Cricket Traps

Various bugs make their way inside your home, from the fruit fly and spider to the mosquito and house cricket. However, crickets are the noisiest as they chirp from dusk to dawn, and their nocturnal habits make them challenging to find. Capturing these pests with cricket traps is the easiest way to keep them in check.

Unlike bed bugs, fleas, and other troublesome insects, crickets are not harmful to humans or pets. They don’t bite or sting and are a beneficial part of nature, but they are a nuisance if they come into the house since they don’t mind being noisy while you try to sleep.

House crickets have wings and do fly, but you seldom see them flying indoors. Instead, these hopping or crawling insects spend their time hiding in cool, damp places during the day and searching for food and a mate in the evening. Unfortunately, this night-time behavior means that the pests have plenty of time to go unnoticed.

Ways to Trap and Eliminate Crickets

Crickets are common pests throughout most of the world, and they often seek shelter indoors in search of food sources, warmth, and safety. While a couple of crickets seems harmless, they quickly become a cricket infestation if left alone. Fortunately, it’s simple to control the cricket population with home remedies to repel crickets, homemade traps, and repellents.

Why are Crickets a Problem?

If crickets don’t bite, why are they problematic? Discover how crickets are a nuisance and why it’s essential to control crickets around your home. Learn about different types of crickets and which ones are most common.

Crickets are found nearly all over the world, feeding on flowers, fruits, and leaves. While there are over 900 species in the cricket family, camel crickets, mole crickets, cave crickets, spider crickets, field crickets, and house crickets are the most prevalent.

The mole cricket burrows in the lawn, ruining turf grass, the camel cricket and cave cricket have a hump-like feature on their back, the spider cricket resembles a spider, the field cricket lives in almost any environment, and the house cricket is one most spotted indoors.

Males put on a nightly concert to attract females, and while this sound is pleasing in nature, it isn’t enjoyable inside your house. Not only are crickets noisy, but they can spread parasites and diseases like salmonella.

What’s the Best Bait for Trapping Crickets?

Like other insects, crickets have a preference when it comes to midnight snacks, and not using the proper lure leaves you with an empty trap. Explore the best bait for a cricket trap to help you capture house crickets.

Crickets love eating grains, and bread is an ideal bait for a trap. They also have a sweet tooth, and sugar or soft fruit draws crickets out of hiding. All insects, including crickets, need a water source to go along with their food.

Using Commercial Cricket Traps

While a homemade trap is the cheapest way to go, not everyone has the time or patience to put one together. Fortunately, various commercial cricket trapping products are on the market, and they’re all relatively simple to use.

A glue trap is the most effective cricket trap, and it doesn’t use harmful pesticides. These sticky traps work by causing the insect to stick to the surface as they walk across it, trapping them in place. Some good examples include Harris Cricket Traps, JT Eaton Cricket Glue Trap, and Catchmaster Cricket XL.

Cricket sprays repel and kill crickets, coming in many forms, from small cans to large bottles. Some eliminate insects with chemicals, while others use natural solutions.

Making a Live DIY Cricket Trap with Newspaper

If you prefer to catch and release crickets from your house, this live cricket trap is the most basic. All you need to make this DIY cricket trap is a couple of sheets of newspaper, some bait, and a jar.

Locate the area where you suspect cricket activity and spread equal parts granulated sugar and breadcrumbs on a sheet of newspaper. Cover the bait with another newspaper sheet and let it sit overnight. Grab a jar in the morning, lift away the newspaper, and use the container to capture the crickets.

How to Trap Crickets with a Plastic Bottle

Another way to capture live crickets for moving to another location is to make a bottle trap. The cricket crawls inside in search of a tasty snack and cannot get out until you release it. Here is how to trap crickets with an empty two-liter soda bottle.

Use a knife to cut a plastic two-liter bottle in half, just above the label. Pour equal amounts of bread crumbs and sugar into the bottom section, flip the top over, insert it into the bottom, and set the trap in the cricket-infested area. The crickets jump inside the trap for food and cannot get back out.

Using a Paper Towel Roll to Trap Crickets

Before you toss the cardboard tube from your paper towels, save it to make a cricket trap. This trapping system effectively captures crickets without harming them and is an excellent way to recycle leftover materials.

Cut a paper towel roll in two and prop them up on a sheet of newspaper on the floor. Sprinkle some pieces of bread and granulated sugar inside each tube and let the traps sit overnight. The insects hop into the cardboard trap and cannot make their way out. To get rid of the crickets, cover the tube top with a piece of paper and carry it outside.

Use Molasses to Trap Crickets

One of the most prevalent home remedies for trapping crickets is molasses and water. The crickets head into the trap for a drink, and the sticky molasses traps them, causing them to drown.

Pour enough water into a shallow bowl to cover the bottom and add the molasses. Set the container in an area where you notice cricket activity and check the trap in the morning. The crickets jump into the dish for a drink of water, where they get stuck on the sticky surface of the molasses. Killing spider crickets naturally with molasses is a popular tactic.

Making a Sticky Cricket Trap with Duct Tape

If you have duct tape in the junk drawer, this is the perfect remedy for catching crickets. It’s safe to use indoors and catches insects as they pass over the adhesive.

To make a homemade sticky trap, rip off several pieces of duct tape and place them with the sticky side facing up in areas where you hear crickets or see cricket damage. Place a few pieces of soft fruit near the tape to draw them to the traps. The insects step on the tape and find themselves stuck to the surface.

Trapping Crickets with a Pitfall Trap

A great way to trap crickets outside is to use pitfall traps. These trapping systems use bait to draw the pests to a specific yard area and capture them beneath ground level.

Dig a hole in the lawn large enough to fit the plastic jar and insert the container into the ground. Pour the breadcrumbs and sugar into the container, cover the top with newspaper, and let the trap sit overnight. In the morning, check the trap for crickets, and screw on the lid quickly to prevent them from escaping.

Catch Crickets with a Loaf of Bread

Believe it or not, an old, crusty loaf of bread makes an ideal cricket trap. The insects head into the bread for an evening meal, and you remove it from your home the next day. Make a true cricket trapping system with a whole loaf of bread and some sugar.

Cut a long loaf of bread lengthwise and use a spoon to hollow out the two sides. Place the bits of bread in a bowl and add an equal amount of granulated sugar. Scoop the mixture into one of the bread halves. Put the two pieces of bread back together and hold them in place with a rubber band.

Slice off the ends of the bread loaf, exposing the hollowed-out section, and set the bread trap in the area where you suspect crickets. After several hours, check the trap for crickets and dispose of them in another location. This is a great way to tackle a cricket infestation in basement and crawl space areas of your house.

Getting Rid of Crickets with Essential Oils

Most insects hate a peppermint scent and avoid places where they smell it; crickets are no exception. Create a peppermint essential oil cricket repellent for inside and outside use.

Pour two quarts of water into a glass bottle and add the liquid soap and essential oil. Shake the container gently to avoid suds, spray the pesticide in areas with cricket activity to kill cricket eggs and repel crickets, or apply it directly to the cricket when you see one.

Eliminating Crickets with Borax and Sugar

If you’re not concerned with capturing crickets, dead or alive, and you don’t have children or pets to worry about, consider making a trap with Borax. While you may have to wait a couple of days before seeing results, the crickets eat the mixture and eventually die.

Protect your hands with gloves and combine equal amounts Borax and granulated sugar on a shallow plate. Set the Borax trap in the spot where you hear crickets at night and remove it after a day or two. The crickets eat the sweetened poison and die after a few days, so check the area for a dead cricket.

Where is an Ideal Place to Put a Cricket Trap?

Making a DIY cricket trap is only the first step since it won’t capture crickets if you place it in the wrong area. Find out where these insects enjoy spending their time to ensure you set up your trap for optimal results.

Cricket Trap Placement

Crickets are nocturnal critters that hide in cool and damp places, like beneath appliances and in the basement or garage. However, they are masters at hiding and slipping quickly behind the toe kick of bathroom and kitchen cabinets, loose floor molding and trim, and other nooks and crannies. These areas are perfect for trap placement.

How to Keep Crickets Out of the Yard

While the occasional outdoor cricket sound is pleasant, an infestation leads to problems. The best way to keep crickets out of your home is to deter them from your yard. Here are tips for making your outdoor area uninviting to these nocturnal pests.

Since crickets love feasting on young plants, consider growing nitrogen-fixing plants, like legumes, beans, and peas, which draw nitrogen from the air to store in their roots. In addition, grow cricket-irritating plants, such as clover, cilantro, garlic, and sweet potatoes to drive them from the garden.

Lizards, spiders, birds, and house pets like cats and dogs, are all predators of crickets, and allowing them to do what they do in the yard keeps the cricket population under control. Keep the lawn and garden neat and trimmed, and avoid over-watering your plants.

Ways to Prevent Crickets in the Home

Even if you know how to trap crickets and you use the best cricket trap, you’re better off not having an indoor cricket problem in the first place. Instead, learn why crickets enter your home and the steps to take to keep them out of your living space.

Indoor Cricket Prevention

The easiest way to keep crickets from having easy access inside your home is to eliminate entry points. Place weatherstripping around doors, fix window screens, and use caulk to seal cracks and holes in the foundation. Check your home routinely for areas that need repair and correct issues quickly to prevent a cricket infestation.

Crickets are notorious for doing cricket things throughout the night and hiding during the day, making it difficult to remove them from the house. Fortunately, cricket traps do the work for you. Unlike traditional forms of pest control, an insect trap lures and captures crickets while you sleep.

Homemade cricket traps are simple to make and effective for keeping the cricket population under control, so why not share our do-it-yourself cricket traps with your family and friends on Pinterest and Facebook?