How to get rid of long-tailed silverfish?

Long-tailed silverfish often enter the home via cardboard packaging, cardboard boxes, building materials and the like. It may therefore be a good idea to avoid bringing such materials into the home.

If you have long-tailed silverfish in your home, there is a lot you can do yourself to limit the problem:

• Set out glue traps to find out where the long-tailed silverfish live
• Vacuum frequently to remove food residue and access to food. Long-tailed silverfish eat all sorts of things, including dry plants and other dead insects.
• Remove possible hiding places for the long-tailed silverfish. Repair floor coverings and loose joints, seal any holes along moldings.
• Long-tailed silverfish tolerate drier conditions than silverfish, which prefer bathrooms where it is more humid. Nevertheless, reducing damp conditions in the home can also help against long-tailed silverfish.

There has been a lot of focus on long-tailed silverfish in recent years, as the pest has spread at record speed throughout Norway. Once you have long-tailed silverfish in the house, it can be difficult to get rid of on your own.

Tryg Forsikring is one of the few that offers rot and pest insurance. If you have NITO Home Contents Insurance or NITO House Insurance, treatment against long-tailed silverfish is included. Then you will get rid of the problem quickly and easily.

One method of combating long-tailed silverfish is to use poisoned bait. This method is the result of a research project led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Norsk Hussopp Forsikring.

When poisoned bait is put out, in the form of small droplets, the long-tailed silverfish will eat the product and die within a short time. 

Among insects that resemble long-tailed silverfish, you will find silverfish. Long-tailed silverfish are larger and have a variegated structure on their bodies. It thrives well throughout the house. Silverfish like moisture, silvery, and are less hairy and smaller in size than long-tailed silverfish.

Typical for long-tailed silverfish is that the tail threads are as long or longer than the length of the body. It is also typical that the angle of the outer tail threads is more up to 90 degrees out from the middle tail thread.

• A silverfish does not exceed 12 mm. Is the insect 15 mm? Then this is a long-tailed silverfish.
• Can the insect climb vertically? Silverfish cannot climb vertically. Silverfish can.
• Where is the insect observed? Long-tailed silverfish can migrate in dry environments such as living rooms (normally 20-40 percent humidity). Silverfish thrive best in humid environments, such as in a bathroom.