Silverfish is the most elusive and frequently occurring pest in households because it is hard to find easily and can damage your books, cardboard boxes and wooden items silently without even making you realise something is eating up the pages of your favourite book or magazine.
You must be tired of getting your books and cardboard boxes damaged by these silent killers. But don’t know where silverfish come from into your house and spoil your household items and the environment.
Fortunately, there is no need to worry because we have brought a detailed guide about their origins. In addition, you’ll learn how to stop them from getting into your place using natural remedies and commercial solutions. All you need to do is follow the instructions below about identifying and hunting these insects to live a pest-free life.
What is a Silverfish?
A silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) is a small, wingless insect with silvery-grey skin and moves like a fish in a wriggling motion. It is usually 19mm in length and has long antennae and three bristles at the tail end. Though the silverfishes are unpleasant in appearance, they don’t bite humans and cause any disease.
But they can easily damage paper, starchy clothes and food in dark, humid areas by sneaking through wall cracks. First, you need to understand how silverfish come from outside. Then you can look for prevention techniques.
Don’t ever let them roam around in your home freely because they can rot your groceries easily within no time, and go for silverfish control services to enjoy a risk-free life.
Where Do Silverfish Come From?
Silverfish don’t land directly from the skies to your home. They are ancient insects adapted to dark and damp indoor environments. They grow at full pace in dark and moist places like under rocks, bark, leaf litter and rotting wood.
The favourite places of these insects are inside the bathroom, kitchen, food storage areas, basements, and storage rooms. These insects grow in dark, moist areas with high humidity and a nearby starch source..
How Do Silverfish Enter Your Home?
Now, the question is, how do silverfish get inside the house? Even though you have not invited these pests to visit you. You need professional home pest control services to stop silverfish, cockroaches, bed bugs, wasps and spiders for a healthy life. They usually sneak into your place through the following elements.
- Cracks in the foundation
- Gaps in windows and doors
- Vents and pipe openings
- Cardboard boxes or paper bags
- Book pages or newspapers
- Starch clothes
- Roof leaks
- Second-hand furniture stored in infested areas
What Attracts Silverfish to Your Place?
Silverfishes are not just entering your house like guests without invitation; conversely, they are guests with an invitation. Struggling to comprehend the statement? Hold on for a minute and think about the leaking roof of your home, poorly ventilated laundry or other spaces, and a dark and humid storage room.
These are the real factors that contribute to what attracts silverfish to enter your home because these work like the invitation emails you sent to your prospects. These insects are always searching for such signs, and upon finding the signals, their antennae guide them towards your place.
Therefore, one of the best and most effortless silverfish control methods lies in your activeness in eliminating such inviting factors where silverfish live. By doing so, you can make your living space completely pest-free.
Moisture
Silverfish love indoor environments where the humidity level is around 70-90%, like bathrooms, basements, laundry rooms, and poorly ventilated attics, because these are ideal places for them to thrive.
The best natural remedies for silverfish prevention are fixing the ventilation problems, resulting in less humidity, which is not ideal for them to grow. Keep your home open to receiving fresh air, and you will be able to enjoy a healthy life.
Items Having Starch
The best food for silverfish to feed upon is polysaccharides, usually found in food and paper items that contain starch. Wherever there is something having starch in it, like clothes and paper, you will easily find plenty of silverfish living upon them.
Here is a list of items that work as the best food supplements for such insects and give them a long life. Paper, cardboard boxes, book bindings, wallpaper glue, flour, cereals, sugar, and clothes made from cotton, silk, or linen.
Dark and Damp Spaces
Silverfish are nocturnal beings that love to reside in humid and undisturbed places where even the sunlight rarely reaches. That’s why they seep through dark crevices for nesting and feeding without anything disturbing their process to live peacefully.
How to Find Whether You Have Silverfish in Your Home or Not?
You need to follow the listed tricks and find out whether your house is being attacked by silverfish or not. First, start doing a visual inspection at night time with your naked eye, spot the dark and humid places of your habitat, and see if there’s any sign of silverfish.
If you have seen any creature that is silvery-grey in colour and has many legs, then it is surely what you are thinking of. The second step is to look for shed skin and exoskeletons because these insects shed their skin as they grow and leave behind translucent moulted shells.
Inspect your books, wallpapers, and cardboxes as well. If there are yellow stains and holes in them, then silverfish is the real culprit.
Tools and Resources That Can Help You in Finding & Getting Rid of Silverfish
After consulting with property pest control experts, we have learned about the following items as lifesavers in hunting down silverfish in your habitat.
- A dehumidifier to make the spaces breathable and not liveable for pests.
- A flashlight to track silverfish in dark and damp spots.
- Caulk or sealant to fill in gaps and stop leakages.
- Airtight storage containers to cage silverfish.
- Diatomaceous earth is a natural repellent to make the pests run.
- Essential oils like cedar and citrus.
- Sticky traps.
- Vacuum cleaner with crevice tool.
Tips to Stop Silverfish from Infiltrating Your House
Dealing directly with silverfish is no doubt effective in getting rid of them. However, you need to take some preventive measures as well to reduce or wipe out the causes of silverfish infestation in your vicinity. Therefore, instead of asking why you have silverfish in your house, start implementing the tips below and get rid of them for life.
- Reduce and control the moisture by dehumidifying the space and fixing leaking faucets, pipes, and sewage drains.
- Seal entry points by fixing the wall cracks, doors, and window gaps using caulk. Install door sweeps and screen covers as well.
- Declutter the papers, old magazines, and cardboard boxes. After that, vacuum and clean the dust to store food in sealed airtight containers.
Natural Remedies to Get Rid of Silverfish
It is not necessary to always use chemical-based pest control solutions to eliminate silverfish in your residence. You can also use the below-mentioned proven natural solutions to ensure the safety of your children and pets.
- Sprinkle Diatomaceous earth, a powdery substance, upon the infested areas to damage the exoskeleton and cause dehydration.
- Silverfish hate the scent of natural oils like lavender, citrus, and cedarwood. Make sure to dilute them with water to sprinkle on entry points.
- Place the fresh cucumber peels in areas where you have noticed the movement of silverfish to repel them.
- Use a glass jar with masking tape to perform the same technique of caging silverfish as we do for rodent removal. Place starchy food inside the container and let the insect get trapped in the jar.
- Place cloves and bay leaves in your bookshelves and cupboards to repel silverfish from entering the space.
Conclusion
It is quite easy to locate where silverfish come from and infiltrate your home. To begin with, you just need to point out wall cracks, door and window gaps, leaking pipes and humid places like storage areas. As a result, you’ll easily find these insects thriving on starch-rich food items.
Keep your home ventilated, thoroughly clean, and leaky or cracked pipes or walls sealed to stop silverfish from entering your house.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get rid of silverfish in my home?
The instant way to get rid of silverfish in your home is to hire a professional pest control expert, and sometimes using home remedies like natural oils works as well.
What causes silverfish to enter the house?
If your home has cracks on the walls, leakages in the roof, gaps between doors and windows, dark and humid bathrooms or storage spaces. Then, it can cause silverfish to enter your house uninvitedly.
Are silverfish harmful to humans?
No, they are not harmful to humans because they don’t give mosquito bites like damage to humans and pets, but they can be dangerous for the overall health and environment of your place.
