Certain crickets invade homes and become a pest by their presence. Homeowners complain of their monotonous chirping, which can be annoying especially at night when trying to get some sleep. An unmistakable chirp, produced when the cricket rubs a hardened area on the upper side of its wing against a thickened vein near the base of the forewing.

Indoors, some crickets can feed on a wide variety of fabrics, foods and paper products. Cotton, linen, wool, rayon, nylon, silk and furs are susceptible, along with soiled fabrics, sizing from wallpaper, glue from bookbinding’s, fruit, vegetables, meat and even other crickets.

The word “cricket” comes from a French word, criquer, and meaning ‘little creeker.’ The Dutch call the insect a krekel, while in China it is known as kwo kwo. Crickets get their name from the high-pitched sound or “chirp” produced when the male rubs his front wings together to attract a female. Listening to their song can identify different kinds of crickets. The cricket’s tympanic organs can vibrate with up to 20,000 cycles per second, well beyond the sensitivity of human ears. The temperature can be determined by counting the number of times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds and adding 40 to the number.

House Cricket

House Crickets normally live outdoors especially in garbage dumps, preferring warm weather, but will move indoors when it gets colder in late summer. Over wintering occurs outdoors in the egg stage. Each female can lay an average of 728 eggs with the immature (nymphs) resembling the adults except being wingless. Nymphs molt seven to eight times and reach adulthood in about 60 days. Also, these crickets can live indoors, completing their life cycle with eggs laid in cracks, crevices and other dark areas such as behind baseboards.

Adults are attracted to lights, and become active at night (hide during the day) to crawl, jump or fly sometimes in countless numbers up the sides of houses, entering openings of even second and third story windows and roof skylights. The continued, monotonous “chirp” is loud and distracting, resulting in lost sleep. They will feed on silk, woolens, nylon, rayon and wood. They are found in fields, pastures, lawns, and in woods.