Silverfish!

[LouiseEH]

Posting here for traffic!

I have found a couple silverfish in my dirty washing (didn’t know what they were at the time and they ran under the machine before I could kill them) I put the clothes to wash on a 40 degree cycle and hung all the clothes up once dry.

My question is will they or their eggs survive the wash if there was any in there before I put it to wash? I found another one in the clean washing once I had finished putting it all away -.- (I left my washing basket on the floor in the kitchen so it could have crawled in afterwards)

I have looked through the clean washing and can’t see any signs but I just want to make sure I’m not going to end up with lots of them in all of mine and my DC clothing

TIA x

Yes dethlac is toxic but you just spray skirting boards and it dries to a lacquer in 15 mins then it works for about a year

Got about 2.5 hours sleep and I ordered some diatomaceous earth from amazon (even paid an extra £5.99 for it to be delivered today)

Unfortunately the building I live in has serious damp problems and there’s not a lot I can do about it

I like them. I'm quite happy to co exist with them - I loved the description by a pp, "little mercurial drops." #teamsilverfish

I don’t understand how anyone can put up with them tbh. Although, they technically don’t cause you and harm they do crawl all over your things, eat your food, clothes, books and other things, and like any other living thing they leave droppings! It makes my skin crawl and makes me feel physically sick!

We had to deal with an infestation when we moved in to our last rental house - there were fleas and carpet beetles as well. We used Indorex spray, and the Raid crawling insect spray, and hoovered the heck out of the house. It's really important to do a second treatment, and to periodically spray the house as well.

I only see the odd silverfish now. We have a delightful dark and damp cellar, so will never be completely rid of them. Buying furniture that doesn't rest flat on the floor also helps, so they can't live uninterrupted under a big bookcase for example. It is easier to hoover all edges of a room, and easier to spray treatment too.

I sympathise op, all the bugs drove me crazy and I still worry about them sometimes. There is a natural product called Organisect, which looks like a good alternative to harmful sprays.

They eat clothes and books, not harmless!

I'd think washing clothes at a high temperature would kill the eggs, but boric acid is another thing that will help.

Don't worry about the diatomaceous earth being dangerous, it is basically silica from natural sources and can be used for fleas and mites on pets if brushed through the coat and taken in water or juice for internal parasites in humans.

Obviously you won't be wanting to inhale large quantities, which is why there are warnings so just get some decorators masks from a DIY shop if you are worried about dust when applying it. It is very very fine and it will make a dust so get a puffer and aim it carefully, don't wave it about and you will need to leave it down for a while.

There is no need to use anything toxic.

It will kill any insect so please don't put it near bees (in my case it only ever went near carpet beetles although sadly in order to do that the spiders that I was unable to catch and put outside also died).

I'm willing to bet that those who love them have more 'relaxed' standards of household cleanliness!

I'm with you, OP. Blast those chemicals and get rid.

“Little mercurial drops” I love that. So true. I still remember the first time I saw one.
Agree with Laurel’s post re changing your attitude to them rather than killing.
Oh re household cleanliness , I’m certainly in the more “relaxed” camp, but silverfish aren’t dirty. They aren’t on a par with cockroaches. My mother was very hygienic, we still had silverfish in our Victorian house, in the downstairs cloakroom, cool and damp. She left them alone. (We also had allergies and asthma, “relaxed” housekeeping better for both those things, and silverfish.. .

@SirVixofVixHall This . #TeamSilverfish lol

I had silverfish. Got pest control out and they were completely wiped out, no less really anxiety.

I’ve made 3 traps for the little buggers tonight, one for the kitchen and one each in both bedrooms, I hope they work but I also hope I have none in my bedroom lol

Don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep again tonight :(

We use to get silverfish in our old house in the bathroom which was downstairs. Once I'd seen one, I'd see two, then three. Only ever at night. Couldn't catch them. It's amazing really that we never trod on them I suppose. The bathroom was always kept clean & never saw them during the day. There was some damp rotting skirting board in the bathroom, but the landlord wasn't interested. We moved out not long after though so don't know if it was ever resolved.

Get a van of indorex off amazon and spray your house with it you'll not see anything that crawls for well over a year!