3 Ways Crickets Are Sneaking Into Your House and How to Get Rid of Them Overnight

No one wants crickets invading your home, but they sure do love to sneak in when the weather cools down. If you are hearing their nighttime squeaks from your garage or basement, you might have a cricket problem on your hands.

Learn three ways different types of crickets are sneaking into your home and how to get rid of them without ruining your luck.

What Attracts Crickets to Your House?

Crickets are opportunistic pests and will head to a spot that makes finding food and shelter straightforward.

During hot weather, they are usually joyful to stay outdoors. But when the weather turns cooler, crickets are looking for a hot place to nest.

Here’s how they get inside:

• Most crickets sneak in through cracks and gaps in door and window seals.
• Dryer vents and plumbing and wiring conduits are highways inside for crickets.
• Crickets are attracted to humid locations around leaky pipes and water heaters.
• They love a hot, damp room, like your laundry room, basement, and garage.

Types of Crickets You Might Find in Your Home

There are three common home-invading crickets:

• House cricket: A delicate, yellowish-brown insect about 3/4 to 7/8 inches long with three obscure bands on its head. They are most often found in hot areas around appliances or heating vents.
• Field cricket: A resilient black insect around 1/2 to 1.25 inches long. It is usually found in basements, garages, and lower floors of a home. 
• Camel or cave cricket: The humped appearance gives the camel cricket its name. It has extremely long antennae and rear legs and reaches 1/2 to 1.25 inches long. The cricket can range from delicate tan to obscure brown. They are only seen in obscure, humid locations like damp basements and crawl spaces. 

How to Get Rid of Crickets in Your Home

Once you have a cricket problem, there are several steps you can take to get rid of the insects.

• One of the easiest ways to remove a cricket is to suction it away with a vacuum.
• You can also employ commercial sticky traps to capture them or make your own sticky molasses trap. Mix three tablespoons of molasses with two cups of water in a glass jar. The crickets will be lured in by the sweet odor, jump in the jar, and drown.

How to Keep Crickets from Coming Back

To prevent a reinfestation, you should remedy how the crickets first got inside.

• Adjust and repair doors and windows that do not close tightly. Fill gaps with caulk or weather-stripping.
• Apply insulating foam around dryer vents and seal areas where plumbing and electrical conduits enter from outside.
• Screen crawl space vents and openings.
• Repair leaky plumbing and appliances.
• Keep the area around the foundation of your home spotless and free of piles of leaves, debris, or firewood where crickets like to hide.
• Some crickets like, house and field varieties, are attracted to delicate. Close shades or drapes at night and limit the employ of outside house lights during months when crickets are lively. Use non-attracting yellow bug bulbs for porch delicate fixtures.
• Keep your lawn mowed and groundcovers clipped to limit the number of places crickets have to hide.

When to Call a Pro

If the infestation is enormous and you’ve done your best to limit cricket entrance points, home remedies to get rid of the crickets may not be enough. A licensed pest control operator will know what targeted insecticides are best to address the problem.