# Does cold kill silverfish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416 "2014-10-15T17:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/1 "2014-10-15T17:14:03Z")
I’m visiting the folks and taking a bunch of memorabilia and books out of the attic. They have a pretty big colony of silverfish up there, so I’m kind of hesitant to bring these creatures back to colonize our home (the silverfish, not my folks—they’re welcome to visit). Leaving the boxes in the shed for a few months will give plenty of time for Old Man Winter to shove his icy figure up their creepy butts (again, it’s the silverfish I’m referring to here). Will that be sufficient to kill off the bugs? What about their eggs—will it render them inert or do I have to reserve a ride on Space-X and start collecting fissile material? (I’ve tried searching for an answer, but everything I’ve found so far talks about getting rid of them from a home, not boxes I can leave in a shed.) Thanks, Rhythm ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/2 "2014-10-15T17:27:40Z")
From [here:](http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/env/final/bugs/silverfish.html) > [@](#): > > Infested items such as clothing and books can also be placed in the freezer. Freezing will kill all life stages. It depends on whether the interior of books will drop significantly below freezing for a substantial period of time. If you are in a northern area and have an unheated garage, this will probably be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/3 "2014-10-15T17:32:50Z")
Not silverfish … but last year’s really cold winter was supposed to have eliminated a lot of those stink bugs. The ones that didn’t already find a warm place to winter. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/4 "2014-10-15T17:35:45Z")
Side note: if you’re transporting the infested boxes in your own vehicle, take into account that a few of them may migrate out of the books/boxes and into the carpeting etc. of your car or truck. If you park in an indoor heated garage, that may be something to consider … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/5 "2014-10-15T17:39:56Z")
Don’t forget they can also migrate from box to car to your purse, your hair, or up your pants leg or … Wait a minute; I don’t think I’m helping as much as I intended 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/6 "2014-10-15T18:45:45Z")
Fortunately, these are silverfish, not ticks (eeeaaarrrrghhh!), so LSL Guy’s warnings haven’t caused the screaming heebeegeebees. I figure we’ll wash all the clothes we’ve been wearing up there before we leave, and since this van sits in the driveway all winter nothing inside it will survive (except, strangely enough, the mice who hold raucous keg parties). So the van and boxes can sit outside until it drops below freezing for a couple weeks, which is great—we won’t have to completely unload when we get home; it’ll take care of all the nastiness; and when we do open up the boxes in a couple months it’ll be a whole new round of “oh, look at that!” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-cold-kill-silverfish/701416/7 "2014-10-19T21:35:56Z")
If “Cold” is the name of a cat, it probably not only kills silverfish but also eats them.