OMG; tarot-destroying bugs...

[cringes] sips coffee and sees images of silverfish [/cringes]

Le Fanu, thank you for sharing your experience. I never knew that about silverfish...

At least you can work to prevent anything else from happening in the future. Cedar seems to be the best solution. I live 1/2 a block from the ocean, and it tends to get humid in the spring and summer, so I shall be on a quest to get a descent storage unit to save my decks from being destroyed in the parchment wood Ottoman they are currently stored in * gasp *. I tend to get centipedes from time to time, not silverfish, but they do make an appearance.

We have silver fish.
I think.

I see them scooting under the kitchen cabinets and down the backs and stuff.

I never knew they actually ate stuff.

Apparently, according to Wikipedia they like starchy foods, high in protein. They consume matter that contains polysaccarhides. These are in glue, bookbindings, paper, sugar, coffee, clothing, carpets, dandruff. They also eat cotton, linen, silk, synthetic fibres and dead insects. Even their own molted exo-skeleton. They can live for a year or more without eating....

Wow!!!!!!

I learn something new every day!

Le Fanu said:

All I want to hear is that someone here has had them and no they don't eat decks (come gregory and allay my fears!). Only boxes...Like I say, it isn't an infestation, but worrying nonetheless...

Click to expand...

We have had silverfish occasionally, but they never touched our books (we have a lot) or my decks.

We had these in my parents' house for years. Like yours, Le Fanu, this was an airy, dry, clean space - but close to the forest and a small river, so maybe it was that.

They never did any damage to our many, many books though... I guess with my stepdad a passionate cook, there was too much to eat in the kitchen

In Germany, we have little boxes which will lure them in and kill them. They are called silverfish bait:
http://www.reinigungsbedarf-donath.de/artikelbilder/reingspez/gross/silberfisch1m.jpg

Ask your local drugstore for something similar. If you don't get it in Portugal I can send you a pack. My parents got rid of theirs for good this way.

You can get cubes of cedar in the stores here to put in your closets. Maybe try putting some in your storage for your decks. Also, you can buy cedar shavings for guinea pigs and rats in the pet stores. You might try sprinkling that into the areas where you have your books and decks.

Oh I can't believe there is a thread about silverfish!

All through out university in our crumbling drama department we had silverfish, I despise them. They used to chew at the wallpaper and if you came into a room and turned on the light, they would scatter everywhere. Yuck.

If you don't feel comfortable using poison, there are glue traps which can be effective. I think the cedar chips suggestion was a great idea as well!

I hope the rest of your days are silverfish-free!

So, there is a use for a pet store after all! Cedar chips! I can do that.
(allergies don't let me visit them)

silverfish is nothing...

We have silverfish too... and when I worked in that used bookstore, we saw lots and lots of books that had become silverfish meal.

I squash them whenever i see one. In the most sadistic way possible. And I'm not a huge insect killer.

Silverfishes and mosquitoes are the exception.

Store your decks in dry places, never inside dark forgotten cupboards. Check your cupboards and drawers etc. to see if there aren't any silverfish cocoons. Kill them whenever you spot one.

They say that keeping dry bay leaf inside your books and in places in which you store them keep silverfishes away. Just make sure the bay leaf is really DRY, or else you will attract mould.

Let me warn you guys - silverfishes are nothing. They chew your things, but it's highly unlikely they'll make huge holes in your decks. They will chew the edges of the cards and eat soft boxes, probably, but they'll never make a hole thru 78 cards.

What you should really be worried about is termites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite

These ones REALLY make holes through books, from cover to cover. And they invite their friends to participate of a hole-making game. Not to mention, they spread very quickly. And they will also destroy your furniture - they are capable of eating many different things, and they LOVE wood, specially the ones that have lots of books nearby.

They'll will turn your Pam A and your Bohemian Gothic into Swiss cheese if they find them. If you notice a small powder that looks like powdered wood on your books, beware - it may be termites having lunch!

The only way of getting rid off them is throwing the furniture in which they live away. No, don't keep it, once they make their home there it'll be nearly impossible to kick them out. And hire the exterminator to come spray your home.

Silverfish, like the name says, is a fish. The termite is the real shark. And it can appear in any place in which there's wood and paper. To keep it away, the best thing to do is to keep your home clean and spray it once in every year