It usually starts with a sound. Late at night, a steady chirp comes from somewhere in the kitchen, the closet or behind the couch in your Guttenberg home, and it stops the moment you get close. That's almost always a house cricket. One is an annoyance. Several can chew holes in your clothing and stored goods. Below, we'll explain why house crickets come inside, what they can damage and what to do about them. If you'd rather skip the hunt, our cricket control team can take care of it.
What House Crickets Look Like
House crickets are about three-quarters of an inch long and light yellowish-brown. The easiest way to recognize one is the three dark bands across the top of the head. They have long antennae, wings that lie flat over the back and strong hind legs for jumping. Females have a long, needle-like tube at the end of the abdomen for laying eggs. It looks like a stinger, but it isn't one.
Field crickets, which also wander indoors, are darker, usually black or dark brown. Camel crickets, the humpbacked ones in basements, have no wings and don't chirp at all.
Why House Crickets Come Inside
House crickets live outdoors in warm weather, in grass, garbage areas, cracks in pavement and along foundations. They come inside for a few simple reasons:
- Cooling temperatures. As nights get cooler in late summer and fall, crickets look for warmth, and heated buildings are an easy target.
- Lights. House crickets are strongly attracted to light. Porch lights, entry lights and bright windows pull them right up to your doors at night.
- Easy entry. Gaps under doors, worn weatherstripping, torn screens and cracks around windows and utility lines let them walk in.
- Food and shelter. Once inside, they find crumbs, pet food and warm hiding spots behind appliances, in closets and along baseboards.
Why They Chirp
Only adult males chirp. They make the sound by rubbing their wings together to attract females, and they do it mostly at night. Crickets go quiet when they sense vibration or movement nearby, which is why the sound seems to stop as soon as you get up to look. Walk slowly, pause often and listen for where it's loudest. Checking warm spots near the stove, refrigerator, water heater and baseboard heat usually turns one up.
Chirping also tells you something useful. If you hear it in several rooms, or night after night even after you've caught one, more than one cricket has made it inside. That's a sign the entry points are still open and worth checking before the population grows.
Can House Crickets Cause Damage?
House crickets don't bite people in any meaningful way and aren't known to spread disease. The bigger problem is what they chew. Indoors, they feed on a wide range of materials:
- Clothing and linens made of wool, silk, cotton and synthetic blends, especially when soiled with food or sweat
- Paper, cardboard and book bindings
- Crumbs, pet food and other food left out
A cricket or two won't do much. A group living in a closet or storage area can leave ragged holes in clothes and boxes. And of course, the nightly chirping is reason enough for most families to want them out.
What To Do About House Crickets
- Change your outdoor lighting. Turn off porch and entry lights when you don't need them, or switch to yellow bulbs that attract fewer insects. Close blinds at night so indoor light doesn't spill out.
- Seal doors and windows. Install door sweeps, replace worn weatherstripping and repair torn screens.
- Close foundation gaps. Caulk cracks and seal openings where pipes, cables and vents enter the building. Our home pest proofing service handles the spots that are easy to miss.
- Clean up near the walls. Keep trash cans, leaf piles and heavy mulch away from the foundation and entryways.
- Remove indoor food and clutter. Store pet food sealed, sweep up crumbs and keep clothes and linens off closet floors.
- Use sticky traps. Glue traps along baseboards and in closets catch crickets that are already inside and show where they're entering.
When To Call A Professional
If you're hearing crickets night after night, finding them in several rooms or seeing damage to clothing and stored items, it's time to bring in help. EcoFusion's NJ DEP-licensed technicians inspect for entry points, apply targeted treatments with EPA-registered eco-safe products and recommend changes that keep crickets from coming back. Same-day and next-day service is available.
House crickets are harmless to your health but hard on your sleep and your belongings. Dim the outdoor lights, seal the gaps and keep food and clutter in check, and most Guttenberg homeowners can stop the chirping before it becomes a habit. If it keeps going, EcoFusion Pest Control can find where they're getting in and shut it down.