How to effectively get rid of silverfish in a house or apartment?

It is not very pleasant to once discover that an uninvited tenant has a fairly unpleasant appearance in a house or apartment. Such tenants can be silverfish - insects that lead a nocturnal lifestyle and very willingly settle in the human home. To decide how to get rid of silverfish, you need to get acquainted with its habits and distinctive features.

What is an uninvited guest?

This representative of the family of silverfish has a silver color. Her body is completely covered with tiny scales. In shape, it looks like an elongated triangle with three similarities of the tail at its apex and two antennae on the wide part. On the sides of the insect there are several pairs of short legs, which are constantly in motion, because the silverfish moves intensively all the time.

It is not in vain called “sugar”, sweet is one of the preferred dishes of silverfish. She does not bite either pets or people, does not tolerate infection, but the feeling that insects eat food, books and household items in your absence is very unpleasant. These intruders are also very prolific. For one clutch, a silverfish can lay about 70 eggs, and nothing will prevent young insects from growing and starting to multiply.

Favorite Habitats

It is unlikely that you can see silverfish in broad daylight, although they often sit under skirting boards and window sills. They like to settle where it is dark, humid and a lot of their favorite food, such as:

• paper, waste paper;
• rags;
• construction garbage;
• bulk food products (flour, sugar, starch).

This is a bathroom, pantry, cellar, warehouse, kitchen, home library. In the apartment, the silverfish are together with building materials (wallpaper), old books and magazines, bulk food from a warehouse or store. Given such a feature as the ability to travel long distances and go without food for months, there is no doubt that this insect can easily climb into the house, having improved the right moment.

You can find out that this insect appeared in the house by its excrement, similar to grains of black pepper, and the traces it leaves while eating in the apartment its owners' stocks. The products of their livelihoods are barely distinguishable, but they can easily be on the table, on kitchen utensils, in flour and sugar, on bread and other food products. In addition, silverfish can lay their eggs directly in flour or other bulk products. It may not ruin their taste, but it is better to exclude this possibility.

9 ways to deal with silverfish

In order to exclude cohabitation with such unpleasant neighbors, radical measures must be taken. The control strategy consists of setting traps, chemical and mechanical methods. The latter include frequent ventilation of wet rooms, thorough cleaning with a powerful vacuum cleaner of those places where silverfish can settle. Do not leave food for them. This means that you need to store things and products in hermetically sealed containers - banks, bags, boxes, containers.

Traps

Setting traps, you need to be patient until the last uninvited guest falls into the bait.

Types of traps are very different.

1. A 1-liter jar wrapped on the outside with insulating tape with a piece of bread or sugar inside. It will not be possible to get out of it with insects that have got inside because of slippery walls.
2. A slightly damp newspaper twisted into a roll secured with an elastic band.At night, silverfish will conquer a new habitat, and in the morning it will remain to throw a trap along with them. You will have to repeat this technique several times until the last instance is caught.
3. A ready-made trap for cockroaches from a household goods store with a bait - a treat for silverfish (bread, a drop of thick jelly).

In addition to traps, you can use various drugs, many of which are easy to find at home.

Chemical methods of control

It will be useful to recall the observance of precautions when using control measures using various drugs. You need to wash your hands thoroughly, use disposable gloves when folding the product. Do not leave them in the reach of children and pets.

So, what chemicals will help put out a silverfish?

1. Diatomite - in the evening the drug is scattered in the habitats of the insect, in the morning they carry out cleaning with a vacuum cleaner.
2. Boric acid, which is very cheap and is sold in any pharmacy, is an excellent remedy for silverfish.
3. Insecticides with pyrethrin in the form of an aerosol are dangerous for children and pets, do not spray at the locations of the products.
4. Citrus zest. This insect does not like the smell of lemon or orange peel. However, such a tool needs to be decomposed for a long time, and this is not entirely convenient for adherents of cleanliness and order. Therefore, citrus peel shavings can be used not in the apartment, but mainly in the basement, cellar, away from the picky eyes of the zealous hostess.
5. Lemon or lavender essential oils are diluted in water, and cabinets and drawers are sprayed with a solution. At the same time, you can enjoy the smell of freshness.
6. Fragrant spices (cinnamon, sage, bay leaf) can scare away silverfish from kitchen cabinets. The minus of the method is that the spices will have to be updated frequently, as their smell quickly disappears.

It is advisable that these funds fall into the cracks, behind the baseboard, in the places of the alleged accumulation of insects.

So, in order to prevent silverfish from settling in the apartment, you need not to create favorable conditions for them, fight against high humidity, and not leave food in their reach. To eliminate insects, chemical control methods are used, traps are established.