Silverfish are difficult to exterminate because they move around at night. Most of the time, homeowners don’t know they are in the home until they notice the damage causing by silverfish feeding.

Instead of choosing chemical controls that contain toxic and harmful substances, you can choose controls to eliminate the silverfish pests in your home.

You can make homemade traps and use products found in the home to help control silverfish. If these do not work, you can buy poison-free products from Safer® Brand to control silverfish and other insect pests in your home.

Using a product such as Safer® Brand Ant and Crawling Insect Killer uses the power of diatomaceous earth as an effective method of controlling silverfish. Insects cannot develop a resistance to diatomaceous earth because it is a mechanical killer. However, insects can build up immunity to synthetic chemicals.

So…What’s a Silverfish?
What are silverfish? They are silvery, but they are definitely not fish. They are insects that have silvery, overlapping scales that tend to easily rub off. They come inside searching for food and find any minute food particle left lying around your home. Silverfish don’t stink or bring germs inside your home.

Silverfish may come into your home when you bring boxes inside that were stored in an infested area. They may also come into your home in search of moisture during hot, dry summers. Silverfish can enter your home through cracks or holes.

You can easily recognize them by their silvery-blue color, tail-like appendages, and two-long antennae.

Silverfish are gray to silver in color, and adults are about ¼- to ½-inch in length. These soft-bodied insects are flat with long, carrot-shaped bodies. The insects’ five long appendages are located on the tips of their abdomen.

They do not have wings, so they cannot fly, but they are very fast as they dart about searching for food or hiding places. Silverfish are often mistaken for cockroaches because they are seen scurrying away quickly at night when the lights come on.

You can identify silverfish by the following characteristics:

Stopping for a short time before darting off

Inability to climb smooth surfaces (like sinks or tubs)

Active at night (nocturnal)

You may think silverfish are no big deal, until you’ve seen the damage an infestation can cause in your home. They find many belongings in your home tasty, like books, wallpaper and shirts. They may eat pages from your books for dinner and your favorite shirt for dessert!

What Damage Do Silverfish Cause?
How Silverfish Get Nourishment
You may be wondering what harm these insects cause, or if silverfish are poisonous. The answer is no. Silverfish are annoying, but they do not bite or carry disease.

Silverfish get the nourishment they need from foods and other products that are high in starch, protein or sugar content. They eat a variety of substances.

Nuisance pests cause damage to your home or belongings. Silverfish cause damage by feeding on items in your home, such as:

Food stored in pantries
Books
Papers
Wallpaper
Clothing
Linens
Unopened food packages (sometimes)
Silverfish can also go a long time between feedings, so they can live for months without food. They may also feed on very young termites if they find a nest in or nearby your home.

As silverfish feed, they leave behind small holes and often a yellowish-colored stain due to the fungus related to feeding damage.

The damage caused by silverfish feeding and the small, pepper-like feces they leave behind are signs of an infestation.