# Culture of silverfish or firebat



## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

How can I do silverfish cultures??, I have few _Lepisma saccharina_


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Wanted to mention that silverfish and firebrats are related (they both belong to the group basically called bristletails), but generally not the same thing... Firebrats (_Thermobius domestica_) require it hot and bone dry, but silverfish like it cooler and more humid... from this source : 



> Silverfish can live for two to three years, or more, and produce more than 50 offspring. Eggs, deposited one to three at a time, take from 19 to 43 days to hatch (temperature dependent); these offspring can reach sexual maturity in a few months or up to 3 years. This variability is due to environmental conditions and quality of food sources. Firebrat have similar lives, but they can produce more than 100 offspring, and eggs are deposited in batches of about 50.


Firebrats have generation times of about six months... seems that the silverfish would have it similar, but with half the production... I couldn't find specific info on their culture, but they are kept for research purposes. If you, or someone you know, belongs to a college they can look up articles on them... often they will mention little bits on how they were cultured. If they don't spell it out, looking at enough articles will give you enough to work it out. I don't have access tho so I couldn't get much  They are cultured at 25C, and are fed starchy foods.


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## nelcadiz (Jun 27, 2007)

Then... can I try to do cultures of the same form that firebrats culture...? what I need?


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