Get Rid of Silverfish (before they ruin your stuff)
First, you should know that Silverfish are harmless to you and your pets (except for rare allergic reactions). They do not bite or transmit disease.
But second, you don’t want them inside your house. Silverfish (aka firebrat) destroy property, breed rapidly, and attract other pests to your home like spiders, house centipedes, and earwigs. And they can live up to eight years!
Getting rid of them is very difficult. A sighting of just one or two could mean you already have an infestation.
What are Silverfish?
Silverfish are one of the oldest species of insects, also known as bristletails because of their three bristle-like appendages or tails.
What Do They Look Like?
They are easy to identify because of their wingless, silver or metallic-looking body. Sometimes they are a shimmering light brown. Adults are about ¾ of an inch long. They run fast in a side-to-side motion similar to how fish move in the water.
They have three tail-like appendages at the base of their body and two slender antennae on their heads.
What Do Silverfish Eat?
Though they can live up to a year without food, your home is a constant organic food source.
- books and the glue of book bindings
- your important papers
- clothing
- cardboard
- carpeting
- wallpaper
- furniture
- damp woodwork
- dry foodstuffs
- and even dead skin cells.
What Attracts Silverfish Inside My Home?
They prefer damp, warm, dark spaces. They hide in undisturbed areas, like inside storage boxes, under piles of loose paper or fabric materials, in the back of closets, and behind baseboards.
They may get a ride indoors when you bring them in with something else. Silverfish also come in the house through exterior cracks, gaps, and crevices, often around doors and windows.
Austin homeowners find them in crawl spaces, attics, garages, sheds, kitchens, and bathrooms.
How Do I Know if I have an Infestation?
All it takes is one male and one female to create an infestation.
A single female can lay up to 3 eggs a day (almost 1,000 eggs a year).
The nymphs hatch in dark hiding spots around your home and start breeding at 3 months old.
The breeding cycle is why they are so difficult to exterminate. You need to find all the adults, the babies, and the eggs (wherever they may hide throughout your property).
A single pest control treatment won’t be enough, and retail consumer products are not effective.
How to Get Rid of Silverfish
Start with these 8 prevention tips...
- Cover the floor of your crawl space with plastic sheeting.
- Store paper, books, and clothing in plastic containers with tight-fitting lids, rather than cardboard boxes.
- Protect important documents in plastic or metal containers.
- Keep food (especially grains, pasta, rice, and cereals) in glass or plastic containers with snap-tight lids.
- Clean, dry out, and unclutter Silverfish hiding places (like under sinks and in storage areas).
- Use a dehumidifier in damp areas of your home.
- Seal up cracks and holes around the exterior and interior of your house.
- Try natural remedies to repel them like cedar shavings or Japanese Cedar essential oil.
YardDoc provides licensed organic pest control to help you prevent and eliminate unwanted rodents, and critters including mosquitoes, millipedes, termites, grubs, scorpions, bed bugs, spiders, ants, ticks, wasps, and cockroaches.
If you suspect a Silverfish infestation, contact YardDoc right away for professional pest control services to get rid of Silverfish and the other pests they attract.
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