How to get rid of crickets in the house

Meet the Pest

Externally, crickets resemble grasshoppers - they also jump well and actively.
This is a small bug up to 2.5 cm in length of various colors - from light to dark brown. They belong to the order Orthoptera and live in damp places. Crickets have long “cockroach” whiskers and elongated legs. Insects hide during the day and come out to hunt at night.

Only males can chirp. The trills of crickets are a search for females and the designation of habitat boundaries. The chirping is produced due to special folds on the wings, which vibrate when friction occurs.

Field and house crickets are common in Russian regions. These species actively reproduce at temperatures from +20⁰С. Females can lay several hundred eggs at the same time. The lifespan of a field cricket is about 4 months. Insects living in the house eat leftover food, catch cockroaches and small insects.

House cricket

The most common species is the house cricket . It has more than 2000 varieties. The body length of an adult is about 2−2.5 cm, dense, brown or gray-brown in color. The elytra are short, the wings protrude from under them in the form of folded cords. Raising their elytra, the crickets very quickly rub them against each other, emitting a musical trill. They have three pairs of legs. The hind ones are the most powerful, with their help the insect makes long jumps.

Crickets do not live long; on average, adults age and die at 2 months of age. To reach maturity, they need to survive 10 moults over 1-1.5 months. It all depends on the ambient temperature. The total is 3-4 months of life. Wild tropical species can live for about six months. Wild field species live the longest, about a year, and this is due to the fact that they have to hibernate.

Why do they come

Before figuring out how to get rid of crickets in your home, you need to find out what attracts them to your home.
In summer they mainly live in green areas near houses, and in autumn they migrate to basements and apartments. Noisy insects are attracted to the following conditions:

• unsanitary conditions (abundance of food debris, garbage);
• warmth and light (especially lighting in the evenings);
• smell (food waste begins to rot, a specific aroma attracts insects that love to feast on spoiled food);
• moisture (high humidity creates comfortable conditions for insects to reproduce).

It is very difficult for a person to detect a bug by its chirping. Insects have well-developed hearing, and they immediately fall silent when they sense approaching steps.

Expert opinion

Mityuk Stefania Bogdanovna

Crickets require high humidity conditions to thrive. Therefore, these insects cannot be found in dry areas.

Ways to fight

Having decided to get rid of a cricket in the house, some people stop sleeping at night, trying to track down the warbler, since during daylight hours it hides reliably. This is the most exhausting and ineffective way. The insect senses the slightest vibration in the air well and hides with lightning speed.

There are quite a few other more effective methods of dealing with crickets if they appear in an apartment.

Folk remedies

Even in the old days, when, according to all signs, the cricket was a symbol of domestic well-being, people expelled them from their homes. Many folk remedies still help today. Insects cannot tolerate certain odors. Therefore you can:

• Spray baseboards, floors under kitchen cabinets and refrigerators, and window frames with wormwood infusion. It is prepared from 1 liter of water and 2 tbsp. l. herbs. After boiling for 5 minutes, leave to infuse for 2 hours and filter. The remedy for fighting crickets is ready.
• Pyrethrum, which is popularly called Caucasian chamomile, popovnik, also helps well. Pyrethrum powder is sold in hardware stores. You need to scatter it in the places where the house cricket is supposed to live, and you won’t need any other means to get rid of it.
• The insect cannot stand the stench of burnt sealing wax. It is enough to set it on fire so that the night musician, smelling the smoke, immediately leaves his shelter and inhospitable house.

Caucasian chamomile

Cats are excellent cricket catchers. Neither darkness nor the keen hearing of insects can save you from these mustachioed predators.

Traps

Traps, as a way to catch crickets, are effective when there are only a small number of crickets in the house. You can either buy them or prepare them yourself from available products.

• This option is based on luring an insect. Pour some molasses into a plate and add water. Crickets cannot resist the alluring smell of molasses and jump into a container from which they can no longer get out. It is advisable to change the trap every evening. When the next morning there is not a single night musician on the plate, we can assume that the problem is solved.
• A kind of “trap hole” is made from two containers of different sizes. A bait of milk, sugar and corn flakes is placed in the lower, wider container. Medical alcohol is poured into the top. The treat will attract insects and, while jumping, they will involuntarily fall under the alcohol vapor, which is harmful to them.
• Regular adhesive tape, which is used to kill flies, will also help get rid of crickets in your apartment. It is laid out in places where night concertgoers are supposed to be hiding.

Chemical substances

When there are too many crickets in the house, and traps and traditional methods bring only a temporary effect, you can quickly get rid of the insects using pesticides. Most home parasite treatments sold in hardware stores will also kill these noisy creatures. It is most convenient to use sprays, since it is possible to spray them exactly in those places where adult individuals are most likely hiding for the day. Aerosols such as Reid, Tornado, Dichlorvos and Doctor Claus .

When processing a room, we must not forget about safety measures; it is necessary to use PPE.

To finally remove the crickets after 20–40 days, the apartment needs to be sprayed again, since offspring could have hatched during this time.

Preventive measures

Before removing insects again and again every fall, you should make sure that they cannot enter the house.

First of all, it is necessary to seal all the cracks and cracks not only in the floor, but also near the pipelines.

Windows, especially starting from September, should not be left open without mosquito nets. The same goes for the ventilation holes.

Insects smell food from afar, so unwashed dishes and a bucket of food waste left in the kitchen overnight serve as a kind of invitation to crickets.

These individuals are also attracted to bright light in the dark. Therefore, in the evening it is better to use thick curtains and use lamps in the yard that give a soft yellow light.

Crickets love to hide in tall grass, so keeping lawns mowed at the right time will deprive them of this opportunity.

What harm do they do?

Crickets are omnivorous and cause enormous damage to garden plants.
In addition to the remains of human food, worms and small insects, the bugs eat leaves and root stems of plants.

They cause the most damage:

• strawberries;
• potatoes;
• corn;
• legumes;
• tobacco;

• wheat;
• rye;
• beans;
• beets;

• carrots;
• onion;
• tomatoes;
• cabbage

In terms of damage, a cricket invasion can be compared to its closest relative, the locust. These insects can leave a gardener without any hope for a harvest in a very short time.

In Asian and African countries, crickets are bred specially. These insects are eaten (their bodies are rich in calcium and protein). They even make chips from them.

How to get rid of insects

During active reproduction, in the presence of comfortable conditions, insects can completely destroy all the hosts’ crops. To find out how to get rid of crickets in your garden or home, study all the methods of control.

Chemicals

There are many effective means that completely destroy pests, both adults and larvae and eggs:

Aerosols act on bugs through direct contact. Insecticides are more effective in use; they penetrate the insect’s body through the chitinous membrane and paralyze the nervous system, destroying pests.

When deciding how to get rid of crickets in a house or apartment using chemicals, take into account their toxicity. When working with them, use personal protective equipment (masks, gloves and protective clothing).

Traditional methods

Chemicals pose a danger to households and pets, so it is better to use more acceptable products.

Our ancestors knew many ways to help get rid of pests:

Wormwood decoction

For room treatment

Dry and chop the leaves and stems of the plant. Stir 2 tbsp in a liter of water. herbal mass, bring to a boil and cook for 4-5 minutes. Leave to infuse for 1.5-2 hours. Strain the broth and fill a spray bottle with it. Treat baseboards, window frames, all kinds of cracks and trims.

For garden treatment

Fill the bucket completely with wormwood and fill it with water. Bring to a boil, strain and dilute with water in a 1x4 ratio. The resulting composition is used to treat the soil on the site, especially carefully watering the habitats of crickets.

Sealing wax

This method is effective when treating enclosed spaces. Sealing wax is lit near the cracks. Crickets cannot stand the smell of resin and leave their homes.

Pepper

Use red hot pepper powder, which is sprinkled on the soil between the beds. Pepper can be mixed with tobacco dust and bird droppings.

Pyrethrum (a type of chamomile)

The plants are dried and crushed. Use dry. Plant powder is scattered in areas where insects may live. Can also be used in the garden.

Traps

• Crickets love sweets, so you can lure insects with molasses . It is poured into a deep dish (bowl). Insects climb there and stay, the sweet mass prevents them from jumping out of the trap. An effective method for getting rid of crickets in the garden is using plastic film. It is better to use such baits in the spring or in cool weather. Crumpled pieces of polyethylene are laid out in the garden. In search of warmth, insects climb there and hide in the folds.
• You can also use homemade draft beer . A three-liter jar is filled 1/4 full with the drink. The bottle is buried in the garden up to the neck. The bugs, attracted by the sweet smell, fall into the bottle and drown in the beer. Industrial insect traps will also be effective. For example, Delicia box baits. They come in granular and gel types. Traps are placed between the beds and crickets are caught.
• Try building a two-level bait . A saucer with a mixture of milk and sweet corn flakes is placed in the lower compartment. And the upper compartment is filled with pure alcohol. Crickets will come to the sweet smell and die from alcohol fumes. You can hang sticky tape flytraps around your house. The sweet sticky composition attracts bugs.

Natural Helpers

Birds that feast on these insects become selfless and active helpers in the fight against crickets. Starlings and tits are especially fond of bugs. To attract them, install feeders in the garden and replenish their contents regularly. Hedgehogs and grass snakes actively hunt for crickets.

To attract hedgehogs to your garden, use the following techniques:

1. Plant bushes of lilac, rose hips, elderberry, spirea or deutia around the perimeter of the site. Hedgehogs willingly settle in such bushes.
2. Make hedgehog shelters. They can be bought ready-made or made from baskets, boards, or any available materials. But make sure that the house has a long, narrow opening.
3. Feed, especially in the fall, so that the hedgehog can settle down for winter hibernation. Dry food for dogs or cats is suitable as a treat. They love hedgehogs and milk.

Chemicals for getting rid of crickets

You can get rid of crickets in your apartment using chemicals. This method is recommended in case of active reproduction of insects or when there are a large number of them. In pest control, aerosol products based on dichlorvos (Varan, Neo, etc.) are effective. When working with them, you should observe safety rules and strictly follow the recommended algorithm of actions:

1. Clean the area where the treatment will be carried out - remove children and pets, hide food, remove houseplants.
2. Wear rubber gloves, goggles and a respirator.
3. Close the windows and doors in the room tightly.
4. Disinfest the room by spraying the product on surfaces where insects appear.
5. After treatment, close the room and leave for a couple of hours. After the time specified in the instructions, open all windows and doors to ventilate the room.
6. Vacuum the room well and do a wet cleaning.
7. After 40-60 days (the exact time is indicated on the packaging), re-treat to destroy individuals emerging from the egg clutch.

Provided that baiting is carried out correctly, chemical treatment will destroy adult individuals and newly emerging bugs

Useful tips

Knowing the peculiarities of a cricket’s life, the question of how to get rid of them in a garden or apartment can be easily resolved. It will help to expel the bugs by reducing favorable conditions for their reproduction to zero.

Necessary:

• close all water sources, do not leave wet places, fix dripping taps;
• get a cat or dog, four-legged animals will eagerly hunt for insects and destroy their nests;

• use a powerful vacuum cleaner to go through all the cracks, pulling out the eggs of crickets and their larvae;
• close all the cracks in the house.

If you cannot cope with the bugs on your own, invite specialist disinfectors. SES workers will quickly free you from pests.

As for the garden area, it should also be kept clean. After harvesting, do not leave unnecessary objects on the ground - building materials, film, fallen leaves and other debris. When digging up your garden, take out all the excess – weeds and plant debris.

Reasons for the appearance of crickets in the house

Causes of small pests:

1. Light in the house . Like all insects, crickets love light, especially at night. That's why they get closer to home.
2. The insect may be attracted by the smell of garbage . Garbage that sits for a long time begins to rot. The smell is so strong that the insect senses it from afar.
3. Increased humidity in the house . In hot weather, the cricket seeks a moist environment.
4. Open doors and windows in the house . With the door and windows open, any type of insect from small to large can appear.

Preventive measures

How do you fight crickets?

ChemicalFolk

In the question of how to get rid of crickets in the garden, house and apartment, preventive measures become important. They minimize the risk of pests returning.

Follow these guidelines:

• equip windows with mosquito nets;
• carefully seal all cracks and crevices;
• empty the trash can in a timely manner and do not leave any leftover food behind;
• do not allow wet areas to appear in the house;
• regularly clean basements and attics of excess debris;

• Adjust the lighting in the yard and do not use too powerful lamps;
• install fine-mesh grilles on ventilation systems;
• locate compost heaps away from residential buildings and gardens;
• In the evening, close the windows with blinds to avoid attracting insects.

Expert opinion

Mityuk Stefania Bogdanovna

Crickets do not like the smell of vinegar, lavender and wormwood. Use plants and spray vinegar on any areas that might attract insects.

If you follow simple recommendations and keep your dacha and garden clean, you don’t have to worry about an invasion of crickets. But if the bugs have managed to settle in your garden or home, get rid of them immediately, using all our advice.