown to black in colour, hope this helps..

[oakman29]

Hi all - brand new here. I have finally decided to organize my collection after many years and have found some kind of bug in part of a collection I bought a little while ago. Doesn't look like silverfish, beg bugs, roaches, or carpet bugs. Any other ideas? Asked at my store but no one seems to know. Haven't found in any other books yet, thank god.

 

Can you post a picture of the insect? I am an exterminator here in California, with 20 years of experience.

[ComicArtMall]

When I lived in California, I would encounter silverfish often. They are annoying. Now, I put my portfolios inside a sealed bag to avoid any bugs.

[MustEatBrains]

Hi all - brand new here. I have finally decided to organize my collection after many years and have found some kind of bug in part of a collection I bought a little while ago. Doesn't look like silverfish, beg bugs, roaches, or carpet bugs. Any other ideas? Asked at my store but no one seems to know. Haven't found in any other books yet, thank god.

 

Can you post a picture of the insect? I am an exterminator here in California, with 20 years of experience.

 

I'd like to see a pic too. We get some pretty funky bugs in the basement from time to time in Jersey. A massive cave cricket decided to visit me a few months ago and almost gave me a heart attack. Haven't had any issues with anything affecting comics though. Oak I may fly you up here to do your thing....

[oakman29]

Hi all - brand new here. I have finally decided to organize my collection after many years and have found some kind of bug in part of a collection I bought a little while ago. Doesn't look like silverfish, beg bugs, roaches, or carpet bugs. Any other ideas? Asked at my store but no one seems to know. Haven't found in any other books yet, thank god.

 

Can you post a picture of the insect? I am an exterminator here in California, with 20 years of experience.

 

I'd like to see a pic too. We get some pretty funky bugs in the basement from time to time in Jersey. A massive cave cricket decided to visit me a few months ago and almost gave me a heart attack. Haven't had any issues with anything affecting comics though. Oak I may fly you up here to do your thing....

 

I love New York winters.