A few weeks ago, I introduced you to the type of bug that has been… gracing us with its presence.
Slauditory kindly identified it as a silverfish.
We’ve had a bit of a warm snap since then. (Warm snap? Snap sounds appropriate with cold… But not so much with warm. Warm… ooze? A warm… soak?)
We’ve had a bit of a warm soak since then. And we’ve seen about one silverfish a day. ONE A DAY. I know this is not really infestation levels. But it SUCKS. I do not LIKE silverfish. Especially because they show up primarily in the master bedroom, the master closet, and the master bathroom.
I do not relish standing on my bed at midnight, staring nervously at the ceiling, trying to coax a silverfish to run sufficiently AWAY from my bed so that I can squish it with the Swiffer without fear of it falling ON the bed.
So I called an exterminator and set up an appointment for today. The very night that I scheduled our appointment, I had a horrible nightmare. I dreamed that millions of silverfish started pouring out of the wall above the headboard. A flood of silverfish, coursing down over my bed and through the bedroom, clogging my nose and ears and covering my body.
Oh Internet. It was HORRIBLE. One of those nightmares that stays with you.
It did not help that I saw TWO SILVERFISH in the master bathroom the very next day.
So! Exterminator!
He came today and was very nice. Sprayed some sort of horrific poison all around our house, inside and out.
I found myself telling him about my nightmare. Because… well, I am nothing if not socially awkward to the max.
He laughed politely. (Because what other response is appropriate, when some strange woman starts confiding the wackadoo workings of her mind to you?)
And then I asked him if we would start finding dead bugs all over our house. Or if the poison would just… you know, keep them AWAY. Which is really my preference. Paint a big neon sign on our house that says, “Bugs Not Welcome,” so that they shrug their ten zillion tiny shoulders and decide to head for Atlanta. Which, really, if I were a bug, I’d much prefer. The winters are pretty harsh in these parts. (Not harsh enough, thought, on a bug deterrent level.)
Anyway. The exterminator said, “It will kill them all… But the poison [he didn't say "poison," per se. I think he said "chemical," which sounds a lot less nerve-damagey than "poison," dontcha think?] will draw them out.
“So things will get worse before they get better.”
INTERNET. I almost died, right there.
I do not do well with bugs.
I mean, I can squish one if necessary. Or get a too-large-to-squish spider to climb onto a wad of toilet paper so I can flush it whole. (I KNOW. I am a cruel, heartless person.)
But any kind of bug in NUMBERS gives me the shakes. And the vapors. The shakey vapors.
After I recovered from almost passing out and shook the memory of my nightmare from my head, I gently tried to find out what “things will get worse” really MEANS.
Does it mean… a LOT of silverfish? (And OTHER ASSORTED BUGS, GAH.) Does it mean… one or two a day? Three or five? Twenty? A WATERFALL OF STAGGERING, HALF DEAD INSECTS STREAMING DOWN MY WALLS?
The exterminator was very unspecific. Would it be a couple more bugs a day? Well, maybe. Worse than that? He couldn’t really say.
“You won’t be having nightmares,” was his best reassurance.
Then he told me to call him if, in two weeks, it wasn’t better.
TWO WEEKS.
Two weeks of an indeterminate amount of “worse” before I can call to let him know that it… hasn’t worked? Oh em gee Internet.
Okay, I know that as far as PROBLEMS go, this is NOT the worst. Bugs are just bugs, after all. They aren’t murderers. Or disease. Or anything REALLY horrible.
But can we agree that, on the Problem Scale, this is at the very least “Vexing”? I spend Every Waking Hour in my house. It is my workplace as well as my home. And I do not relish the idea of sharing this space with “worse.”
I don’t even know what to ask from you, at this point, Internet. Reassurance, yes. But I am not keen to hear your OWN stories of infestation because I am already twitching with imagined insect crawlingness AS I TYPE.
So. Any reassurance? Any idea what “things will get worse” really MEANS? And if it DOES mean “armies of bugs marching through every room, bent on terrorizing me with their last breath,” I guess I WOULD like to know that. So I can check into a hotel or, you know, move away.
I love “I don’t even know what to ask from you, at this point, Internet.”
When we first moved into our house, it had been empty for awhile and there was a…spider issue. So that when I turned the lights on in the living room in the middle of the night to nurse the baby, three or four spiders would race across the walls and ceiling. I kept a fly swatter handy, and would kill a batch before settling in. But then once I WAS settled, totally stuck in the recliner with the nursing baby, MORE spiders would start running. OMG.
Er. Unhelpful. But sympathetic!
When we’ve used exterminators, we’ve never had a sudden influx of bugs afterwards. My guess is you probably won’t see any more than usual, and then you’ll stop seeing any. Yay!
We had a silverfish problem and after the bug guy came around they stopped coming for a good long while. We had the buy guy come out at regular intervals throughout the year to keep the bugs at bay. It probably won’t be as bad as you think!!
Ohhhh god. ACK ACK ACK!!! I don’t have anything helpful to add, just wanted to let you know that I think you might have passed that nightmare on to me. Straight-up AWFUL. Actually, come to think of it — we spray for spiders, and have the same experience as -R-. I hope the same is true for you!
I didn’t even know you could spray for silverfish! Thanks for the tip. We’ve had plenty of other bugs and we spray something around the basement and outside walls of the house which really really helps.
Ew, silverfish. MIght be time for a week of off-site work at the local coffee house??
Ugh. I wish I had something useful to say but I don’t. Yuck yuck yuck. I hate silverfish. They are disgusting. Hope the bug man makes them go away!
Is this an east coast bug? I’ve NEVER EVER heard of a silverfish… they look disgusting {I googled some images- not a good idea}. Like a roach with weird legs. Yuck!! We’re moving to PA in a couple months should I be worried about these?!?
I hope they don’t come in swarms! In the meantime, get rid of extra paper (old bills, newspapers, etc.) you don’t need and rearrange your books a lot. That will disturb them out of complacency…I think.
This is why I never move the piles of paper. I can’t cope with seeing things RUNNING AWAY FROM MY CLUTTER.
NO idea what that means but I’m trying to shake off the creepy crawlers off right now. UHHGHGHH
**Shudder** You’ve made me itch and quease! I don’t do bugs either. I’ve told my husband 1000 times that I have to die first if for no other reason than I won’t have anyone to kill bugs for me if he dies first. Sorry I’m no help. I’ve never had an exterminator visit my house, but now I’m horrified for you.
We have someone come to spray for spiders, and I’ve never noticed a sudden increase of bugs in the house afterwards.
I have MUCH SYMPATHY for your situation though; I won’t elaborate, but MUCH SYMPATHY!! (hugs)
My husband is an absolute freak about bugs. He sounds kind of like you, actually. ONE ant and he’s calling the exterminator. I adore him.
I’m okay with bugs, but if there are any creatures of the rodent variety around, I freak out.
Good luck with your annihilation mission!
This is a very SHUDDERY post and now I have to go throw up.
(I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THESE GROSS BUGS. GAK GAK GAK.)
When we hang out (stalker alert!) remind me to tell you about my experience with earwigs. I totally owe you that mental image after your freaky ass silverfish picture is burned into (onto?) my retinas. GAH!
I will not share experiences with you, and never come to my blog and search “roach” or “roaches”. (I like the British way of putting the period outside of the quotes.) I am very sorry about your bug issues; I totally get it. I think that you will probably see a few extra, but they will be dead or very close to dead. I do not believe you will see swarms or hordes. Be encouraged! And call sooner than two weeks if you feel like you need to.
Two weeks? That’s gross. And silverfish are about the worst. Well, roaches are worse. Way worse. But it’s all gross. It’s like the one time I saw a mouse run by out of the corner of my eye and Q tried to tell me, “It’s nothing. I’ll take care of it tomorrow.” TOMORROW? RIGHT NOW!!!!