When we wake up at night the last thing we want to see on the wall above our heads, or in the toilet are …silverfishes. They look scary, ugly and they are not welcome. When I was trying to get rid of them one question came to my mind. Do silverfish enjoy LED lights? So I did some digging and here is what I found!
Do LED lights attract silverfish? No. Silverfish have a nocturnal lifestyle and only like dark rooms. They are afraid of the light. Silverfishes are small, silver insects that intuitively hide from our sight, so we can live with them for a long time and not even notice that they live in our home.
If you are interested in checking out the best silverfish repellents, you can find them by clicking here
Silverfish At Home. Where do They Come From and How To Get Rid of Them?
They are small and fast, and thus difficult to catch. They are most common in bathrooms as they like warm, moist, and dark places. It’s a silverfish. How do you get rid of them fast? Here are ways to get rid of silverfishes.
Silverfish look like tiny silver fish. They are actually wingless insects that are 7-10 mm long. They are considered insects, they like starch and sugars, but they are not directly threatening to humans. Above all, they do not spread diseases.
They came to Europe from tropical countries and appear in places where there is constantly increased humidity. They are most often found in apartments, in flats, where there is a problem with ventilation.
Why Do They Come To Us?
Silverfish – besides feeling great in warmth and moisture – they also like organic table trash, mainly crumbs containing sugar.
Silverfish also feed on the epidermis from human skin, which is why they mainly live in bathrooms because it is humid and there is a lot of epidermises that fall from towels after bathing and from hair.
They will also settle for organic glues and dead insects. Most noticeable to humans is that silverfish have the ability to digest cellulose – they eat paper. They can damage books and bite hard on them. They’ll eat toilet paper, and they won’t resist all kinds of documents.
The paper wallpaper and the glue used to attach it is a two-course rarity for silverfish. They are happy to taste cotton and silk. They also eat mold.
They have mastered the art of survival since they are as old as dinosaurs and are able to wait a long time for their favorite snacks. This is because they can survive without food for up to a year.
What Silverfish Don’t Like?
A dry and well-maintained apartment, with efficient ventilation, will not be attractive to silverfish. Air vents and ventilation system components must therefore be cleaned regularly.
Silverfish have a nocturnal lifestyle and only like dark rooms. They are afraid of the light. They also have their natural enemies – they run from spiders because they are potential food for them. They are also threatened by household pets – cats and dogs. If the room temperature is approx. 17 degrees or lower, silverfish will not spread.
How Do You Discourage Silverfishes From Living in Your House?
Don’t let food bits stay in the kitchen or dining room. Foods need to be stored in airtight containers. If the wallpaper is peeling off, it must be glued and any gaps in the wall must be sealed, e.g. with tape or with silicone.
After bathing or washing, you need to completely air out the bathroom. It is a good idea to leave the door open and open the windows in the apartment to force additional air circulation.
Also, do not allow the mold to develop on walls, etc, which would provide food for silverfish. A clean house is easier to maintain if you reduce the number of items standing on shelves and in areas exposed to silverfish. The fewer holes and cracks, the less chance insects have to hide.
Moisture absorbers will also come in handy. Instead of electric appliances, you can make them by yourself by placing bags of salt in your rooms.
If there are no children or pets in the house, you can use silica gel. It is popular because small packets of it are included with various products like shoes. Unfortunately, they are toxic.
There are available for purchase pesticides for insect control e.g. sprays. The sticky paper for silverfishes is also popular.
Most Effective & Least Expensive Method With No Pesticides Involved
Frequently Asked Questions About Silverfishes
Silverfishes are small, silver insects that live a nocturnal lifestyle and intuitively hide from our sight, so we can live with them for a long time and not even notice that they live in our home. Sooner or later, however, we will notice them. Many people in this situation panic. The bathroom’s clean, the kitchen’s perfect, and here are the insects?
We’ve gathered answers to this and a few other questions people are asking about silverfishes
1. Where Did Silverfish Come From To Me?
Silverfish are able to travel long distances in search of proper territory. For them to recognize a place as such, it must be warm and humid. This is the case in our heated bathrooms and kitchens, especially if moisture goes unnoticed. Bad ventilation is also beneficial for them.
Silverfish invade homes and apartments through a variety of leaks like even holes in walls. They are especially common in flats: there they spread between neighbors very comfortably.
In flats, there are also more often bathrooms without windows, as well as kitchens located close to bathrooms.
After spotting silverfish, many people begin to wonder if it is because of lacking housekeeping. That does not have to be the case.
Sometimes silverfishes appear in the cleanest homes and apartments because the homeowners are unaware that there is moisture in some areas.
Furthermore, silverfishes can find plenty of food even where hygiene levels are great. Obviously, frequent cleaning is not good for them, nevertheless, the key is to lower the humidity and locate sources of moisture and then remove them.
2. I Have A Silverfish in My Room! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Silverfishes are mainly linked with bathrooms and kitchens. Truly so, as this is where they can be found most often.
But it’s very common to find silverfish residing in other rooms: they’re spreading around rooms, even in basements.
Silverfishes also find food in these places, e.g. silicone, which is used to glue the holes or wallpaper glue.
Rooms are warm, they are heated, so this important factor for them is also fulfilled.
3. What Do Silverfish Feed On?
Silverfish primarily feed on things that contain sugars. But they find food in almost everything that lands on our floors: crumbs, hair, skin, fibers of various kinds, molts, and other insects.
They will also eat paper and organic glue (so the wallpaper, books, toilet paper, kitchen towels, documents), as well as some fibers (they can damage carpets and clothes, not only those made of natural fibers like linen, cotton, or silk, but even those made of synthetics and even leather).
As you can see, silverfishes eat pretty much everything. This is the reason why they can be found not only in bathrooms but also in rooms.
4. Can Silverfish Bite Me?
Silverfishes are completely neutral to humans. They are not interested in our blood like mosquitoes, so they avoid the presence of humans and when the light comes on, they instantly escape into the cracks.
Silverfish do not bite or cause any other harm to humans.
5. Do Silverfish Cause Material Damage?
While silverfishes pose no threat to humans, home damage can occur, though fortunately, this does not happen often.
If they have already made their way into our apartment or house, they will most often stay in the bathroom. But if they don’t find enough food there, they will keep looking and wander around.
They can attack books, wallpaper, pipe insulation, clothing, leather items. It can also happen that they attack food in the kitchen. The touched food is then only good to throw away.
They are also very resistant to hunger: without food, they can survive for up to a year.
6. Do Silverfish Transmit Diseases?
No, silverfish, fortunately, do not carry any diseases. They also have no need to approach humans and do not do so, they run away from us in a blink of an eye.
7. How to Protect Yourself From Silverfishes?
First of all, you should take care to eliminate all sources of moisture in the house: repair leaking taps and pipes, thoroughly ventilate the bathroom after bathing, mop the floors with a firmly wrung mop or cloth, and if the apartment has been flooded: make sure that it is very thoroughly dried out.
Unfortunately, this can mean having to change the panels: it’s common for the subfloor layers to be wet, even if the panels are in good condition.
You should also make sure that there is no wet laundry piled up in the bathroom, or dirty things waiting to be washed. A moisture absorber will also come in handy in the fight against moisture.
It’s also a good idea to go through your belongings and throw out those that are cluttering up your home. The less stuff, the fewer hiding places for silverfish (but also other insects), and the fewer places where dirt and food scraps can hide. The recommended minimalism applies especially to the bathroom. It is also worth getting silicone and filling all the gaps with it.
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