You can hear them chirp. Every night. And you’ve noticed your wallpaper has been chewed. But finding and eliminating a cricket infestation can be quite challenging, since house crickets stay in hiding during the day. You may be familiar with field crickets found outdoors that look similar to grasshoppers. House crickets look the same but are a much lighter tan to light brown with three dark bands on their heads. Full-grown crickets are about an inch long.
A female cricket can lay hundreds of eggs, which take a year to grow into adults. If one cricket finds its way into your home, usually in the fall, its hatchlings can quickly grow and scatter throughout your home undetected, especially since their natural coloring tends to blend into their surroundings. By the time cold weather sets in the following year, these houseguests will have settled in to your nice cozy house for a long noisy winter.
Finding and Eliminating Crickets
House crickets usually begin their lives outdoors, but may infest homes in large numbers. They search out warm places like heating ducts and the paneling behind heating installations. They also nest in moist areas and near areas where garbage is kept. Air conditioning units, downspouts, piles of mulch and wood chips are also popular nesting spots. Your compost pile actually provides a great source of food and heat.
Crickets often enter a home through crawl spaces, wall voids and basements. They will then move into living areas, to be found around and behind baseboards, furniture, window frames, door frames, electric outlets, switch plate covers and in closets. And of course, as the story goes, around fireplaces.
If you have pets such as lizards, turtles, snakes and fish that eat live crickets, make sure the meal doesn’t escape and hide under floorboards to surprise you later with a midnight chorus.