Pleasant rest within the walls of one's native dwelling is quite often disturbed by various kinds of insects, in particular silverfish. How to get rid of silverfish in the apartment?
Common silverfish: description
Outwardly, this is a rather unpleasant creature of an oblong shape, with numerous legs and antennae in the front and back parts of a small (8-20 mm) body. The color of the body of an insect is varied: silvery, yellowish, greenish, or even completely transparent.
The small pest is very voracious. It is illegible in food, therefore it eats everything that comes in its way: clothes, wallpaper glue, book bindings, synthetic fabrics, food leftovers, especially sweets. If it is impossible to provide for itself (that is, without food), it is able to live up to 10 months.
Common silverfish are very prolific: one female is able to lay about 70 eggs at a time. For humans, this insect is not dangerous, it is notbites, does not tolerate disease. How to get rid of silverfish in the apartment?
The reasons for the appearance of silverfish in the apartment
Common silverfish loves darkness, so it is problematic to see it in natural light and with the lights on. It is for this reason that a person often does not realize for a long time what kind of creature lives with him in the same living space.
How does the silverfish insect appear in private houses and apartments? There are several reasons for this:
- high humidity is the most comfortable habitat for such insects;
- the presence of cracks in the house, poor insulating materials through which silverfish easily penetrate inside;
- ventilation shafts are another way for intruders to enter private property;
- randomly - for example, a couple of individuals brought from some public place or from friends.
How to identify silverfish in an apartment?
Destruction of silverfish in an apartment is troublesome. First of all, it is necessary to identify the places of their greatest accumulation, which can be determined by your own observations, as well as 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 set traps, the manufacture of which is not particularly difficult. Most often, silverfish is found in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Therefore, special attention should be paid to such premises.
Insect traps
To make a trapyou need to take a liter glass jar, wrap it with electrical tape, and put the bait inside - the pest's favorite products (starch, sugar, etc.).
Insect on the sides of electrical tape will climb inside the jar to feast on delicacies, and will not be able to crawl back because of the slippery glass. How to get rid of silverfish in the apartment in other ways?
Newspaper trap
Paper traps are quite effective against silverfish, for the manufacture of which you need to wind a newspaper into a roll, tighten the edges with rubber bands, wet it with water and leave it indoors overnight.
Insects that love moisture and paper will not be able to get around such an ideal place to live and will begin to gnaw at the printed edition. In the morning, the newspaper with the victims gathered in it must be taken away and thrown into the trash, or even better, burned. It is recommended to make several such traps, since with an abundance of silverfish, one will not be enough.
If you don't have the time or desire to make your own insect traps, you can buy them at the store. It is better to stop the choice on devices for catching cockroaches. In order to attract silverfish, a piece of bread should be placed inside.
Chemical preparations against silverfish
If the effectiveness of traps is insufficient, it is worth resorting to more drastic measures for the destruction of 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 sprinkledestimated habitats of insects, as well as corners, floors, surfaces. After a week, the room must be cleaned of dead specimens and residues of the chemical mixture. After a month, re-treatment should be carried out and again wait a week. This will get rid of the new generation of insects that hatched during this period.
- Diatomite is an effective remedy for silverfish. It is a fine flour (powder) obtained by grinding and heat treatment of algae skeleton shells. The drug is characterized by high absorption capacity. Due to its meager size, mountain flour sticks to the body of an 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 places where silverfish are most concentrated, and in the morning walk in these places with a vacuum cleaner.
- "Raptor" (gel) is an insecticide that is odorless and well rid of silverfish. The drug can be applied both in the cracks and on a piece of cardboard that can be placed on the floor.
Disinfection of the premises - a means of getting rid of silverfish
Are you interested in how to get rid of silverfish in the apartment? It is important to disinfect the room, which will require: blue vitriol, cleaning agent with chlorine in the composition, aerosols against insects, heating appliances (fireplace, fan, hot batteries, ordinary hair dryer).
First of all, you need 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, bathroom, corners. During the cleaning process, it is recommended to treat all the elements of the room with cleaning agents, then apply a solution of copper sulphate to the dried areas. The area under the bath and nooks and crannies can be dried with a fan heater or an electric fireplace.
The final stage of disinfection treatment will be the use of aerosol preparations. Moreover, it is better to use chemically active preparations (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.
Weak herbal solutions are less effective and have a shorter duration of action. The insecticide needs to be sprayed, especially in dark places and corners, close the room, leave for 1.5-2 hours, then ventilate well.
How to remove silverfish quickly and for a long time? Of the materials at hand, fragrant spices have a high deterrent effect: sage, cinnamon, bay leaf.
Lemon zest and citrus aromas are also unpleasant for harmful insects. Fresh lemon should be added to water, which should be used to treat places with clusters of silverfish from a spray bottle.
Preventive measures
To avoid the appearance of silverfishon the territory of your apartment is recommended:
- Keep the room damp, do not store wet things in the bathroom.
- Periodically dry the room. A good tool for this is an electric towel warmer.
- Open vents 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.
- Conduct regular and high-quality cleaning in the bathroom with the treatment of walls, ceilings, floors and secluded places. For additional disinfection, it is recommended to add detergent with chlorine to the washing water.
- Be sure to use a vacuum cleaner, the thrust of which is able to pull young silverfish out of small cracks.
- Ensure the 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 appearing in the apartment.
- Deprive silverfish of a source of nutrition: store food in hermetically sealed containers.
- Put old clothes in plastic bags.
- Store books and other paper products in a dry place.
Effective folk way
In ancient times, pests living in steam rooms and baths were disposed of with the help of cold. To do this, in the winter, they opened wide open all the doors and windows of the room for 1-2 hours, let the frosty air fill the room to the fullest.
Low temperature is detrimental to both adult silverfish andegg clutches created by harmful insects. After cooling in the room, the floor and walls should be superficially cleaned due to the formation of condensation on them, and dead silverfish and egg laying should be swept out. These simple actions will help prevent a massive invasion of harmful insects.
How to get rid of silverfish in the apartment by other methods? Often, silverfish leave the premises after repairs have been carried out in it, during which insect hiding places are destroyed, cardinal changes occur in the environment, which the insects do not really like.
Get rid of other insects
In addition to silverfish, which are disgusting just by looking at them, the bathroom is often mastered by wood lice. The gray insect is characterized by small size and a somewhat convex back. As a preventive measure, surface treatment with hot steam is recommended. Also, the room needs to be ventilated and dried frequently, as wood lice are not able to survive in conditions of dryness and low humidity.
Since insects often get inside the apartment through the ventilation pipe, it is recommended to use a fine metal mesh to prevent the penetration of such guests. During bathing procedures, in order to avoid high humidity in the room, you should use an exhaust fan, and at the end of the procedure, wipe the floors and walls of the bathroom dry.
