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Table of Contents Legal Notice p. 3 Disclaimer p. 3 Part I: The Life of a Silverfish A Backgrounder on Silverfish p. 4 Why You Have Silverfish p. 6 Part II: How to Get Rid of Silverfish Step 1: Finding the Source p. 8 Step 2: Killing the Adults p. 11 Step 3: Remove the Source of Food p. 11 Step 4: Dry Moist Environments p. 14 Step 5. Filling in the Cracks p. 15 Part III: Making it Permanent Making it Permanent p. 18 Conclusion & Contact Info p. 19 :: P. 2 ::
Legal Notice Silverfish Control: How to Get Rid of Silverfish is copyright 2008 with all rights reserved. It is illegal to copy, distribute, or create derivative works of this book in whole or in part, or to contribute to the copying, distribution, or creation of derivative works of this book. Every copy of Silverfish Control: How to Get Rid of Silverfish is stamped with a version number, unique to each individual sale of this product. Any illegal duplication of this book can be easily traced back to the purchaser. Anyone found making illegal copies or distribution of this book will be found and subject to the full penalties of the law. Disclaimer Silverfish Control: How to Get Rid of Silverfish is an ebook that contains an effective, natural, chemical-free solution for getting rid of silverfish. I can t possibly imagine that the solution contained within this book could ever cause physical harm to humans, dogs, cats, or any other household pet (because there are no chemicals or poisons involved), but by purchasing this book you agree to assume 100% of the risk involved with implementing this solution. :: P. 3 ::
Part I: The Life of a Silverfish A Backgrounder on Silverfish Silverfish are an incredibly resilient species! It is estimated that they have been on the planet for over 300 million years (so it s no wonder they re hard to get rid of, right?) Silverfish didn t always live in your home - most silverfish do in fact live outside. They are typically found under rocks and logs, or in heaps of dry leaves or crevices that contain moisture. Silverfish are also very good at reproducing. When silverfish mate, the male silverfish puts his sperm into a sticky silk thread and places it on the ground. Female silverfish can locate these sperm sacs using built in biochemical senses. Then they come by, pick them up, and lay their fertilized eggs in small cracks and crevices. (Chances are you ve never seen the eggs or the silk threads left by the males. They re very small and they re almost always in places you would never look.) Female silverfish lay hundreds of eggs throughout their lifetime. This is the reason why silverfish keep coming back again and again, no matter how many of them you squish. The key to getting rid of your silverfish infestation is knowing how to destroy this breeding cycle! (I ll show you how in Part II.) :: P. 4 ::
Silverfish eggs usually take about 2 weeks to hatch in ideal conditions, but can also take up to 2 months. At birth, young silverfish look almost exactly the same as they do when they re adults the only difference is they re smaller and sometimes whiter in color. It is believed they can live for up to 8 years, but their typical lifespan is about 3-6 years. Silverfish will molt (shed their skin) up to 50 times during the course of their life. Silverfish don t reach sexual maturity for a couple years at least. For this reason it s fairly easy to break the reproduction cycle if you know what to do. (Don t worry, I m going to show you) The scientific name for silverfish is Lepisma Saccharina. Other common names are fishmoth or bristletails. The name silverfish comes from their silvery appearance and the fish-like way they move their bodies when they walk and run. I m sure you re familiar with the gross and creepy way they slither around on your walls, sinks, and bathtubs. Silverfish are sometimes confused with a very similar-looking insect called a firebrat. When I did all my research in trying to figure out a natural way of how to get rid of silverfish for good, I learned that the solution to getting rid of firebrats in largely the same: kill off their reproduction cycle and remove the conditions they require for survival. So if you have firebrats, my solution will work as well. Before getting into how to kill silverfish, let s look at why you have them in the first place. :: P. 5 ::
Why You Have Silverfish The first thing you need to know in order to get rid of silverfish is that certain conditions must exist in your home in order for them to survive. If you remove these conditions they will die off or leave your home in search of more ideal conditions. There are three things that a silverfish needs in it s living environment: Moisture The right temperature The right amount of light A source of food. If you have silverfish in your home these three conditions most surely exist. Of these three conditions, one of them is surely the most common factor in silverfish-rich homes: moisture. Any home that has silverfish probably has a problem with moisture. Silverfish are usually found in older buildings because they leak, pipes erode, etc. Silverfish require moisture in order to survive. That s why they usually thrive in areas where moisture is high, such as under sinks, in bathrooms, around dog (or cat) bowls, around leaks and near plants. Basically anywhere you have water, silverfish will be found. What I m going to show you in Part II is that you don t need to renovate your home in order to get rid of silverfish you just need to follow a few simple steps that I figured out. (If you live in tool shed in someone s backyard, then you probably will have to renovate but for the most part silverfish can be killed off in common apartments and houses without going to extreme lengths.) :: P. 6 ::
Temperature is also a factor for a silverfish s ideal living conditions. Silverfish do not like warm temperature. They prefer temps between 70 and 80 Fahrenheit (that s 21 to 26 Celsius) or, in other words, slightly below room temperature. Silverfish don t like light either. Obviously every home gets dark or at least has dark places to hide, so light isn t one of the factors that you should worry about. You don t have silverfish simply because your place gets dark at night, but it is one of the living conditions necessary for silverfish to have. A source of food is also something silverfish need in order to survive (like anything else.) A complete list of common household things they eat is contained in Part II. So let s get on with how to get rid of silverfish :: P. 7 ::
Part II: How to Get Rid of Silverfish Step 1: Finding The Source If you have silverfish in your home you may have noticed they are usually found in the same areas time and time again. It s most likely that there is something about that area that attracts them, such as moisture, temperature, source of food, or cracks & crevices. When I had silverfish in my apartment, I used to see them in every room of my house but mostly in the kitchen. When I reached for plates, cups, or bowls, silverfish would often run away. I also found some in my drawers where I kept my knives and forks. (Gross!) I don t doubt that I had silverfish in every room in my apartment simply because my apartment isn t that big. It s not a long walk from the kitchen to my bedroom, and yes I saw them in my bed sheets at least once. (Gross!) But when I helped my mother get rid of her silverfish, we had to locate the primary source of where they were coming from. She lives in a house and it wasn t as obvious which rooms they were centrally located in. If you can t figure out where they re coming from, here s a great way to locate the source :: P. 8 ::
How to Locate the Source(s) What you need to do in order to locate the source is make a homemade silverfish trap. The idea isn t to trap each and every individual, but just to find out what rooms they hang out in most. Here s what you ll need in order to make a homemade silverfish trap: Newspaper Flour Water A pretty big bowl (like a salad bowl) Step 1) Take your pretty big bowl and fill it up halfway with warm water. You re going to be dunking some newspaper in it so don t fill it up all the way or it will overflow. Step 2) Pour some flour into the bowl. How much depends on how big your bowl is, but a couple tablespoons are usually more than enough. Mix it up until it the water gets murky. (The amount of flour you put in is not an exact science so you don t need to be extremely precise. You re not baking a cake here.) Step 3) Take about 3 pages of newspaper and scrunch them into one tight ball. Then take your newspaper ball and it and dunk it in the bowl. You want to soak the paper for a few seconds to make sure it s wet, but it shouldn t be so soaked that the paper falls to pieces when you take it out. Just rolling it once or twice will be fine. Step 4) Wring it out. Twist and squeeze your newspaper ball so that it isn t dripping wet. :: P. 9 ::
So now what you ve got is a basic homemade silverfish trap. The moisture, the flour and the cracks in the paper will attract silverfish overnight. Step 5) Place the ball somewhere in your home where you frequently see silverfish. Here s a list of places to consider: Behind your toilet Under your sinks Next to your bathtub (especially if you have one that isn t properly sealed against the walls.) In your kitchen cupboards Next to or under your fridge In your attic Dark places in your basement Any crawlspaces or storage spaces Any other dark, moist place in your home (especially any that are near cracks in the wall or areas that aren t well sealed) Place your homemade silverfish trap there overnight. Step 6) Check your traps in the morning. Remember, silverfish aren t very active in the light and they come out at night (most of the time) so if you put your trap in a place where sunlight will hit it in the morning, silverfish may have been drawn to the trap and then left when it got light out. For that reason it s better to put your traps in a dark place or check them before the sun rises. If your trap successfully attracted silverfish they will be sleeping in the cracks of the paper. I used to pick up my pieces of paper with the inside of a plastic bag (the same way people pick up dog poo with plastic bags) and then take them to the bathroom and dump them in the bathtub. The reason for this is that if you just pick it up and unfold it on the spot, the silverfish will run away. :: P. 10 ::
Once you dump it in the bathtub, open it up and see if you have silverfish inside. (I know it s gross but don t worry - silverfish will not bite and they are not harmful to humans.) They will probably start to run when you expose them to the light, but they can t climb up the side of the tub so you ve got them trapped and ready to be squished. If you found silverfish in your trap, you found a good source! If not, then try other spots in your home. Step 2: Killing the Adults Repeat step 1 every night for a week. There s a good chance you ll get a lot of the adult silverfish you have in your home by using this simple trap. The more adults you get, the fewer there will be to breed. There are lots of insecticides on the market for killing adult silverfish, but unless you change the environment in your home then they ll keep coming back. Insecticides are more of a band-aid solution. What you ll learn in the following section is that you don t need insecticides anyway. I ve successfully gotten rid of silverfish with this method in several homes and I ve never used anything other than common table salt. Once you ve killed off a bunch of adults but trapping them and squishing them, it s time to work on preventing them from reproducing. Step 3: Remove the Source of Food Silverfish eat materials that come from plants because of carbohydrates and protein. This section contains a list of what silverfish commonly eat in your home and a bunch of tips on how to make it harder for them to access the food you re currently supplying them with. :: P. 11 ::
Plants Paper Bookbinding Glue Wallpaper paste Photographs Starch Clothing Cotton Curtains Sugar Flour Breakfast Cereal Water Plants. Silverfish will eat plants but this isn t typically one of the major problem areas because plants are usually in places that have lot of light. If you have plants in dark, moist areas for some reason you may want to consider moving them. Paper. From my experience this is one of the biggest problem areas. Paper includes newspapers, magazines, books, and bookbinding. Make sure you don t keep old newspapers and magazines lying around in your home, especially in damp areas. I used to have a lot of old textbooks in a dresser drawer and I discovered the silverfish were eating them. What I did to prevent it was to put them all in a big plastic container that was completely sealed and I moved them out of my apartment and put them in storage. There is no way for silverfish to get at them now because of the sealed plastic container. If you have collections of old magazines, books, newspapers, or photographs I highly recommend you put them in sealed containers. :: P. 12 ::
Wallpaper paste. I know silverfish eat wallpaper paste but I don t have wallpaper in my home so this wasn t an issue for me. If you follow all the steps in this book you should be able to get rid of your silverfish without removing your wallpaper, but you have to make this call yourself. If silverfish are eating your wallpaper you will see little bits of damage here and there (it should be obvious). I recommend NOT removing your wallpaper as a first step, but if you can t get rid of them using all the other steps in this book you might want to consider it. I don t think it is necessary unless you have a really bad silverfish infestation. Clothing & cotton. If silverfish are eating your clothing, it s probably the clothing you have in the back of your closet and never wear. You should consider taking it out of your home and putting it in sealed containers as well. The kinds of clothing they eat are things made from cotton, linen, rayon fabric, and clothing that contains starch. Glue. From my experience the glue that silverfish were eating was the glue bindings of my books. Putting them in sealed containers solved that problem, but silverfish may eat other glue as well (such as wallpaper paste and the glue under your carpets.) Do what you can to limit the amount of glue available to them, but don t rush to remove your wallpaper and tear up your carpets. You shouldn t have to go that far in order to get rid of silverfish. Human Foods (like sugar, flour and cereal). This was also one of my biggest problems when I had silverfish in my home, not only because it was gross to know that silverfish were in my cereal (possibly laying eggs, though I d rather not think about it), but because it was definitely where they were eating the most. I commonly found silverfish in my pantry cupboard because that s where I kept my sugar, flour, spices, tea, cereal, crackers, etc. I would often see :: P. 13 ::
them in there and I would often find their discarded scales from when they molt (which is gross.) The key to solving this problem is cleanliness and storing things in sealed containers. It is very common for sugar and flour to get spilled when you take it out of the cupboard and put it back in, so you have to make sure that you wipe these cupboards regularly. It s also important to seal cracks and crevices around these cupboards (see Step 5.) Water. Removing their access to water is a very important step as well. This is covered in detail in Step 4. Step 4: Dry Moist Environments Drying out moist environments is probably the single-most important step you need to take in order to get rid of silverfish. Like most living creatures they need water to survive and if you make it harder for them access sources of water, they will leave in search of more moist environments (like your neighbors house, for example). Moisture usually accumulates around appliances that use water, such as your bathtub, laundry area, toilet, sink, and piping. Make sure you take measures to eliminate any unnecessary moisture caused by dripping taps or leaking pipes. In order to get rid of moisture problems without going to the extreme step of renovating your place, it s worth it to get yourself a fan or a dehumidifier. The area under my kitchen sink was the biggest source of the problem for me (which I figured out after following Step 1). Before fixing the problem it was messy, moist, and very close to my pantry cupboard (which was the main source of their food). I solved the problem by simply :: P. 14 ::
cleaning out the area thoroughly, then opening up the drawers and pointing a fan at it and letting it run for a few days. My pipes weren t broken or leaking, but apparently moisture from the pipes was good enough for the silverfish. Cleaning out the clutter from under my sink allowed the air to circulate and amount the moisture was reduced significantly. There are a few other places around the home that moisture can gather as well, such as dog bowls, moisture from windows, and plants that you water regularly. My windows do leak a bit (and they still do) but I no longer find silverfish around those areas. After going through all the steps in this book you shouldn t have a problem with silverfish so don t worry about expensive renovations. If you find silverfish around your windowsills, try cleaning the area thoroughly and lightly sprinkling some common table salt in the cracks and crevices around the window. Once the problem areas are dry especially those moist areas that are close to sources of silverfish food move on to Step 5. Step 5: Filling in the Cracks As indicated several times already, silverfish resort to cracks and crevices for shelter, protection, and to stay away from daylight. It s important to seal up these areas so that silverfish have a hard time finding refuge during the day. If you limit the number of hiding places they have at their disposal, they will move on to more suitable living conditions (in your neighbor s house). Step 1) Locate the cracks and crevices. It s a good bet that you have lots of little cracks and dark places in your home, so here s a list of places that will be most commonly the trouble spots. :: P. 15 ::
Cracks between walls and floors Cracks between trimming and walls/floors The crack between your toilet and the floor Cracks between your bathtub on the floor Detached or cracked laminate flooring Any other cracks you can find Step 2) Examine the cracks to see if you can find silverfish or silverfish molt (their skins that they shed). If you find something it will be a good indication that you ve found a crack that should be filled. If you don t see anything, but the crack is next to food or moisture you should fill it anyway. Step 3) Make sure the areas you re about to seal are dry (as discussed in the previous section.) Step 4) Take out some common table salt and sprinkle some in the crack. Silverfish don t like salt and they ll stay away from it. Even though you re going to seal the crack, silverfish may already be inside (if it s a crack in your wall). Sprinkling salt will keep them away from the area. Note: Sealing cracks is important if you want to keep silverfish out of your home permanently. If you re really lazy and you don t want to, you ll probably make a big impact on your silverfish problem by doing everything else I ve mentioned in this book so far. At the very least, sprinkle salt in the cracks and it will help. Step 5) Seal the cracks. There are many ways to do it and the more effort you put into it the better results you ll get, especially in the long run. Here are a few suggestions: Tape them shut. This is the easiest way to seal cracks that are tucked away in places out of sight, like under your sink. It s not the :: P. 16 ::
best solution, but it is very simple. Use tape that peels off easily, like electrical tape. Glue them shut. Do this if you re sealing some laminate that has broken and created a crack. Remember, silverfish eat glue so don t spill it or make it accessible because you ll be supplying them with food if you do. Caulk them. This is the best way to do it, but it also takes the most effort and requires some more supplies. Use silicone caulk for wet areas and latex caulk for dry areas. For more information on how to caulk, do a search in Google for how to caulk or ask someone at the hardware store. Caulking may not be necessary in order to solve your silverfish problem so you may not want to start with this method because of the extra work involved. Try sealing cracks with tape instead. That worked for me. Hammer them shut. I also had a few cracks in my bathroom around the trim carpentry that had come loose over the years. By simply hammering the nails that were already there I managed to seal the small crack between the trim and the wall. So there you have it. If you follow these five steps (Locating the problem areas, killing as many adults as possible, removing the source of their food, drying your moist environments, and filling in the cracks in which they hide, I guarantee your silverfish problem will be under control. There is just one last step to take in order to make it permanent and say goodbye to these annoying little bugs forever :: P. 17 ::
Part III: Making it Permanent Making It Permanent After following all the steps in Part II you should notice a big difference how often you see silverfish in your home in as little as 10 days. Because eggs can take between 2 weeks and 2 months to hatch, you can expect that you will no longer have silverfish in your home 2 months after implementing these steps. But to make sure you don t get silverfish coming back into your home, have a look over these basic tips Fill in the cracks. This really is important if you want to solve your silverfish problem permanently. Without refuge during the day and shelter from sunlight, silverfish will seek out more suitable environments. Caulking cracks in the wall and making sure your trim carpentry is flush against the walls and floors is important for remaining silverfish-free. It s also very important that you fill in big holes in the wall where silverfish might be entering your home in the first place. Check where your pipes come in and out of your home. You may find that the hole that was cut for your pipe is way too big and there is space for silverfish to enter your home through the inside of the walls. Make sure you plug that hole up! :: P. 18 ::
Put cloves in trouble spots. Silverfish don t like cloves. Once you ve followed all the steps in Part II, placing cloves in the trouble areas can act as a natural silverfish repellant. (If you have pets make sure they can t get to the area where the cloves are placed. They can make animals sick if ingested.) Vacuum regularly. You should be doing this already, but I guess some people are lazier than others. Vacuuming can suck up silverfish eggs and sperm sacks and make a big difference. Make sure you use the vacuum attachments to suck up dust out of the tight corners and cracks between the carpet and the wall. Keep a tidy home. Cleanliness is your best long-term weapon against silverfish. Keep areas under your sink and in your cupboards clean on a regular basis. Silverfish won t make another appearance if you do. Conclusion and Contact Info So there you have it! My simple solution to getting rid of silverfish. I hope you have found this book easy to read and informative. I tried to make it short enough so that you don t have to read a novel but long enough to educate you on the subject as much as possible. So good luck to you, and please do me a favor. I would love to hear your thoughts on this book, the good or the bad. I can be reached at bob@getridofsilverfish.com and I will respond to any emails I receive. Please let me know if there was anything you wished this book contained or any thoughts you have on the matter. I wish you the best! Good luck. Bob Haskins :: P. 19 ::