Silverfish are sooo nasty. How nasty ARE they? (insert joke here)

Oh, great Home-Ecers,

We had a leak inside the wall behind our pantry during a bad storm last year. We repaired the leak, cleaned out the pantry, and got rid of the mold. But now we have another plague.

Silverfish!

I hate those slippery little [censored, because my grandma reads this site], and I know they’re running around my cereal bowl because I see their footprints. What can we do to affect a silverfishicide of Darfurian proportions?

Signed,

CeeElSmiley

Ivy says:

Silverfish are the third most disgusting bug if you ask me. The first most nasty is maggots, the second most nasty is slugs (:::shiver:::), and the third most nasty is:

That’s right if I have to be grossed out, so do you.

Thankfully, getting rid of silverfish is fairly simple.

Get some boric acid from the drugstore or possibly the Farm Bureau Co-op. Your local hardware store will have it, as will places like Home Depot or Lowes. Dissolve the boric acid in warm water to make a 5-10% solution. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the area down thoroughly with the solution. Keep any children or pets away from the area until it has thoroughly dried.

Also, apply the boric acid in powder form around all cracks, under appliances, near drain pipes, any place you think they might be coming in. Ensure that the powder is only left in places where curious kids and pets can’t get to. Remember, their fingers are a lot smaller than yours, and they are 100x more persistent than you, too.

You can also use diatomaceous earth to kill silverfish, but I understand that the boric acid works better. Good luck killing them all!