Congratulations if you have found silverfish instead of long-tailed silverfish in your home, because this is a small lottery win for you. You’ve probably just saved a decent amount of money if your silverfish population is reasonable.
Silverfish are much easier to get rid of than their relatives long-tailed silverfish. The silverfish is a shiny, slightly silvery and sly wanderer that thrives near damp spaces and quickly hides in various crevices when, for example, you turn on the lights in the morning. A long-tailed silverfish, on the other hand, might be lurking in the middle of the living room in bright sunlight, because this species thrives almost anywhere in the apartment and at almost any time of the day. In addition, the long-tailed silverfish is significantly larger than the silverfish and, as it were, hairier, and also does not shine in the same way and has a more matte surface.
I have personal experience with silverfish and their eradication. When I used to live in an apartment building, there were silverfish there until it was a problem. They were mostly seen in the bathroom and kitchen. Every time you turned on the lights in the dark, there was a lot of movement as the silverfish hurried to their hiding places. At the time, I thought, oh no, is there any way to get rid of these! Fortunately, I somehow remembered that silverfish do not like the smell of chlorite, let alone the direct contact.
So I got down to business. I first cleaned the kitchen and bathroom with a strong chlorite solution. We had tile floors in the kitchen at the time, and luckily they could withstand the chlorite solution well. Finally, I put raw chlorite in the drains. The smell was quite strong, but this worked really well. I repeated this operation a few times and that was it! The silverfish disappeared completely, and after months not a single silverfish came back. At that time, we got by really easily and I understand that it’s not always that simple.
However, if the problem is more difficult, then here too I recommend a professional company specializing in pest control. They know what they’re doing and can easily get rid of silverfish. They have professional skills, experience and usually a good view of the situation after the assessment visit. If possible, it is worth taking a few dead silverfish in a jar for the pest control, so that they can be sure of the right species and thus know how to implement the right extermination measures. Silverfish and long-tailed silverfish are easily confused by people. In the past, they were thought to be the same species, and only in the last few years has the long-tailed silverfish been recognized as its own species.
As a third option, if the situation is not completely impossible with regard to silverfish, you can find really effective and good poisons to repel silverfish in supermarkets.
All in all, it is relatively easy to get rid of silverfish. If it seems that these tricks don’t work and silverfish thrive in the daylight, climb up furniture, walls and the climbing looks effortless and may even seem a little too familiar, then you should investigate the matter more closely and make sure it’s not long-tailed silverfish after all. These long-tailed silverfish are a bit more tenacious than silverfish, but they are still a species that you can definitely get rid of. I have personally experienced and verified this. We really had a big long-tailed silverfish problem after we moved to a new house and this started a new kind of adventure or rather a struggle, which inspired me to create this website. I hope you find help and support for the problem you are looking for.