Paper Bugs?

[Mr. Zipper]

Occasionally I find what appears to be tiny cylindrical brown insect husk(s) in the bottom on comic bags / mylars. (No live ones to date) Fortunately, there is no paper damage or stains, but I'd like to know what these buggers are and how to prevent them. I keep my comic boxes in dry, cool closets... unfortunately, the apartment is a bit old.

 

Are these the same things that invade pasta?

 

 

Sorry for the gross topic

[harveyfan323]

I have noticed the same phenomenon, so I bet it is widespread. I'm sure someone will supply an answer shortly.

[BachelorOfComix]

I know what you're referring too. They're hairy little brown worms (maggots?) that molt. Don't know the name though.

[aardvark88]

Do u store your comics inside cardboard boxes in your closet? Silverfish drilling thru your comics.

[delekkerste]

I've spotted a silverfish once or twice around my comics stored in San Diego...thankfully, we only have roaches to deal with here in NYC.

 

But seriously, if your comics are bagged, boarded and taped shut, can these silverfish still manage to eat their way through? I haven't encountered any evidence of silverfish damage to my books stored in Cali to date.

 

Gene

[Mr. Zipper]

Do u store your comics inside cardboard boxes in your closet? Silverfish drilling thru your comics.

 

Yes... I store them in mylars in regular comic boxes. I know what Silverfish are.... but I haven't found any in the comics.... just the dried husks I described. It's not widespread... I'll find them in a handful of comics in each box. (For all I know, microscopic eggs could have been in the paper when I bought the comics.) Could the husks be from the larval stage of silverfish?

 

In any case, there is no damage to the comics. I'm switching over to Mylites2 with the flaps, so hopefully that will discourage further nesting.

 

[BachelorOfComix]

I'm gonna see if I can find one & then I'm gonna scan the little bugger.

[Mephisto]

Doesn't one of the guys on the boards have a silver fish as his avatar? Anyway's doesn anyone remember the issue of ASM where there was some ganster money or something hidden in the walls of Aunt May's house but when it was recovered the silver fish had destroyed it?

[goldust40]

Silverfish are common in areas in your home where there is dampness or humidity. You get a lot in the U.K., due to the weather. My only observations are that you tend to find them in kitchens and bathrooms, and that if your comics are stored in Mylars with sealable flaps there is no way they can get to your comics. Mylites, Mylars etc. are inert plastic (or they should be) and those little pests only go for organic things.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm right about this (my old apartment was infested with them) and I never saw any damage to any comic I had due to careful storage (i.e. don't leave your comics in your kitchen or your bathroom!) as mentioned above.

 

Still, urgh.

 

 

[Aces]

Doesn't one of the guys on the boards have a silver fish as his avatar? Anyway's doesn anyone remember the issue of ASM where there was some ganster money or something hidden in the walls of Aunt May's house but when it was recovered the silver fish had destroyed it?

 

Yes, I recall that.

I don't remember the exact issue.

It wasn't in the first 20 I'm pretty sure.

In the 20s or 30s?

 

[Mephisto]

Was it for some reason I thought it was in the 190's or early 200's or so. Around the time she had her death faked in that nursing home with Mysterio but I could definitely be mistaken.

[FlComicFan]

you have silverfish Here in Florida no matter what I do I get them in any storages of paper products. I havent seen them get past bags with flaps but I am going to get rid of all the cardboard comic boxes and switch to the plastic coated ones That should get rid of them since they wont touch plastics

[Aces]

Maybe your right.

 

Was it 200!?

 

The return of the burglar?

 

It was right around FF 200 and ASM 200 that I stop collecting newer comics and focused on the older ones (Silver-Age).

 

ASM 200 might have been the last "new" comic I bought off the self as a teenager.

[Mephisto]

That's what I was wondering for some reason I thought the burgler came back to that house to get the money, but for some reason it didn't sound right....I cheated though I never read the story, but I actually read the synaposis for a lot of the ASM's around this time in the Spider-Man Index's that came out some time in the 80's so some of the issues are a little crunched together.

[joe_collector]

Amazing Spider-man 200:

 

[Mephisto]

[Warlord]

You have moths. Their larval stage is as a paper-eating wormy critter. What you are finding is the remnants from their worm to moth transformation. The moths are light averse (heck, maybe nocturnal, I don't know), so often you see them only at night, or in the daytime you might spot them in a dark room when you turn on a light. Closets are places they like too.

 

Have you see the little buggers flapping around sometimes? If so, then that is confirmation.

 

I don't think that there is larval stage for silverfish.

[Mr. Zipper]

You have moths. Their larval stage is as a paper-eating wormy critter. What you are finding is the remnants from their worm to moth transformation. The moths are light averse (heck, maybe nocturnal, I don't know), so often you see them only at night, or in the daytime you might spot them in a dark room when you turn on a light. Closets are places they like too.

 

Have you see the little buggers flapping around sometimes? If so, then that is confirmation.

 

I don't think that there is larval stage for silverfish.

 

I think you are right. Once in a while I see a moth in the house. My favorite sweater had a suspicious hole in it when I took it out recently.

 

It's weird that I never actually see any live bugs in the comics... just the husks. I think if it was silverfish, there would be damage to the paper and more infestation.

[read_em-migration]

Doesn't one of the guys on the boards have a silver fish as his avatar?

 

My avatar, Chewie the Silverfish, should strike fear in the hearts of all comic collectors here!

 

 

 

 

 

[underthebigw]

The possibity that they are silverfish is somewhat unlikely--I'm pretty sure they eat their molted skin and each other's dead bodies. While mylar and other plastic will definitely minimize the damage, nothing can really keep them out. They will get in sleeves--fortunately, they are stupid and typically can't get out and die in them. I personally stay a mile away from any book I find in a box that has signs of silverfish.

 

The moth hypothesis is a possibility, as are carpet beetle larvae. Either way, be afraid, very afraid, especially in the latter situation. Depsite their name, carpet beetles will eat anything (plant and synthetic fibers, especially if dirty, paper, foods, spices, etc), and I one had an entomologist tell me that their mandibles are strong enough to eat through the thick plastic of spice containers, so I'm sure most poly sleeves are easily vulnerable. To make matters worse, it is the never visible larval stage that actually causes the damage, all the adults do is breed and lay eggs on food supplies.

 

Now, don't get me started on booklice. I actually threw out close to a thousand books I had in an apartment in DC that was infested--fortunately, I only had early 90's dregs there and had always shipped away my good books to my parents in NY as soon as I got home from shows.