Do Bristletails Hibinate ?

[silka]

I have had them in my bathroom but have not seen them for several weeks now

[fredkins]

My goodness how ugly creatures they are.

[silka]

They are from the silverfish family

[FredPuli43]

No, they don't. They live quite happily for a long time, by insect standards,being a matter of years. The ones in your bathroom certainly have no reason to hibernate; it's quite warm and humid all the time; but, even in those dim distant days when their ancestors had no bathrooms and had to make do with leaf litter, there was never any need for them to hibernate.

[fredkins]

What are they doing in your bathroom? Oh my goodness I could not have that.

[silka]

Do not know why they are there they just are, I used to see the odd one as I have white tiled floor they seem to live under the bath

[FredPuli43]

Well, they are harmless enough. They don't spread disease. They like anything with starch in it; they are not popular in museum libraries,eating the starch in ancient book bindings; but most of us are not troubled by that. They'll find the minute amounts of starchy material they need, without disturbing us. I think they're sweet, but others are put off by the rapid dashing about and the way they bend, snake-like, when doing it.

[Answerprancer]

"I think they're sweet, but others are put off by the rapid dashing about and the way they bend, snake-like, when doing it".
Awww :-) I think you are sweet for saying this.

[silka]

so what are they eating under the bath ?

[FredPuli43]

Same as they eat everywhere else; minute scraps of anything at all starchy. They are under the bath because a) it is quite warm in a bathroom b) it is humid in there c)it is dark under the bath; they tend to be nocturnal.

But it's a great mystery what anything like that lives on in a house. Spiders survive happily yet there never seems to be any visible insect life to sustain them.