How to Get Rid of Silverfish in Your Home

Picture a tiny, wingless insect shaped like a teardrop or a carrot, covered in silvery-gray scales, moving with a quick wriggle that really does look like a fish swimming. Two long antennae point forward. Three bristles trail off the back end. They don't bite, sting, or carry disease, so they pose no threat to you. They're just unwelcome, and they ruin things you care about.

Humidity and darkness draw them in, so bathrooms, basements, laundry rooms, and attics are where they tend to gather. Because they come out at night, you'll usually catch them after dark or the instant a light snaps on. Spot a few and it's often a sign one part of your house is holding more moisture than it should.

Two things keep silverfish around: moisture and something to eat. They go after the starches and carbohydrates scattered through a normal home. And they can stretch a tiny amount of food across a long stretch of time, which is what makes them so hard to outlast.

Here's what tends to pull them in:

Silverfish run on humidity, so drying out your home is your strongest move by far. Set a dehumidifier going in basements and other damp rooms and work to keep indoor humidity low. Push air through bathrooms and laundry areas with exhaust fans, or just crack a window.

Then chase down where the dampness comes from. Fix the dripping pipe. Patch the leaky faucet. Deal with the condensation pooling on window frames, and check that water outside drains away from the foundation instead of toward it. As the air dries, silverfish lose the exact conditions they need to live and breed.

Strip out what they eat and where they hide, and the survivors start to thin. Move dry foods, flour, and pet food into sealed containers instead of leaving them in open bags or boxes. Pull paper, books, and important documents out of damp rooms and into dry, sealed bins.

Clear out the clutter in storage rooms, attics, and closets so there are fewer shadowy corners to settle into. Trade cardboard boxes for plastic ones. Cardboard feeds them and shelters them both. And keep cleaning. A regular vacuum along cracks and baseboards lifts out eggs and stray insects before the numbers climb.

Silverfish squeeze in and travel room to room through gaps you'd barely notice. Caulk the cracks around baseboards, window frames, pipes, and the foundation. Pay special attention to where plumbing runs into walls and under sinks, because those damp little nooks are exactly where they want to be.

Outside, pull mulch, leaf litter, and dead plant material back from the foundation, and keep gutters clear so water actually drains. Cut the moisture and the entry points around the perimeter and you stop the next wave from working its way inside.

A few silverfish? Moisture control and a tidier house usually handle it. But if they keep showing up after you've dried everything out, or you're finding chewed books, fabric, and wallpaper in more than one room, the population is probably bigger and more dug in than it looks.

Silverfish mature slowly but live a long time, so a settled infestation can really dig in its heels. A licensed local pro can find the moisture sources and hiding spots you missed, treat the cracks and voids where silverfish shelter, and put a plan in place so they don't drift back.