Crickets are primarily scared of vibrations, sudden movements, bright lights, and strong, spicy scents. Because they have a long list of natural predators—including birds, spiders, rodents, and lizards—they are hardwired to flee or freeze when sensing these threats.
Essential oils like peppermint and cedarwood have natural insect-repellent properties. Create a spray by diluting the oils in water and applying it to surfaces where crickets are active.
To quickly lure a cricket out of hiding, use a sweet or water-based trap, or drive it out using its need for moisture.
Below are a few tips on how to get rid of crickets:
While house crickets don't post a health risk to humans, they can cause damage to property, specifically clothing, carpets and areas covered in fabric.
Pest control experts universally consider bed bugs to be the absolute hardest bugs to get rid of. Because they reproduce quickly, are resistant to many standard pesticides, and can hide in microscopic crevices, eradicating them usually requires multi-stage professional heat treatments.
Cricket Eggs
Eggs are the first life stage of a cricket and take about two weeks to hatch. An adult cricket female can lay up to about 100 eggs per day and lay upwards of 3000 eggs in a lifetime. Outside, eggs are generally laid in plant stems. Indoors, crickets prefer to lay eggs in damp and humid areas.
A house cricket typically lives for 8 to 10 weeks from egg to adult, though they can sometimes survive up to 12 weeks or longer in warm, indoor environments. Given ideal conditions in your home (such as warmth, moisture, and available food), they can survive almost indefinitely.
Towns in the American West—such as Elko, Nevada, and Fillmore, Utah—often experience biblical-scale migrations of Mormon crickets. These flightless insects (which are actually katydids) are notorious for covering roads, homes, and crops, creating slick roads, and leaving behind a strong, unpleasant odor.
Crickets do not have stingers and cannot sting. While they do have mouthparts and can bite, it is incredibly rare. They are not aggressive and generally only nip if they feel directly threatened or are roughly handled.
Crickets are typically most active in late summer and early fall when temperatures are warm and mating season is in full swing. In colder regions, their activity decreases as winter approaches. However, in warmer climates, crickets can remain active year-round, particularly indoors or in protected outdoor spaces.
Male crickets make their signature chirping noise to attract a female mate, and while that singing may be sweet, it's not something you really want to hear inside your home. You're likely to find crickets hiding in cool, moist areas, such as under furniture, under appliances, or in dark corners of closets.
dead crickets: Live crickets are generally more effective due to their movement, which attracts fish. However, dead crickets can still be useful, particularly in fast-moving water where their scent disperses quickly.
To stop a cricket from chirping, immediately set up a simple beer trap or use a vacuum. Long-term, reduce indoor humidity, seal cracks in your foundation, and replace bright white exterior lights with yellow or motion-activated bulbs to deter these pests.
Crickets chirp non-stop because it is their primary way of finding a mate and defending their territory. Because male crickets are trying to out-sing one another, they keep going all night to ensure they are heard.
To effectively eliminate crickets, use a targeted residual insecticide like Ortho Home Defense around your home’s perimeter to block entry, and spray indoor-safe botanical sprays like Zevo Ant Multi-Insect to knock them out on contact.
When Are Crickets Most Active?
Bed bugs and German cockroaches are generally considered the hardest bug infestations to eradicate. Both reproduce rapidly, hide in microscopic crevices, and have developed high resistance to many common over-the-counter insecticides.
States with the driest, coldest, or highest-elevation climates generally have the fewest bugs. Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming are widely considered the best options. Their low humidity and lack of stagnant water prevent the swarms common in the rest of the country.
To quickly quiet crickets, seal entry points like door sweeps and window caulks. Reduce outdoor lights (which attract them) or switch to yellow bulbs. Sprinkle spices (cinnamon or cayenne) around the area, or use a White Noise Machine to easily mask the noise indoors.
Yes, female crickets do occasionally lay eggs in houses. While they prefer to lay eggs outdoors in soil or plant stems, a female cricket (especially the house cricket) will seek out damp, humid, and dark areas inside your home—such as wall voids, sink cabinets, and basements—to deposit her eggs.
Buckets work well because they have high walls that are unclimbable and mostly prevent escapes. If you're worried about your crickets jumping out, we recommend covering the top of the bucket with a mesh screen. It is imperative that you maintain good airflow inside the bucket, or the crickets can die.
Crickets chirp at night primarily as a mating call and to claim territory. Only male crickets chirp, creating the sound by rubbing their specialized wings together (a process called stridulation). They sing at night because it is generally safer from predators and the cooler, denser air helps their songs carry further.
A plastic cricket keeper or glass aquarium with a screen lid will do the trick. Otherwise, you'll need to melt or cut large holes into a plastic container and secure pieces of fine screen or mesh to cover those holes. Use a layer of vermiculite at the bottom of the holding enclosure to absorb excessive moisture.
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