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Original poster

Silverfish Insects....

32 replies

treedragon · 03/09/2019 22:46

We discovered some insects appearing on the kitchn floor. One, sometimes two every night time for about the last 10 days. Captured one and took it to the council. Was concerned they are cockroaches.

Council stated they are called Silverfish. They seemed very "meh" about it too. Said they are harmless and not to worry.

Not really the point - not good discovering them when the light goes on. Have tried to treat areas round the kitchen with Raid.

Also concerned as they seem to thrive in damp enviroments and can find no evidence of damp in the house. It's an apartment anyway on the upper floors. No eveidence of water leaks either.

Has anyone else experienced Siverfish and if so how did you deal with it? If you squish them they go to like silver grey powder!

OP posts:
FernieB · 03/09/2019 22:51

Had them appearing regularly in a previous house. They're largely nocturnal and like damp areas so normally appear in bathrooms. They do no harm at all. I'd just co-exist with them. They're funny little things - quite cuteSmile

KellyHall · 03/09/2019 22:53

Had them in a beautiful, old apartment in Hamburg. No harm done, just one of those things!

Popskipiekin · 03/09/2019 22:55

I, like PP, think they’re sweet. Not really a problem. They only come out at night don’t they? My parents used to have them in their kitchen from time to time. Gone now that they’ve laid a new and properly fitted floor.

Dawninglory · 03/09/2019 22:58

They like to eat your dried food, books, wallpaper! You can get traps for them or buy a special powder to exterminate the critters.

thinkfast · 03/09/2019 23:05

You captured a silverfish and took it to the council?? Do you do that whenever there's a spider or ladybird in your home too? Good grief.

Original poster
treedragon · 03/09/2019 23:15

hi @thinkfast - i thought it was a cockroach. So yeah captured it and showed the Council. I know what a spider looks like as seen loads - this I had not seen before.

OP posts:
MiniMum97 · 03/09/2019 23:22

How on earth could you think a silverfish was a cockroach? They look nothing alike. Did you not google it first rather than tripping down the council? I imagine you gave them a laugh though! 😅

AwkwardPaws27 · 03/09/2019 23:26

We had them in our bathroom when we first moved on (in an extension at the back of the house with poor ventilation - hopefully we'll have enough saved to move it soon!).
Cleaning more regularly, ventilating to reduce damp, and letting a few spiders set up home has eradicated them. They are harmless, unless you have a rare collection of antique books or similar you have nothing to worry about.

which1 · 03/09/2019 23:32

I live in a block of flats. My bathroom has them. I heard cleaning floor with salty water is supposed to kill them off. Not got round to trying it.

thinkfast · 03/09/2019 23:33

Have you never seen a cockroach either OP? They don't look similar. What were you expecting the council to do if it had been a cockroach?

EugenesAxe · 03/09/2019 23:37

I see them occasionally in the utility room. I hate them but deal with them by squishing. Never really seen a huge number. They do eat clothes though, not entirely harmless. It's starch they like apparently; glue is another favourite foodstuff of theirs.

They have them in Minecraft. I showed a live one to DS once - don't know if he was meh or revolted or disappointed their size is tiny in comparison.

xyzandabc · 03/09/2019 23:38

We saw the odd one or two in our dining room. Not damp, fairly new house, didn't think anything of it. One evening it was dark and I went in turning on the light, there were well over a hundred of them.

They scuttle back under the skirting boards really fast though so hard to catch or Hoover up.

When we went on holiday I put down Nippon ant powder around the whole skirting board and in the attached room too for good measure. Did it when we were away do it could stay there for a week and the kids wouldn't touch it.

Never saw another one. At least not in our house. Plenty at work, in an old damp school building!

kalinkafoxtrot45 · 03/09/2019 23:39

We had a problem with them in the kitchen. Thorough cleaning and a sprinkling of bicarbonate of soda sorted them out and they haven’t come back.

EugenesAxe · 03/09/2019 23:39

Let's take a moment to remember the cockroach genius that is

ElizaPancakes · 03/09/2019 23:41

We have them. I don’t do anything. We live in an old house, there’s bound to be crevices.

LisaMontgomery · 03/09/2019 23:55

I had them (well, two) in the bathroom. Thorough cleaning, sprayed round the edges of the floor with raid and never saw them again. They aren't harmful, but I don't like sharing my home with crawling things. I couldn't catch and release like I do with spiders and ladybirds, so they had to be killed.

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2019 23:59

They are cute and eat very weird stuff. Glue, paper, coffee but not tea Confused

Harmless.

RosaWaiting · 04/09/2019 00:00

Woah
You might want to google pics of cockroaches so you’re prepared when you see one!

I see the odd silverfish. Doesn’t matter. I quite like them.

DappledThings · 04/09/2019 00:03

Spent 6 months last year living in hospital accommodation and the blocks were rife with them. Estates would come and bug bomb each flat occasionally bit they would come back after a few weeks.

I used to spray them when I saw them but mostly had to accept them.

I did freak out when I lifted 3 week old DD off the bed and there was one that had been right under her head.

Kb12 · 04/09/2019 00:07

Crawling insect killer from Homebase. It's a powder.

PickAChew · 04/09/2019 00:23

Silverfish aren't great but they're about 1/100th of the size of cockroaches.

Found one during the peak of the heatwave but none since.

You need to call a pest control firm, since you're seeing them so often, particularly if you have carpets.

LouiseEH · 04/09/2019 00:30

I have them in the corner of my lounge eating away at my carpet and can't seem to get rid of them -.-

YobaOljazUwaque · 04/09/2019 00:32

I understand your concern @treedragon - it turned my stomach when I encountered them in student digs. I hate them on general principles that I don't want any creatures other than me, my family and my pets in my house. but its true they are harmless - they are totally uninterested in human food, they eat glue, cardboard and rotten chipboard. They don't carry cause or spread any kind of disease and you won't find them in your cornflakes. I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of them but they aren't a contamination or health issue - on the contrary they only like quite clean environments so they are complimenting you on the general hygiene of your kitchen.

BackforGood · 04/09/2019 00:33

What Minimum97 said Grin

Silver fish just kind of hang aroud in bathrooms for a bit, then they leave. They don't bite or harm you in any ways. You don't need to 'do' anything

Pantsomime · 04/09/2019 00:34

They are cute and keep our cat amused for hours, he does eat a few and keeps the numbers down - get a cat

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