Silverfish can make your skin crawl or react negatively to it. It becomes worse when you have one in your bedroom.
One of the first thoughts that come to your mind is, “Why do I have silverfish in my bedroom?”
You will see silverfish in your bedroom because they do not have a reliable food source. In your bedroom, they will eat your bed sheets as they can digest cotton and silk.
You are not the first homeowner to have a silverfish in your bedroom. You will not be the last either.
But you can be one of the first to get rid of silverfish in your bedroom. This guide walks you through the process of getting rid of silverfish, as well as preventing an infestation.
What are Silverfish?
You may have a silverfish in your home, but you may not know. You are about to find out what a silverfish is.
To put it simply, a silverfish is a quick-moving and wingless insect that has a flattened and slender body. It is also known by many other names, such as Fishmoth and Carpet Shark.
One of the most distinguishing features of a silverfish is the side-to-side slithering like a fish and the shimmering quality, hence the name “silver” attached to it.
Why Do I Have Silverfish in My Bedroom?
Good question! You have seen one or more silverfish, going by the description above, and you are wondering how the insect got into your home.
Silverfish typically stay where there is moisture and food. The home is one of the places where that could be found, hence why you have the insect in your bedroom.
Also, you can find silverfish in some other places or dwellings that trap moisture: humid bathrooms, bushes, leaky gutters, basements, and piles of leaves.
Do silverfish make noise? Find out in this article I wrote.
How to Get Rid of Silverfish in Your Bedroom
Now, you know about some of the causes or the things that attract silverfish to the home. We will now let you know some of the ways you can get rid of the insect when you find it either in your bedroom or any other part of your home.
1. Remove a Water Source
This might seem inconvenient for you at some point, but for what it is worth, it is one of the best ways to get rid of silverfish.
You will recall that silverfish thrives in damp places or places that have humidity. Having a water source that is not taken care of can be one of the major ways for silverfish to get into your home.
Thus, consider removing a water source that might likely trigger the insect. You can also fans or dehumidifiers to dry up areas that are exposed to humidity.
2. Use Starch and Masking Tape to Your Advantage
Starch is also one of the things that attract silverfish. You can use both starch and masking tape to your advantage to get rid of silverfish in your bedroom or any other parts of your home.
The idea is to put starchy food, such as bread, inside a jar. Ensure that the jar is wrapped with masking tape.
The silverfish will be attracted by the smell of the starchy food. And when it gets into the jar and consumes the starch, it wouldn’t be able to get out.
Do this repeatedly until you have gotten as many silverfish as possible inside the jar, where they will be trapped for good.
3. Use Insect Repellant
Natural insect repellants, including cedar, can remove or get rid of silverfish in the home.
Cedar has a camphor-like scent that repels or harms pests, including silverfish. By placing cedar at strategic points in the home, you can succeed in repelling the insects because the cedar will prevent dampness around the surroundings of the home.
4. Clean Your Mattresses
Your mattresses or bed sheets need to be cleaned frequently. Leaving them untouched for many weeks or months could, over time, be exposed to silverfish infestation.
As a rule of thumb, clean your bedsheets or mattresses once a month. We have a couple of ideas on how you can clean your mattresses to get rid of silverfish. These include:
- Sweep the bedsheets or mattresses to get rid of silverfish droppings.
- Suck out the bugs and dirt that may be on the bedsheets/mattresses using a vacuum.
- Discard the dust cup content so that the silverfish don’t escape back into the home.
5. Re-Paint Your Walls or Change the Wallpaper
You can have silverfish on the walls of your home, but this may not be easy to see if your walls are already fading.
This is why you need to re-paint your walls so that the silverfish can be seen from a distance. As an alternative, consider changing your wallpaper, especially when the wallpaper has holes in it.
The idea is that silverfish tend to feast on or eat the adhesive on the wallpaper. This explains the reason why the wallpaper has holes in it.
Therefore, consider changing the wallpaper and getting rid of the silverfish that may be behind it so that you will have little or no silverfish to battle with.
How to Prevent Silverfish from Getting into Your Bedroom
Prevention, they say, is better than cure. It makes sense to keep silverfish at bay so that it doesn’t become a problem for you when it spreads all over the home.
Here are some of the preventive measures to get rid of silverfish from ever getting into your bedroom:
- Store your dry foods in containers while ensuring that the lids are tightly sealed.
- Add caulks to crevices and cracks. Sealing these open places will prevent the silverfish from ever finding a way to enter your home.
- Consider placing dried bay leaves at strategic points in your home because the leaves serve as insect repellants.
- Remove weedy areas, leaf piles, and other sources of moisture.
- Clear the perimeter or vegetation around your home because doing so helps dry up the damp or moist areas that silverfish could leverage to get into your home.
How to Get Rid of Silverfish in Bed
If you want to get silverfish out of your bed and keep them out for good, apply boric acid. You can sprinkle boric acid all over your mattress or you can even dissolve it in a spray bottle and spray it.
You can also try other methods that are proven to be successful such as applying cedar oil, sprinkling bay leaves or even using a rolled up wet newspaper.
You want to attract silverfish into the rolled-up newspaper and then get rid of it. Silverfish are attracted to your bed because it is probably damp or humid. Continue to wash your bed sheets regularly and keep them dry. This way silverfish will not be attracted to your bed.
Do Silverfish Live In Mattresses?
Yes. If your mattress is in a dark, humid environment, it’s going to be extra appealing for silverfish to reside there. The mattress contains food sources such as linen and hair. Silverfish can dine on this for their entire lives which could be up to 3 years.
You will not allow this to happen. There will be a solution that is favorable for you. You can sprinkle the mattress with boric acid, diatomaceous earth, bay leaves or cedar oil.
If you continue to see silverfish around your mattress, professional mattress cleaning might be your final option.
Final Thoughts
Having silverfish in your bedroom is creepy. With time, this insect will spread around your home, and you will find this very uncomfortable.
Therefore, start implementing the tips we just shared so you can get rid of silverfish in your bedroom and every other part of your home.
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