Every year at the end of the summer we get those humpbacked spidery crickets in our house, but this year we have something different. They’re pretty big and almost totally black. They must be crickets because they jump and chirp. Did they come in from outside? H. H., Arlington, MA

You’re probably seeing invading field crickets. And yes, they would have come in from outside just like the humpbacked camel crickets you mentioned (see Those Creepy Camel Crickets Are Baaack!). Cricket invasions are a common late summer/fall occurrence as the weather cools. Your crickets may have moved inside a little early in response to a change in their outside conditions like heavy rain or drought.

Since crickets like high moisture, they will move to dark, damper areas of your home such as laundry rooms, near floor drains or sump pumps, in garages, and similar sites. Crickets are scavengers on decaying vegetation and garbage so they may hide near garbage cans or pet food.

PEST-PROOFING CAN HELP KEEP CRICKETS OUT

The good news is that neither the camel cricket nor the field cricket survives well once inside, and they don’t reproduce indoors. They can live long enough to be extremely annoying, however. They are mostly nuisance pests with their incessant chirping (males only), but they do sometimes chew on and damage fabrics, paper, or leather, especially if the items are soiled.

Now that you know that the crickets are coming from outside, you can probably guess that one of the primary control measures is pest-proofing, or “cricket-proofing” in your case. This simply means locating and sealing up or screening any openings that are big enough to allow crickets, or other pests, inside and includes adding thresholds and weather-stripping to outside doors.

CHANGE OUTSIDE CONDITIONS THAT ATTRACT CRICKETS

It will also help if you change conditions around the foundation of your home that draw crickets. They like areas that provide warm, moist hiding places. Discard or move stacks of wood, building materials, stones, etc. around the foundation. Do the same with piles of leaves or grass clippings, and limit the amount of wood mulch used. Be sure garbage cans are tightly sealed and don’t leave rotting produce on the ground. For more on preventive measures, see How to Keep Crickets Out of Your House.

We can help keep crickets out of your house with semiannual perimeter treatments around your exterior foundation. If those inside crickets are driving you nuts, we can take care of them, too. At Colonial Pest, we also have experts who do pest-proofing and can find and seal places where pests are getting inside, to eliminate your cricket problems for good. Give Colonial Pest a call today!

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