Bathroom silverfish – how to effectively and permanently get rid of this uninvited guest from your bathroom?

Even the most beautifully furnished, spotlessly kept bathroom can become a haven for a guest that hardly anyone would want in their bathroom – the bathroom silverfish. This insect is completely harmless, entirely unwelcome, and easy to send packing. How do you get rid of it from your own bathroom? A few simple steps are enough to make sure it doesn’t come back!

Bathroom silverfish – how to recognise it?

Start by not panicking when you encounter one in the bathroom. It is completely harmless, innocuous (to humans – it doesn’t bite and doesn’t transmit diseases; not to your books or clothes – it eats them!), but it is… well, an insect. No one needs them in a bathroom; they can alarm, frighten, repel, and completely ruin the beautiful aesthetics of an otherwise immaculate bathroom.

How to eradicate silverfish (another common name for bathroom silverfish)? First you need to identify them, but that isn’t too difficult. Aside from their long antennae (as long as the abdomen) and slightly shorter, paler legs, you can notice that the darker, silvery body of this insect is shaped like a small fish. So is its quick, zigzagging way of moving. It’s also called a silverfish because it shimmers in the light, which it avidly avoids. Rarely seen by day, it appears at night and… usually gives you a fright.

Many people wonder: “silverfish – where do they come from and why in my bathroom in particular?”. They love darkness, warmth and moisture, so almost every bathroom becomes an ideal habitat for them, especially around baths and shower trays. They are also found in bakeries, confectioners’ and kitchen cupboards, because they feed mainly on complex sugars, for example potato starch, but they’ll eat almost anything. From dried meat, through glues (the ones used to bind books!), paper, right up to natural materials used to make clothes – linen, wool, cotton, silk.

How to get rid of silverfish from a room or bathroom?

Many people wonder how to get rid of silverfish from the bathroom and prevent them from returning. Seeing them off from your own bathroom is relatively simple. It’s also worth preventing their reappearance (or appearance in the first place!) by carrying out a few simple, silverfish-repelling actions in your bathroom or the room they’ve taken up residence in.

Firstly: air the bathroom thoroughly and often. Not only to dry it out properly (silverfish love moisture!), but also to maintain proper air circulation throughout the house/flat and its other rooms. Especially after a bath or shower, it’s worth opening the bathroom door if there’s no window. It’s also a good idea to install an extractor fan in the bathroom or set out moisture absorbers.

Secondly: clean the bathroom regularly, paying particular attention to hard-to-reach places. Not only silverfish can live there, but also micro-organisms less noticeable and more dangerous to humans, such as fungi or bacteria. Thorough cleaning effectively reduces the risk of silverfish appearing. It’s also worth filling small gaps that appear in various places in the bathroom with silicone. Silverfish can take up residence in these gaps.

So much for prevention. How do you deal with and drive silverfish out of your bathroom or other rooms? Lemon juice or the scent of lavender, which many insects, including silverfish, can’t stand, may prove useful. It’s enough to rub the bathroom tiles with a cut and slightly crushed lemon, or leave moth-repellent balls in the bathroom. Silverfish also dislike the strong smell of rosemary, cloves and the scent of cinnamon – though it’s better to keep these methods for places other than the bathroom.

A very effective over-the-counter remedy available at the chemist’s is boric acid. Mix it with icing sugar and wipe it over the bathroom tiles. The sugar will lure the silverfish, while the boric acid, once ingested, causes poisoning and death. In contact with the insect’s exoskeleton it dissolves and damages it, often fatally.

Finally, you can make traps for silverfish using large jars, which you wrap with a rough material to allow the insects to climb inside. Put a tablespoon of sugar (brown or white) inside, leave it in a corner of the bathroom and that’s it. The silverfish will climb up the rough surface into the jar, lured by the smell of sugar. They won’t be able to get out, however, because the inner surface of the jar will be too smooth for their antennae! You can then release the silverfish outdoors or carry out extermination by burning them or pouring boiling water over them.