If you’ve freaked out after seeing a silverfish in your laundry room, under your kitchen and bathroom sinks, or in a crawl space, don’t think you’re all alone. There are over 1 million in the United States, and adult female silverfish lay more than 100 eggs. Each one has a lifespan of about four years, and silverfish have no problem being a headache for homeowners.

What Are Silverfish?

For bookworms, your home is the best restaurant ever for these insects. They love a carb and protein-rich meal made up of glue, paper and book bindings. Your kid’s painting that you hadn’t gotten around to hanging on the refrigerator is a full-course meal to a silverfish. (This also makes the terrestrial insect a nuisance at libraries and museums.) The wingless pests make themselves scarce until night hours.

Even then, you’ll typically see the damage instead of the silverfish who did it. (Yellow stains, tiny black pepper-like pellets or scales are a hint that they’re around.) Named after their fish-like shape, although they are not fish and cannot swim, the antennas and the eyes might make you mistake them for roaches until you notice the silver color. They’re also fast runners and can get to food with ease, which can make catching them yourself almost impossible.

How Do Silverfish Get Into Your Home?

The good news is that silverfish don’t bite nor sting humans. The bad news is they can easily move into your home office or other parts of your home. They often arrive in cardboard cartons of books and paper from an already-infested location, including unopened food from a grocery store.

As soon as they arrive, they immediately get to work hunting for food (since that unopened food container wasn’t a success). Once they find a solid food source, they remain close by (and away from your daytime eyes). They will then breed in a variety of areas, including wall voids, in or under the subflooring, in canister light fixtures in the ceiling, and all over attics.

How to Get Rid of Silverfish

The easiest but costliest way to get rid of them is by hiring an exterminator. But if you want to try some do-it-yourself options first, here are a few common household chores that would come in handy. Hopefully, you’re already doing these basic maintenance tasks to get your home winter-ready anyway.

First, seal cracks and repair damage to the exterior of your home. This includes looking at your roof, especially shake roofs with wooden shingles. (It’s easy for silverfish to eat through the cellulose, or “fiber” in wood.)

Second, look for any leaking water pipes or mold near wood. Buy and install a dehumidifier near moist areas.

Third, instead of storing your basement and attic items in a cardboard storage box, opt for sturdy plastic containers with lock lids. (This is a good idea for basements anyway, which are vulnerable to flooding.)

Fourth, do not leave your flour, sugar or gooey, sugary foods out on your kitchen counter. (The same rules apply for homemade body scrubs in your bathroom.) Put them all in airtight containers to reduce sweet-toothed silverfish from making a meal out of them.

Keep your cake frosting and jam off of the counters after you’re done baking and mixing. And clean up bread crumbs or leftover coffee beans. They like those too.

Fifth, vacuum regularly, especially in crawl space areas that may often get overlooked.

Sixth, if you’re into gardening, don’t overlook plants and flowers that are naturally pesticides, such as chrysanthemums. (Pet owners, be careful with this flower because dogs and cats can become ill if they ingest chrysanthemums. However, both silverfish and dogs hate lavender. Make a spray of it to keep both of them away.)

If DIY Pest Prevention Doesn’t Work, Call an Exterminator

Exterminators know how to get rid of silverfish with multiple techniques, including pyrethrin (found naturally in chrysanthemum) pesticides, diatomaceous earth, fumigation to get rid of nests, silica gel and other inorganic dusts, and commercial gel traps. The sooner you can get rid of them before they can unleash more eggs, the better.