How Do I Get Rid of Silverfish in My North Carolina Home?
Silverfish are small, sneaky, and will infest your home in numbers! While these pests are harmless to humans, once they’ve infested our homes, it can be difficult to remove them. Understanding silverfish characteristics and signs of a silverfish infestation will help every homeowner prevent them from invading their homes.
What Are Silverfish?
Silverish have a brown-grey, blueish-silver wingless body that ranges from 12 to 19 mm in size. These pests are common household pests and are often seeking out dark, damp areas to inhabit and lay their eggs, including our attics and basements. Silverfish tend to eat sugary substances and will eat books, wallpaper, shirts, clothes, and even photographs!
While silverfish are harmless to humans, they can damage your home by chewing fabrics, contaminating food they are eating, and trigger allergies. Silverfish are known to rapidly reproduce, making it more difficult to get rid of them, so it’s important to understand common signs of an infestation, including:
- Holes, notches, and edges on surfaces they eat
- Yellow stains or discarded scales inside your home
- Feces in the form of tiny black pellets
How Can I Prevent Silverfish?
While it might seem difficult to prevent silverfish from invading, luckily, there are several do-it-yourself preventative measures you can place around your home to help avoid a silverfish infestation:
- Keep dry food in your pantry with tightly sealed containers
- Dust your home as often as you can, as certain particles can contain starches
- Store your clothes in a dry environment and your food in airtight containers
- Utilize caulk to seal cracks, holes, or openings that lead inside your home
- Consider investing in a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity inside your home
- Remove piles of brush, old plants, wood, and leaves from your yard
Have you noticed silverfish inside your home? Consider reaching out to your local pest control company who will be able to provide you with a treatment and prevention plan to ensure these household pests don’t invade your home in the future.