Have you ever seen silverish grey insects found wandering around in your house mostly late at night either in your kitchen, washrooms, cupboards or near bookshelves.
If yes, then these are known as silverfish—one of the most commonly found home insects which thankfully cannot fly. If you are wondering why are they known as silverfish then the answer to that is their fish like appearance and wiggling movement.
These are small insects, have six legs and are very speedy when they are alarmed. However, it should be noted that silverfish are only fast on horizontal surface. Otherwise they are slow and cannot climb to higher surfaces or smooth surfaces such as bathroom ceramics. Like other insects,they like to live in comparatively moist and humid places.
They eat starchy or sugary foods, book binding, glue clothing and other similar products that come in their way. These are mostly found residing in old books, documents and pictures.
These tiny crawlers are not mostly seen and are not exceptionally dangerous as most pests but can affect humans on so many level. They can cause allergies which can be a problem for people suffering for asthma.
Also, they are often seen making holes in the piles of clothes as they love to eat fabrics such as cotton and silk etc. Due to all of the inconvenience they are capable of causing, adequate measure should be taken to minimize the risk associated with their presence.
There are a number of ways to get them out of sight e.g. powdered products, liquid concentrates and traps. Let’s have a look on some of most commonly commercially available products to fight off these insects.
Here are Some Best SilverFish Traps that works all day long:
Table of Contents
1. Dekko SilverFish Traps
- This is ready to use product
- Odorless products
- Works for months
- Kills a number of other insects too
- It is not an instant fix and takes 3-4 weeks for complete control
- These packs should be kept out of reach of children and pets.
Dekko Silverfish traps are among the most effective and economical products to work on silverfish. These are made by Dekko manufacturing LLC, Las Vegas, NV.
One product contains 24-packs which are ready to be used and should not be opened or crushed.
Mechanism of Action
The active ingredient used in these is 20 % Boric acid in addition to other ingredients. Boric acid is known as effective insect killing agent and can kill a wide range of insects such as ants and roaches etc. Boric acid kills selfish and their eggs too.
Dekko Silverfish traps contains paper packets that contain boric acid and adhesive substances. Silverfish being a fan of eating paper and glue, when consume the boric acid in packs eventually die.
Instruction To Use
2 to 3 packs of this product can treat 100 square feet of area. These can be used safely indoors including places such as attics, basements, closets, bookcases, drawers etc. You can replace the packs after about 3 to 4 months.
One of the potential drawbacks of this product is that there is no attractant used and the efficiency only depends on the placement of these packs in appropriate places to kill these insects.
This product can be harmful if swallowed or absorbed through skin. Try to keep it away from eyes, skin and clothes. Manufacturers also advise washing hands with soap after placing the product and avoiding contamination with food or food product.
Get the Dekko SilverFish Traps on Amazon or Walmart or diypestwarehouse.com or DoMyOwn or ePestSupply or solutionsstores.com or uspestsupply.com or vermontcountrystore.com or hollingermetaledge.com or supplyhog.com or kwikgarden.com or pedchem.com or seedworldusa.com or geotechsupply.com or ePestSupply or familyhardware.com
2. Trapper Monitor
- These are not poisonous and hypoallergenic.
- Disposable and easy to use
- Odorless and can be used in any location both household or on commercial level.
- These traps do not have an adhesive backing, so you are left with keeping them on the floor.
Trapper Max traps provides an excellent silverfish capturing option. These are manufactured by Bell Laboratories, an American company having several pest controlling products intended to capture different types of insects and rats.
The Trapper insect glue traps are made up of lightweight disposable cardboard with glue surface inside. This product does not contain any poison or baiting system. These traps are totally resizable and can catch the pest for you.
These traps can be used as a large trap or separated along perforated lines into three smaller traps, that is best for capturing silverfish. The back of the glue traps are sticky and can be placed on all sorts of clean surfaces.
Another cool feature about this product is that it contains space to record the date and location of use which makes is super efficient to record the pest control activity in your home.
These can also be used in residential or commercial areas. It is advised by the manufacturer to place these traps near baseboards, corners, along walls, or in spaces where insects are likely to travel for more effective control.
The glue used in these traps is totally safe to use in your home as it is hypoallergenic and won’t cause you any harm. The glue is also highly efficient to trap insects easily and holds them for a long time until they die.
The easy to remove release paper saves time, providing the fastest, easiest system compared to other peel off glue traps. Once the traps are filled with insects these can be straight away thrown in the trash easily.
Get the Trapper Monitor on Amazon or Walmart or DoMyOwn or DIYPestControl or solutionsstores.com or pestcontrolproductsdepot.com or hollingermetaledge.com or nexles.com or pestmanagementsupply.com or heritageppg.com
3. CatchMaster Insect Trap And Monitor
- It is a very simple and non-toxic trap
- Can catch a number of insects along with silverfish.
- There is adhesive on the back of these traps that’s why can be put in a number of places such as walls etc.
- Contains 36 boards which can last for a long time
- Need to be kept away from reach of children or pets
Catchmaster insect trap is manufactured by AP&G Co—an American company renowned for providing intelligent pest management solutions. They use science based approach to create high quality products for a number of insect, mosquitoes and rodents.
These silverfish traps contain molasses and vanilla scent as bait making insect capturing an easy task.This product is efficient to trap a number of insects. It contains 36 glue board traps and monitors. Monitors are glue boards that are small in size.
Each trap is 9.88″ x 7.5″ in size. These traps are lined with high quality glue that is capable of catching any insect that might come near it.There are also smaller glue traps that fold into a rectangle or triangle shape making insect hunt easier and more effective.
These traps can be set up anywhere in home for example in the areas where silverfish might be present e.g. near bookshelves, in drawers, cupboards, in kitchen and much more.
In addition to trap silverfish, these traps are perfect for capturing other insects including spiders, roaches and different types of bugs. Another beneficial quality of glue traps like this product is that the insects already caught on the glue board these can serve as bait for other insects thus, making insects trapping much easier
Get the CatchMaster Insect Trap And Monitor on Amazon or Walmart or DoMyOwn or Home Depot or pestrong.com or pedchem.com or ePestSupply or ePestSupply
4. BioCare Spider and Silverfish Sticky Traps
Trap N’ Kill by Biocare is manufactured and made in USA.The traps attracts, kills and remove predator-type spiders, silverfish, and other crawling insects. Their extra strength sticky glue catches them.
Note: Biocare traps will not catch web spider.
It is safe, pesticide free and non-toxic. It is eco-friendly because it’s broken down into its natural elements will cause no harm to environment. The trap was made from paper and vegetable based – adhesive.
Instructions to use
- Fold trap along score lines to form trap.
- Peel release paper to expose glue.
- Refold trap and tuck flap in back.
- Place traps along baseboards, near doorways and in the doorways and corners of room.
- Replace traps on or before three months.
Get the BioCare Spider and Silverfish Sticky Traps on Amazon or Walmart or DIYPestControl or Lowe's or broadway-pest-services-pest-control-products.shoplightspeed.com or arbico-organics.com or shop.willert.com
5. Terro Insect Trap
- High quality adhesive glue used in the traps
- Easy to use and environmental friendly option to kill insects.
- Ideal for a number of crawling insects.
- No bait is used therefore correct placement of glue traps is important for effective control.
Terro is one of the popular US based brands in controlling home found insects. It is owned by Woodstream Cooperation which is a privately held company and a global manufacturer and marketer of quality branded pest control products. Other than Terro, some of the company’s popular brands are Victor, Safer brand, Havahart, Perky Pet, Mosquito Magnet and Zareba.
Terro Insect traps provide a remarkable way to capture and kill a large number of crawling insects including silverfish. These are also helpful in providing protection against a number of spiders.
Mechanism of Action
It is a pesticide free and easy to use trap for a number of crawling insects including silverfish, spiders, ants, cockroaches, crickets and other crawling insects. The insects when come in contact with the sticky surface of the trap get stuck and die.
There are four ready to use 4″ x 10″ glue traps inches which are perfect to catch quite a number of insects over time. These insect traps can be folded to avoid contact with the sticky surface by children or pets or can be unfolded to lie flat.
This product is ready to use & non-toxic. Can be used anywhere where insects are to be found against baseboards, in corners, behind doors, and behind or underneath furniture—if placed in basements, attics and dark corners it can effectively trap spiders too.
Continuous and long term use these traps can help reduce infestations.
Get the Terro Insect Trap on Amazon or Walmart or Lowe's or Home Depot or kmart.com or meijer.com or farmandfleet.com or webstaurantstore.com or overstock.com or shelllumber.com or hammondhardware.com or lifeandhome.com or treehelp.com
6. Victor M309 72 Pack Insect and Mouse Glue Trap
- Unique patented box design fits into small, tight corners
- Uses pheromone technology bait
- Multiple entry points for easy access
- Poison-free insect traps for eliminating a number of insects
- Multiple entry points for higher catch rate; bundle includes 72 Pack traps
- Keep way from pets and children.
- Environmental-friendly product
- Economical
- Safe to pets and human
It sticks to anything that move! Victor insect and mouse glue trap is manufactured by Woodstream Europe Ltd—a company which specializes in solving pests and animal control problems. Their common brands are Victor, Terro, Safer, Havahart, Perky-Pet, Mosquito Magnet etc.
These products are a class apart from years when it comes to pest control.
Victor insect glue trap uses special pheromones to attract insects and when they come close to trap get stuck in the glue and stay there to die.
Other than silverfish and mouse many other insects such as spiders, ants, scorpions, centipedes, crickets and palmetto bugs can be trapped without any trouble using this trap. Using these victor insect traps you can also eliminate the nymphs and eggs of some insects which prevent further infestations
The rectangular box like unique design allows you to place the traps in any room of your house–it has multiple entry points that make the insects arrival into the trap efficient.
This insect bait uses high quality glue to trap insects that make contact with it.One pack of this insect magnet contains72 pack glue traps which can last a long time.
It is a non poisonous insect control method that is safe and easy to use. It also does not pose harmful effect on the environment.
Instruction To Use
- Simply remove the release paper and place either in a Tin Cat Mouse Trap, or let the board stand alone.
- Place them in different places of your home to note where more insects are found. For instance cupboards, under the sink, under furniture, bathroom, kitchen, basements, attics, etc.
- When used on its own, this 4 x 10 inch trap can placed flat, folded, or tented.
- Monitor the trap which gets filled faster indicates presence of more insects in that area.
- Place more traps over there outdoor where you observed the silverfish is coming from.
- Once the trap gets filled with insects, throw it in trash and replace with new one.
Get the Victor M309 72 Pack Insect and Mouse Glue Trap on Amazon or Walmart or DIYPestControl or DoMyOwn or Home Depot or webstaurantstore.com or wildlifecontrolsupplies.com or woodstreampartnerportal.com or animaltrapsandsupplies.com
7. GreenWay Spider & Silverfish Trap
- Non-toxic, pesticide free
- Long lasting
- Easy and ready to use
- Eco-friendly
- Safe to kids and pets
Greenway spider and silverfish traps is ready to use heavy duty glue. The glue trap not only captures spiders and silverfish but many other crawling insects that live on the ground.
This product is manufactured in the USA and with best reputation. Proven effective and one of the leading product in insect trapping system.
Each box comes with 6 sticky heavy duty glue traps.The Greenway glue traps has the ability to use year round. Crawling insects are active year round
These traps are made of non-toxic material. The design of the product is very simple too. A piece of cardboard which makes a triangular house like shade for insects which they like to visit, gets them trapped.
Instructions to use
- Remove protective paper from trap to expose sticky surface
- Fold the trap into triangle with the sticky surface facing inward.
- Place in a corner or near in a wall where the silverfish, spiders and other insects can be found.
Replace traps every 2 months or when it is full. Store unopened traps in a cool dry place.
Get the GreenWay Spider & Silverfish Trap on Amazon or Walmart or DIYPestControl or DoMyOwn
8. Eco Defense Pest Control Pouches
- Naturally repel a number of pests including Silverfish, spiders, pantry moth, roaches and many more
- Provide Long Lasting Protection
- Safe to use around children and pets
- Fresh scent of essential oils
- Can be used in cars too
- Nothing’s wrong with the product so far
If you are looking for an all nature approach to keep common household insects away including silverfish then eco defense can be best fit for you. Eco Defense is the Alternative solution to Chemical based pesticides and instead uses Natural and USDA Bio-based Ingredients.
This is a different product as compared to all aforementioned products. It is an alternative solution to chemical based insect killers. This uses all natural ingredients which are known as natural pest repellants. These are also very affordable and are the safe alternative to chemicals.
Mechanism of Action
This product contains a special patented encapsulation technology which combines the power of essential oils of Cedar, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Rosemary, Mint, and Peppermint oil in a small ready to use pouch—which gives an impeccably strong insect repellent barrier.
The clean and fresh smell of these pure essential oils becomes lethal for pests and they stay away from your home.
Instruction To Use
This product is remarkable and can be used both indoors and outdoors; anywhere you want. The 12 pack pouches can last from 6 months to 1 year.
In addition to keeping silverfish away, this product works extremely well for all other creepy crawling insects such as roaches, moths, spiders, ants repel Rats, Mice, Spiders, Silverfish, Roaches, Ants, Pantry Moth, Snakes, and dozens of other pests and even rodents.
Eco Defense products repel insects but are safe to be used around children and pets.
These are mess free, easy to use product. Simply placing 1 pouch in any enclosed space up to 10 cubic feet can keep insects away. These are also perfect for closets, pantries, vehicles, RV and practically anywhere.
There are some other products which are not adhesive glue trap but can eliminate silverfish from your house remarkably well.
Get the Eco Defense Pest Control Pouches on Amazon or Walmart or sfbhawaii.com
9. Safer Diatomaceous Earth
- Kills a variety of insects
- Fast acting—kills insects within 48 hours
- Can be used both indoors and outdoors
- Makes insect dehydrate and die
- Can be messy to use
- Difficult to use around children and pets
If you don’t mind putting powdered product in your home then Safer Diatomaceous Earth powder can evidently remove silverfish from your house.
It is effective to be used for killing silverfish, ants, roaches, fleas, earwigs and bedbug grasshoppers, millipedes, carpet beetles and many more.
This insect killing powder can be put anywhere in your house both indoor and outdoor—it can also be placed along the walls, cupboards and bookshelves, in cracks and hidden spots where silverfish are mostly seen.
This product can also be used in washrooms to prevent ants’ infestation. It can also be directly applied to cracks and crevices inside and outside your home, hitting these insects directly where they live and breed.
Small amount of powder underneath and behind appliances, furniture, doorways, windowsills and other hiding places throughout kitchen and living areas can effectively kill insects.
Mechanism of Action
The active ingredients present in this product are Silicon Dioxide (85%), Other Ingredients (15%).
Ditomaceous Earth powder is fine dust like powder which is made from crushed fossilized algae also known as diatoms that come from freshwater sources.
For us humans it feels like a fine powder, but the tiny fossil shards are very sharp when insects with delicate exoskeletons encounter them, it gets into them and traps all the moisture out, thus making them dehydrate and die.
When insects come closer it they tend to ingest it which dehydrates them and they die within 48 hours. Insects cannot develop a resistance to it since there are no chemicals to build immunity.
It is a non staining formula and has no odor, so you can confidently apply it in your home and outdoors to eliminate crawling insects as they try to sneak inside your home.
One important thing should be kept in that it needs to be reapplied after watering or rain in case of outdoor use for effective insect control.
One bag of the Diatomaceous Earth contains 4 pounds of product, which can last you a long time to kill crawling insects with ease.
Instruction To Use
- Just sprinkle the powder anywhere silverfish or any other insects are found.
- Wait and let it do its work
- Clean afterwards
- Store the product in cool dry area for later use
Get the Safer Diatomaceous Earth on Amazon or Walmart or Home Depot or doitbest.com or zoro.com or acehardware.com or tractorsupply.com or farmandfleet.com or shelllumber.com or supplyhog.com or hartvillehardware.com or menards.com or mccoys.com or fredmeyer.com or oldtown-hydro.com or planetnatural.com or taylorsdoit.com or ramseyhardware.com or shop.bathgardencenter.com or mclendons.com or hydro45.com or oakhillshydroponics.com or stlouishydro.net or rasahydroponics.com or cultivatecolorado.com or urbanrootstampa.com or monstergardens.com or contractorsupplynetwork.com or groworganic.com or sprouthousesupply.com or happyhydro.com or bristolsgardencenter.com or atlantishydroponics.com or plushgrowsupply.com or groundworkshydro.com or essexcountycoop.com or easthydro.com or growitdepot.com or toledoindoorgarden.com or shoregrow.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Do silverfish cause allergies?
Silverfish can cause allergies in humans. Most of the times upon inhalation, the allergen gets into the respiratory track of humans and the dead skin or body parts of silverfish, their eggs or feces might get mixed up with household dust causing severe allergic reactions. Silverfish allergy can mostly affect people with asthma as they are already sensitive to dust etc. it can cause swelling of membranes in nose.
The allergen tropomyosin present in silverfish is the same as found in most shellfish especially shrimps. There is no direct cure for this type of allergy but the condition can be made better by controlling their growth in homes
Do silverfish bite humans?
No silverfish do not bite humans but can be found crawling on them. Moreover, these small insects love to eat dandruff and dead skin we shed. However, these tiny insects can make your life living hell by eating away your important document, staining and making holes in your clothing and might cause allergy reactions.
Other than traps what are some method that can be used to kill silverfish?
There are a number of products that can be used to get rid of silverfish in the house.
First and foremost are the adhesive glue traps that are one of the most efficient means to trap these tiny crawlers. Once they get stuck in the adhesive materials they can’t leave. Some of the traps are also baited thus providing additional incentive for pests to come closer to the trap and die.
There are a number of products commercially available in market to kill silverfish such as sprays, powdered products and essential oil mixtures.
The best thing to do is to evaluate your situation and then choose the product right for you.
How silverfish can be detected?
Silverfish are nocturnal insects and can be seen at night in your house or sometimes are found in books. Most of the times they remain undetected and if you find small chew holes in paper products, small black pepper like droppings and yellow stains on clothing or cereal boxes are all signs of silverfish present. You can also set up traps to further ensure their presence in your home.
Do silverfish lay eggs? For how long a silverfish can live?
Silverfish lays eggs that hatch in about 19 to 45 days. After that young silverfish are known as nymphs. They are white in color and take three to four months to transform into an adult. They have a high birth rate and can quickly reproductive thus multiply in less time. Silverfish are one of the insects that shed their skin throughout their lives and can live up to more than three years.
CONCLUSION
Silverfish are more than a nuisance as they can eat up your important documents and can put holes in your clothes. Therefore timely action to control them from your home before them getting multiplied in number is important.
The best and most effective way to stop them is by using adhesive glue based traps. They seize these little insects on first contact and leave them with no choice but to die. You can also use powdered products or sprays too but they can be messy and leave an unpleasant odor.
Another effective treatment method is using different essential oils—such oils have excellent insect repelling properties and can effectively kill silverfish, along with other insects. They also leave a nice scent to the treated area and are mess free.