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Silverfish infestation (help!!!)

post #1 of 4
8/15/09 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 
I just came back from an exhausting summer with the family that was mostly spent with cleaning house and moving and all that fun stuff. Anyway, While cleaning through my old crap (fortunately I got rid of some) I discovered many of these little creatures that I had never seen before. At some point I decided to do a web search and found out that they are called silverfish, they eat pretty much everything, even though they prefer books (which I have tons of!) and they are a pain to get rid of. I washed and cleaned everything (not the books!) before moving it to the new apartment but to my horror I discovered several of these buggers in the new place every single day! Somehow they managed to hitch a ride to the new apartment and I mostly found them in my clothes!

Anyway, I am looking for some advise here. Is there a green way to get rid of them now that they have moved in? Are they really so bad or should I just chill and call them roomies? Or should I just bite the bullet and have my parents call an exterminator while I am not there (I won't live in that place for a few months at least)? How safe are the chemicals these guys use and how fast do they break down?

I appreciate any help you guys can give me on this!

(I also found several clothes items turned to dust by moths, which I threw away, but is anyone aware of a good green way to keep moths away except for lavender?)
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post #2 of 4
8/16/09 at 8:50pm
 I had some imported "Indian Pasta" about 3 years ago, and I kept it too long I think.  I would get more and more little black beetles on my drainboard daily, and I think they hatched in that box.  After a few months I finally found the Pasta box- hundreds of beetles, so out it went.  But they had infiltrated the area, so kept showing up.

I bought a cleaner of some sort (Orange 409 I think). I washed and let the drainboard dry.  That cleaner did beautifully in my car.  I do not know why I used it in my kitchen but I did- and it cleaned as expected.  In a week it dawned on me- no beetles for a week!

Now I am having that silverfish problem inside kitchen cabinets.  I do not think 409 cleaner would help wipe out silverfish; so I also could use some advise getting rid of them.  That 409 wiped out little beetles, but I do not want to possibly wipe myself out by over-using that cleaner!
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post #3 of 4
8/17/09 at 12:21am
I remember learning to buy small packs of grain products like flower or pasta when I was first in India. You soon had the little black bugs in the stuff so a large quantity was a waste.  

After a particular flood there was a wide disease and for 'safety' the vendors would sprinkle gamzine on the veggies at the market - to show they were safe to eat. Never mind that the gamzine (similar to DDT) was far more dangerous than the disease going around. 
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post #4 of 4
8/17/09 at 11:16am
Silverfish infestations are often local, so they will only be where you are seeing them. They are moisture driven, so if there is damp wood or areas that are wet a lot, you need to eliminate that.
Silverfish feed on:
  1. Silk
  2. Linen
  3. Rayon
  4. Cardboard
  5. Cotton

If you cannot control the infestation yourself, its recommended that you call a pest management professional. 
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