1. How to Get Rid of Silverfish? Silverfish
Control
You need to know what silverfish bugs are to know how to get
rid of them. A carrot-like shape, 12 mm long, distinguished by
its silver light body metallic luster and very quick undulating
motion. Silverfish is active at night in a warm area. It feeds on
starch, dextrin and cellulose, especially on new types of
paper. It causes an irregular erosion surface of the document.
A silverfish infestation is impossible to identify and assess a
priori with the naked eye, without the prior tests. Sometimes it
is necessary to consult the entomologist.
If we look at the archives we will find out that in the last
century the most common insects that human encounter are:
flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants, chiggers (how to get rid
of chiggers), dust mites (dust mite bites), bed bugs (how to get rid of bed bugs – bed bug
registry) and silverfish.
Silverfish Control
To control silverfish first we need to know how to recognize silverfish infestation:
● Live insects, eggs, larvae or adults are usually found within or between books and
paper, shelf in the cracks (especially wooden shelf). The material should be examined
more closely, since the silverfish bugs, can be difficult to notice because of their color
and size.
● The remains of insects, including the whole body and body parts are on the windowsill,
with the books, along the shelves and crevices.
● Feces: black balls, suspicious piles, such as dust or fine sand. The color of feces is
generally similar to that which the insects feed.
● Visible damage: holes or tunnels in the material, bitten paper area.
How to Kill Silverfish
If you have decided for silverfish elimination, then you need to know there are two methods:
chemical and non-chemical.
How to Kill Silverfish – Non-chemical methods
The best way to prevent and to prevent the invasion of silverfishes is to remove the conditions
that would allow its development: high temperature, high humidity, stale air, darkness. Having
assessed the damage to the documents, it is good to isolate them in order to avoid the
dissemination of spores. This must be done carefully, placing documents in a sealed plastic
bag. Depending on the type of damage the good way is to put papers in freezer. They will not
destroy silverfish bugs, but will put them in dormant state. One of the natural ways is to put
potato in their area, it leaves a deadly impact on them and since now the true reason for this
hasn’t been discovered.

2. How to Kill Silverfish – Chemical methods
The two most common chemical procedures which apply here are: spraying and fumigation with
insecticides. Both procedures can be dangerous and destructive and can be performed only
by experienced professionals. In the past it was common to use ethylene oxide (ETO). Very
effective, ETO is the only product that is an insecticide, bactericide and fungicide. It smells like
ether. Treatment of ethylene oxide is about 6 hours, and then it is necessary to ventilate the
material for several days in a room with ventilation to prevent inhalation of carcinogenic residual
gas. After it was established that the ETO a carcinogen, its use was limited. Today, the ETO
is very rarely applied. It is replaced by a sulfur fluoride and methyl – bromide, colorless and
odorless, highly toxic and potentially hazardous to health.
When using sulfur fluoride you should be careful, so there would not be any contact with a
power source or open flame because it can cause a fire. Because of very low boiling point, you
should avoid contact with water, because it can corrode metal surfaces.
Silverfish is not harmful to humans and it does not bite. It only looks scary and creepy for ones
that do not know its real behavior. As usual, for the end we give you some silverfish pictures.
We hope that this article answered your question: how to get rid of silverfish?