A pleasant rest in the walls of your home is often disturbed by various kinds of insects, in particular silverfish. How to get rid of silverfish in an apartment?
Common silverfish: description
Outwardly, it is a rather unpleasant creature of an oblong shape, with numerous legs and antennae in the front and back of a small (8-20 mm) body. The body color of the insect is diverse: silver, yellowish, greenish, and even completely transparent.
Small pest is very voracious. It is unintelligible in food, therefore it eats everything that comes across in the way: clothes, wallpaper glue, book bindings, synthetic fabrics, food debris, especially sweet. If you can’t provide yourself with food (that is, without food), you can live up to 10 months.
The common silverfish is very prolific: one female is able to lay about 70 eggs at a time. For humans, this insect is not dangerous, it does not bite, does not tolerate disease. How to get rid of silverfish in an apartment?
The reasons for the appearance of silverfish in the apartment
An ordinary silverfish loves the dark, so it is difficult to see it in natural light and when the light is on. It is for this reason that a person often for a long time does not realize which creature lives on the same living space with him.
How does the silverfish insect appear in private homes and apartments? There are several reasons for this:
- high humidity - the most comfortable habitat for such insects;
- the presence in the house of gaps, poor insulation materials through which the silverfish easily penetrates;
- ventilation shafts - another way for intruders to enter private ownership;
- randomly - for example, a pair of individuals brought from some public place or from friends.
How to identify silverfish in an apartment?
The destruction of silverfish in the apartment is troublesome. First of all, it is necessary to identify the places of their greatest accumulation, which can be determined by our own observations, as well as by the traces left by these insects: small black lumps (excrement), yellow spots and small holes on paper or fabrics.
It is here that it is recommended to install traps, the manufacture of which is not particularly difficult. Most often, silverfish are found in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Therefore, such premises should be given special attention.
Insect traps
To make a trap, you need to take a liter glass jar, wrap it with electrical tape, and place the bait inside - your favorite pest products (starch, sugar, etc.).
The insect on the sides of the insulating tape will climb inside the jar to enjoy delicacies, and will not be able to crawl back due to slippery glass. How to get rid of silverfish in an apartment in other ways?
Newspaper trap
Paper traps are quite effective against silverfish, for the manufacture of which it is necessary to wind a newspaper into a roll, tighten the edges with rubber bands, moisten with water and leave them overnight in the room.
Insects who love moisture and paper will not be able to get around such an ideal place to live and begin to gnaw on the print edition. In the morning, a newspaper with the victims gathered in it needs to be picked up and thrown into the trash, or better yet, burned. It is recommended to make several such traps, since with an abundance of silverfish one will not be enough.
For lack of time or the desire to make traps for insects , they themselves can be purchased at the store. The choice is better to stop on devices for catching cockroaches. In order to attract silverfish, a piece of bread should be placed inside.
Chemicals against silverfish
If the traps are not effective enough, resort to more drastic measures to destroy silverfish, in particular chemical preparations.
- Boric acid (powder) in combination with crushed chalk in a ratio of 1: 4, respectively. The resulting powder should be sprinkled on the alleged habitats of insects, as well as corners, floor, surfaces. After a week, the room must be cleaned of dead specimens and the remains of the chemical mixture. After a month, you should re-process and wait a week again. This will save a new generation of insects that have managed to hatch during this period.
- Diatomite is an effective remedy for silverfish. It is a fine flour (powder) obtained by grinding and heat treatment of shell-skeletons of algae. The drug is characterized by high absorption capacity. Due to the meager size, mountain flour sticks to the body of the insect, literally digging into its surface layer. Further, diatomite, characterized by a high degree of porosity, begins to absorb life-giving moisture, which causes the death of the insect from dehydration. For humans and animals, this natural material is completely safe. It is enough to scatter it in the places of the largest accumulation of silverfish, and in the morning walk in these places with a vacuum cleaner.
- "Raptor" (gel) is an odorless insecticide that relieves silverfish well. The drug can be applied both in the gap and on a piece of cardboard, which can be placed on the floor.
Room disinfection - a means of getting rid of silverfish
Are you interested in how to get rid of silverfish in an apartment? It is important to disinfect the premises for which you will need: copper sulfate, a cleaning agent with chlorine in the composition, aerosols against insects, heating devices (fireplace, fan, hot batteries, ordinary hair dryer).
The first step is to clean the bath - the most favorite habitat of silverfish - from unnecessary items and accumulated debris. Then you should provide access to isolated areas of the room: the bottom of the sink, bathtub, corners. During the cleaning process, it is recommended that all elements of the room be treated with cleaning agents, then a solution of copper sulfate should be applied to the dried areas. The place under the bathroom and nooks can be dried using a fan heater or electric fireplace.
The final stage of disinfection treatment will be the use of aerosol preparations. Moreover, it is better to use chemically active drugs (for example, Biolit P), the use of which once a week for a month will please the result. The next two sprays will be more preventive in nature.
Weak plant-based solutions are less effective and are characterized by a not so long period of action. Spray insecticide, especially in dark places and corners, close the room, leave for 1.5-2 hours, and then ventilate well.
How to remove silverfish quickly and for a long time? From improvised materials, scented spices have a high scaring effect: sage, cinnamon, bay leaf.
Lemon zest and citrus aromas are also unpleasant for harmful insects. Fresh lemon should be added to the water, which from the spray bottle to process places with accumulations of silverfish.
Preventative measures
In order to avoid the appearance of silverfish in the territory of your apartment, it is recommended:
- Do not allow moisture in the room, do not store wet items in the bathroom.
- Dry the room periodically. A good tool for this is an electric heated towel rail.
- Open the windows and windows twice a day for ventilation.
- Close up all the gaps in the room. Otherwise, a harmful insect will equip them for laying eggs.
- Carry out regular and high-quality cleaning in the bathroom with the treatment of walls, ceilings, floors and secluded places. For additional disinfection in the washing water, it is recommended to add a detergent with chlorine.
- Be sure to use a vacuum cleaner, the traction of which is able to pull young silverfish from small cracks.
- Ensure high-quality operation of the ventilation system of the sanitary unit. The drier the air in the room, the lower the likelihood of moisture-loving insects in the apartment.
- To deprive silverfish of a power source: store products in hermetically sealed containers.
- Place old clothes in plastic bags.
- Store books and other paper products in dry places.
Effective folk way
In ancient times, pests living in steam baths and baths were disposed of with the help of cold. To do this, in the winter, they opened the doors and windows wide for 1-2 hours, allowed the frosty air to fully fill the room.
Low temperatures are detrimental to both adult silverfish and egg clutches created by harmful insects. After cooling in the room, you should conduct a surface cleaning of the floor and walls due to the formation of condensation on them, and sweep the dead silverfish and egg laying out. These simple steps will help prevent a massive invasion of harmful insects.
How to get rid of silverfish in an apartment by other methods? Often, silverfish leave the room after repairs are carried out in it, during which insect caches are destroyed, radical changes occur in the environment, which insects do not really like.
Get rid of other insects
In addition to silverfish, disgusting with just one glance at them, the bathroom is often mastered by wood lice. The gray insect is characterized by small size and somewhat convex back. As a preventive measure, surface treatment with hot steam is recommended. Also, the room must often be ventilated and dried, as wood lice are not able to survive in conditions of dryness and low humidity.
Since insects inside the apartment often get through the ventilation pipe, it is recommended to use a fine metal mesh to prevent such guests from entering. During the adoption of bathroom procedures, in order to avoid excessive humidity in the room, an exhaust fan should be used, and at the end of the procedure, wipe the floors and walls of the bathroom dry.