In article , "Gntry" wrote:

Hi. I know this is a gardening newsgroup, but does anyone know how to rid my
house of silverfish? I know they like dampness,and in the warmer months I
run a dehumidifier all the time and keep my humidity low, but here in the
north(where it's snowing today!) the heat is still on and they have started
coming out already. Is there a spray I can use or poder that will keep them
out of the house?
Thanks for any input.
CG in NY

This website recommends a shitload of products to control them:
http://www.bugspray.com/articles98/silverfish.html
The usual professional control is pyrethroid insecticide dusting,
including inside walls (through drilled holes). The claims that pyrathrins
are safe to breathe strikes me as dubious, especially since acute toxic
poisoning of humans & pets is well documented from people using it as a
flea control, at concentrations as small as 0.15%, causing "cutaneous
paresthesias, upper respiratory tract irritation, dyspnea with productive
cough, and repetitive vomiting and diarrhea."

Most other chemical choices would be even worse, but one of the least
harmful controls is evaporative pest strips such as Vapona. The chemical
is EXTREMELY toxic & skin-contact with the strip itself is very hazardous,
& if a child or pet gets hold of the strip (some brands look like tasty
cheese), then bad news all round. But it is physically impossible to
deliver a harmful dose to people or other mammals through inhalation, so
properly used with radical attention to all the label wornings, a pest
strip should not be people-safe. Evaporative pest strips treat an entire
room for 30 days, floor to ceiling, & work pretty darned well on
silverfish, mites, lice, fleas, mosquitos.

There are organic control options. Whole cloves are said to shoo away
silverfish, though I suspect that's merely a legend. Boric acid powder
definitely discourages them.

The best control is to remedy damp conditions, which might not be possible
if their primary population is in a damp attic or basement, but should be
easy if their primary population is in the kitchen & bathroom. Also get a
hand-held little vacuum cleaner & vaccuum the areas around sinks &
cabinets to remove all loose food particles & silverfish eggs. You can
make a silverfish trap to assess the degree of infestation as well as
getting rid of the adults: Get a jelly glass or small jar & tape the
outside so silverfish can climb up & into the jar; use a little fine flour
as bait. They cannot climb glass so will not be able to get out, & can be
flushed down the toilet.

Silverfish in the garden do only good & help sustain a rich loam; garden
silverfish or firebrants do not need control. In the house is another
matter. They eat starch & decaying matter. They do NOT eat modern books as
chemical-vendors pretend -- in the old days when books were glued with
flour-based starchy pastes silverfish were a problem, so can still be a
problem for OLD books eating all the glue out of the spine resulting in
loosened sewn-signatures, but modern books are never glued with starch &
silverfish are not attracted to them at all. They do NOT eat paper as the
chemical vendors claim. But kitchens, laundry rooms, & bathrooms are rich
sources of several kinds of starch unless the human inhabitants are
radically about cleanliness.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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