How To Get Rid of Crickets in Your House (2021 Edition)

If trying to exterminate crickets on your own becomes too challenging, we recommendOrkin,Terminix, andAptive。These exterminators have some of the best-trained professionals that can use traps, baits, and other chemically treated solutions that are often more effective than standard DIY methods.

For Terminix quotes, you can reach them at 866-577-5051 or withthis form。

For quotes from Orkin, call 866-701-4556, or fill outthis form。

For a free quote from Aptive, call 855-521-7075 or visit the company'swebsite。

How To Get Rid of Crickets in Your House

1. Locate where crickets are in your home.Crickets are often attracted to strong electric lights or complete darkness. Listen to see if you hear any loud chirping sounds. Follow this noise as quietly as possible to avoid startling the cricket because they can jump quickly and far away. Once you know where the crickets are in your home, you can target that area of your home.
2. For small cricket infestation cases, try a sticky trap or glue board.Glue boards can be effective at helping out with a couple of crickets that infiltrate your home during a bad storm or that may have accidentally entered through an open door or window. Try placing a bit of cornmeal on the center of the粘性的陷阱或胶板to attract crickets to step onto the surface.
3. Purchase some pesticides, such as spray insecticide.Use a bug spray and spray any entry points in your home, especially the inside of your garage, and any crevices, holes, cracks, and gaps.
4. Set out cricket bait stations.Try placing cricket bait stations along baseboards, which is where crickets will often be.
5. Use boric acid.Boric acid is a great pesticidethat is effective against many insects, including crickets. Boric acid comes inpellet, powder, and tablet form。选择一种硼酸后,把它不ar areas where crickets typically nest, such as indoor heaters, fireplaces, mulch, woodpiles, and kitchens. However, you must take precautions to keep your children and pets away from the areas where you place boric acid because it could cause them to become very sick if they consume it.
6. Vacuum your home.Any area that you suspect you have crickets is a place thatshould be vacuumed frequently。The vacuum can suck up crumbs, other insects, and food sources for which crickets may be coming into your home. In addition, vacuuming can capture adult crickets and pick up any cricket eggs, which can help to prevent a more severe infestation.
7. Block crickets from coming in.While you work on treating crickets already inside, it's crucial that you also seal off entry points. Use caulking products, expanding foam, rubber trim, sealants, and patching compounds to completely seal off and repair parts of your home's exterior to prevent more crickets from coming inside and worsening the problem.
8. Use diatomaceous earth near plants and cricket hiding places.Diatomaceous earth is highly effective at killing insects but is considered an eco-friendly alternative to many pesticides.
9. Make a DIY solution.Mix garlic, spicy pepper powder, dish soap, and water, then pour into a spray bottle. Simplyspray this solutionnear entry points and other areas that you notice crickets, such as the basement, near plants, or by your baseboards.

How to Prevent Crickets from Getting Inside Your Home

Prevention is always better than treatment. So, how can you prevent a cricket infestation?

• Keep up with your landscaping.Keep your lawn mowed to prevent tall grass, plant beds weeded, and woodpiles far away from any structures. Outdoor crickets may be interested in coming inside during colder weather, so the fewer outside crickets you have, the lower your risk of indoor crickets later on. Cleaning out your gutters is another crucial step, as they are a common area that many pests, including crickets, gather in.
• Change your outdoor lighting.Crickets are attracted to bright light. If you have outdoor lighting, consider changing it to less cricket attractive light colors, like an amber or yellow bulb, or use sodium vapor lamps. This can prevent crickets from gathering near your lights. Try switching to motion sensor-activated fixtures to prevent your lights from staying on needlessly and attracting bugs.
• Seal off all entry points to your home.Do a thorough inspection of your home and look for any entry points. This is a crucial step in any preventive pest control. Look for gaps between your door and wall, torn window screen, or other crevices in your home where pests may crawl in.Door frames, windows, and holes在砌体是一些最常见的入口点s for crickets. When you find a hole, use a caulking product to fill the gap to prevent pests from entering your home through it.
• Treat your lawn.Treat your yard with lawn insect killers to kill crickets outside before they have a chance to move indoors during worse weather.
• Minimize and manage moisture.Leaky faucets and other appliances can attract crickets and other pests. Make sure you regularly check for leaks and work on reducing unnecessary moisture in your home.
• Check your crawl space and basement.Make sure that your crawl space and basement haveplenty of ventilation。Investing in a powerful dehumidifier for your basement can minimize the risk of crickets making this space their home.
• Seal off your trash cans.Make sure that you regularly take out your trash. Crickets are attracted to the smell of garbage and love living in garbage piles, so keeping your trash cans tightly sealed can help prevent a cricket problem. We also recommend regularlycleaning your garbage can, both the inside and outside of the can.

How To Identify Crickets

Crickets are regularly mistaken for grasshoppers, which are their distant relatives. Crickets are small to medium-sized insects with long, skinny antennae. Their bodies have a somewhat flattened and long appearance.

They also have powerful back legs, which allow them to leap great distances. They are known for being able to leap great distances, and many also have wings that lay flat against their body. However, it should be noted that some cricket species do not have wings or have much smaller wings that are hard to notice.

One of the easiest ways to identify crickets is by their iconic chirping noises.

Crickets are nocturnal insects. At night, male crickets will come out and "serenade" female crickets with their chirps to attract mates. If you hear chirping noises, we recommend following the noise to see if it's coming from the inside or outside your home. If the crickets are outside, we recommend using preventative measures to discourage outdoor crickets from entering your home during colder or stormy weather conditions.

Common types of crickets in the United States:

• Camel crickets(also known as cave crickets): Camel crickets are light to dark brown and have a humpbacked appearance. Unlike most crickets, they do not have wings and cannot make a chirping noise. However, they have incredibly large legs that allow them to jump very high. Camel crickets are also more likely to gather in groups, so if you spot one, then you are likely to have a more extensive cricket infestation than if you spotted another species of crickets.
• House crickets:House crickets are extremely common crickets that are typically found indoors, as their name suggests. Their slender antennae are notably longer than their body. House crickets are found primarily east of the Rocky Mountains and can live indoors indefinitely, unlike most other cricket species, making these crickets especially pesty.
• Field crickets:Field crickets are found indoors frequently, despite their name. However, they prefer to live indoors and can often be found near garbage cans, compost piles, woodpiles, and indoors. Like most crickets, they eat insects, including other crickets, fruits, veggies, plants, and fabrics.

Signs & Causes of a Cricket Infestation in Your House

It’s no secret that crickets thrive outside. So if this is true, then why are they inside your home?

蟋蟀喜欢生活in dry and warm environments, so they typically enter our homes searching for heat. Crickets are actually known for their ability to sense bad weather, so their sudden presence in your home often means that bad weather is on the way.

Common signs of a cricket infestation:

• Presence of crickets in your home
• Chirping noises, especially at night
• Chewed fabric (use a magnifying glassto look for mandible marks on the edges)
• Loosened fibers or rough areason your rugs and carpets
• Upholstered furniture chewed along the edges
• Finding dead crickets

Causes of a cricket infestation:

• Bad weather is approaching
• Easy access to food (crickets prefer insects, plants, andmany types of fabric)
• Access to garbage piles, which they prefer
• Entry to electric lights, such as light poles and house walls

Final Thoughts

Crickets are destructive, annoying pests to have inside your home. Between the damage to your home and the loud chirping noises, many homeowners want to get rid of crickets in their homes.

If DIY solutions or store-bought repellents don't work, consider reaching out toa professional exterminatorto have your cricket problem dealt with quickly and effectively. Then, work on using preventative measures to prevent crickets from coming to your home in the first place.