Cricket Infestation

There’s something soothing about listening to distant crickets as you relax outside on a warm summer night. However, this insistent noise is bothersome if you have large numbers of these insects in your yard or, even worse, in your home. It’s essential to take pest control steps to ensure you don’t end up with a cricket infestation.

Like grasshoppers, crickets are high jumpers. Yet, grasshoppers make noise by rubbing their hind legs against their wings, and crickets chirp by rubbing their wings together. That’s not the only difference between these insects since a grasshopper lays about 100 eggs during the late summer and fall, and a cricket lays 100 per day.

Crickets have a lifespan of 90 days, and female crickets can lay up to 3000 eggs in their lifetime. This extensive breeding and egg-laying cycle is why they quickly lead to an infestation. Fortunately, there are ways to keep cricket activity in check and prevent crickets from becoming a nuisance.

Preventing a Cricket Infestation

Crickets are a necessary part of nature, but you don’t want them taking over your living space. Learn the types of crickets that commonly invade homes and yards, how to tell if you have an infestation, and cricket control methods and preventative tips.

How Can You Tell if You Have a Cricket Infestation?

Crickets are nocturnal, and you often aren’t aware of them until you hear chirping in the middle of the night. Discover typical signs of crickets, whether it’s a field, house, or camel cricket infestation.

Crickets are an issue in many areas. They prefer to spend their time in moist, warm environments outside and indoors. They live in woodpiles, beneath large rocks, in tall grass, and sometimes make their way inside as the weather gets colder.

An ideal way to determine if you have crickets is their presence in your living space and the infamous male cricket chirping noise. You may also notice chewed edges on clothing and furniture. Dying grass, lawn tunnels, mounds, and ground sponginess are indications of mole crickets.

Which Types of Crickets Infest Homes?

While you don’t often see a cave cricket infestation, other cricket types invade yards, homes, and other structures. Explore some common crickets that cause an infestation.

Unlike Mormon crickets that reach up to three inches in length and live in western North America, typical crickets are usually less than an inch in size. The two most common true crickets in the house are the gray-brown house cricket and the dark-colored field cricket.

The tawny mole cricket and the camel cricket, or spider cricket, also occasionally invade properties. They typically don’t bite people, but cricket waste may carry E. coli, salmonella, and other diseases.

Ways to Stop Crickets

It’s essential to keep the cricket population in check, whether you use an insecticide or a natural remedy. Find the many ways to stop crickets indoors and outside to help you choose the ideal pest control method.

There are various cricket control tips, ranging in effectiveness. The one you use depends on where the crickets reside and the severity of the problem. For example, if you only hear a cricket or two chirping inside in the evening, consider traps to capture and discard them.

If you notice a lot of cricket activity, you’re better off with an insecticide, boric acid, or diatomaceous earth. Soapy water and nematodes are your best course of action for eliminating mole crickets outside.

Trapping Crickets With Molasses

It’s easier to catch a bee with honey; the same is true for crickets, except molasses can kill crickets in your homemade traps. Make a homemade trap using sweet and sticky molasses as bait.

Pour a few spoonfuls of molasses into a shallow bowl and fill it halfway with water. In the evening, set the container in the area where you notice or hear crickets and check the bowl in the morning. The insects are attracted to the sweet odor, jump into the water and drown.

Diatomaceous Earth to Control Crickets

Food-grade diatomaceous earth is a popular choice for pest control, eliminating a cricket infestation in the basement and getting rid of bed bugs, fleas and cockroaches all over the house. It’s safe and natural to use indoors and outside and ideal for stopping a cricket infestation.

Fill an applicator with DE powder, or use a turkey baster. Apply the diatomaceous earth to suspicious areas, like a crawl space, the basement, and cracks and crevices. Let the DE sit for a couple of days to allow the crickets time to walk across the powder, causing abrasions on their exoskeletons and leading to dehydration and death.

Getting Rid of House Crickets With Insecticides

Use an insecticide to get rid of crickets around the house. Insecticides are convenient, especially if you don’t have children or animals. However, choosing the right bug control product is vital for eliminating crickets.

Apply a granular insecticide to the yard to treat a targeted area, and kill cricket nymphs before they become adults. Or, apply a liquid treatment around windowsills, corners, under furniture, and other areas where crickets congregate. Let it dry completely before allowing kids and pets back in the room.

Making Homemade Glue Traps to Control Crickets

Your local hardware store carries an array of cricket glue traps. Nonetheless, it’s easy to prepare one of your own. Construct a do-it-yourself sticky trap for catching crickets without all the mess or fuss.

Tear off a large piece of duct tape, and tape it around your hand with the sticky side facing outward. Make as many of the sticky traps as desired and set them in strategic areas of the house. Place a piece of bread on the trap and sprinkle it with sugar to attract crickets to the tape.

Getting Rid of Crickets With Boric Acid

Boric acid, or orthoboric acid, controls various pests, including roaches, spiders, mites, and crickets. While it is toxic like other insecticides, it has lower toxicity and is generally safe for home use. While this bait is highly effective at luring and killing crickets, it’s not advisable to use it if you have children and pets on the property.

Combine the flour, sugar, boric acid, and onion in a bowl, and add just enough bacon drippings to form soft dough. Shape the mixture into small balls and set them on aluminum foil in areas where you suspect crickets. The pests smell the poisoned food and consume it, leading to death.

Treating Crickets in the Lawn With Dish Soap

The mole cricket causes a lot of destruction in the yard. They dig tunnels beneath the dirt, causing the grass to die, and as the crickets surface, they leave small mounds on the soil. One of the best ways to stop crickets in the lawn is to apply soapy water and draw them out.

Combine water and soap in a garden sprayer or watering can and apply it to a two-foot square lawn area. The soapy water causes the young mole crickets to surface within minutes. Water the lawn to neutralize the soap and apply a granular insecticide as directed by the product instructions.

Treat Lawn Crickets With Nematodes

Another way to treat mole crickets is with nematodes. These crickets cannibals prey upon young crickets, reducing the population before the female crickets get a chance to lay eggs. Stop a cricket infestation by applying nematodes.

Spread nematodes when the sun is low on the horizon since they do not like direct light. Mix the nematodes with water in a watering can or garden sprayer as directed by the product label.

Gently agitate the container, and apply the solution over the areas of your lawn where you suspect a mole cricket infestation. Follow up with another application one to two weeks later.

Growing Plants in the Yard to Repel Crickets

You can also choose to deter crickets with repellent plants. Plants are the way to go if you prefer to control crickets naturally. Many plants release essential oils that repel the cricket insect, sending them in search of food and shelter in other locations.

Sweet potatoes, garlic, and cilantro are excellent edible plants to grow in the garden to repel crickets. On the other hand, if you’d rather grow flowers, consider planting sweet peas. The field, mole, and cave cricket cannot stand these plants and avoid them. If you find clover and false buttonwood in your lawn, leave them as cricket deterrents.

The Best Cricket Control Tips

Prevention is always the simplest way to stop a problem before it starts. Follow some of our favorite cricket control tips to help you keep the pests from taking over your space.

According to the National Pest Management Association, crickets enjoy humid conditions. Install dehumidifiers indoors to lower moisture and keep crickets from entering the house. Also, check your home’s perimeter for entry points.

Seal cracks or crevices in the foundation, repair window screens, and apply weatherstripping around doorways. Groom your lawn by cutting back shrubs and bushes, Complete regular lawn mowing, and remove piles of wood and leaves.

The occasional cricket or two is not usually something to worry about. However, desperate crickets seek shelter as the temperatures drop, and your yard and home are often sanctuaries for these pests. Targeted treatments keep the cricket population in check and stop an infestation before it starts.

Now that you know how to eliminate crickets and stop a cricket infestation, why not share our cricket control tips with your family and friend circle on Pinterest and Facebook to help them with their cricket problems?