silverfish bugs - how do you get rid or did you ever have some?

[Grumpy's Gal]

We have some silverfish bugs - we also have a shake shingle roof which I've heard may be related. We have a few of thes ebugs but only on the 2nd story of the house. Any advice is appreciated. I'm apprehensive about exterminators and the poison they may use on our health. Thanks.

 

[suevee]

My mother's friend's mother always said boric acid was the best thing for bugs and she lived in Florida. Over the past 30 odd years I have used it and have never had a problem with bugs....now ants seem impervious.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've had some silverfish off & on for a year or two. Well, for the past few months I started seeing some upstairs several times a week. It really creeped me out so I started sleeping downstairs on the couch.

DH was not happy about that! I came home from work about 3 weeks ago & he said "The exterminators were here today. It should take about a week & you won't see anymore bugs at all, of ANY kind." YIPPEE!!!

It turns out it wasn't expensive at all. We should've done this last year. The guy will come back every 3 months also.

He told DH that like it warm....that's why I've always seen them upstairs & that they work their way down. EWWWW!!! They also like insulation.

BTW, I have not seen one LIVE silverfish since....but a day or two after the exterminator was here, I did find 2 dead ones in the bathroom.

Call someone. You don't have to live with the bugs. I should've done it last year!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Silverfish do like the shaker roof.
They also live on the glue from insulation and if you have wallpaper they like to eat the glue there too.

We were never able to rid ourselves of them although our bug guy did keep it down at our old house.

 

[disneynutt1225]

We used to have burlap wall paper in my bedroom and my brother's bedroom. Yes, I said burlap. It was gross. But I digress....we had TONS of silverfish in our bedrooms because of it. Once the wallpaper was taken down (last year, maybe 2 years ago) the silverfish went away.

 

[Dina]

We had some, and I had an exterminator come. I was too freaked out. We were also having beetles getting in through the attic-- it was too much for me. My exterminator talked to me about my fear of poisons-- everything they use has to be EPA approved, and the EPA tests these chemicals extensively to make sure they pose no threat to humans. Since my kids have asthma, my exterminator just asks that the kids aren't in the house while spraying, and keep them out for a few hours until its all dry (we had them spend the night at the grandparents house). They also told me that everything is really watered down compared to what was used in the '70s and '80s.

 

[bunnywabbit!]

About 2 or 3 enter our apartment every week during the summertime. No big deal - I just kill 'em. They are significantly less creepy than your average cockroach.

 

[Brianne]

My pest control service recently gave me some traps for silverfish---they look like ant bait traps but apparently are just for silverfish. We had a major problem with them due to the previous owners (GRRRR) and even though we've been battling to get rid of them, it wasn't completely working. I was still finding them on the countertop next to the sink in the kitchen. But I haven't seen one since I got those bait traps, thankfully.