Crickets can be very annoying because of their chirping sound. Male crickets produce high pitched sound that is very hard to tolerate apart from that they can cause damage to clothes, furniture, papers, paintings etc. In case of severe infestation it becomes uncontrollable and are very difficult to get rid of. So, it’s very important to get rid of crickets and stop the infestation from happening in the first place. After doing proper research who created the 19 quick ways to get rid of crickets.
So, what are these 19 quick ways to get rid of crickets? These 19 ways are the most effective and the quickest way to get rid of crickets. So, here are the 19 ways:
- Vacuum Cleaner
- Diatomaceous Earth
- Pesticides
- Allow Predators
- Catch Them
- Use Hot Water
- Turn Off Lights
- Use Sticky Trap
- Get Rid Of Their Nest
- Get Rid Of Clusters
- Use Caulking
- Soapy Water Mixture
- Use Bleaching Powder
- Use Molasses
- Bug Spray
- Keep Pets
- Use Pepper Spray
- Get Rid Of Moisture
- Call An Exterminator
Read this article to know them in details and use them effectively.
1. Vacuum Cleaner
Vacuum cleaner is a very easy remedy to get rid of crickets. Wherever you see crickets just simply vacuum them and that will do the job. Once inside the vacuum crickets will not be able to get out and die.
2. Diatomaceous Earth
It works wonders in getting rid of cricket. It dries them inside out and kills them. Diatomaceous earth is basically algae that puncture pests’ body. It is soft in human hands but it has razor sharp edges that kills pests but it doesn’t harm human at all. It’s safe to use and doesn’t have any side effects. Just wear a mask while applying it.
3. Pesticides
Pesticides also work really well to get rid of them. Just spray pesticides in all those places where you see infestation. While applying pesticide always remember to wear a mask. If you’re applying it inside your house then after applying you should leave the room and come back after 45 minutes. Then open windows to get rid of the pesticides.
4. Allow Predators
Predators like lizards, spiders, frogs, mantis can kill crickets and can keep your house, garden and farm crickets free. Having some of these predators in your house, garden and farm are helpful. As a matter of fact if there is more cricket predators then automatically crickets number gets decreased.
They avoid that place altogether and if previously there were more crickets in that area then those crickets starts fleeing away from that area. It proves the more cricket predators you have in your area the better it is. You can maintain a healthy balance of crickets predators near your house, in your garden or farm and that will do wonder in getting rid of crickets and also in preventing them.
If you can have healthy amount of predators like frog, rats, mantis, ground beetles etc then that will just be awesome. Although keep in mind their number should be moderate and you need to check occasionally on their number whether it is increasing too much or if these predators are causing any harm or not.
These checking alone will keep their number in check and if you find their number increasing then you can take necessary steps to get rid of excessive numbers and bring it back to normal.
5. Catch Them
You can catch them using a net and then throw them away. Use a net that have very tiny holes because big holes will allow them to escape and tiny hole will stop their escape. Once you’ve caught enough crickets just throw them away from your house. It’s laborious but cost effective technique.
6. Use Hot Water
Just boil water and whenever you see crickets just throw it directly over them and it will kill them instantly however be careful that the boiling water shouldn’t touch your body as it will burn your skin. The more crickets there is the more effective these solution will be.
The quantity of water depends upon how many crickets are infesting in a particular area. On average take a bowl of water and use it if there is only 15-25 crickets. It is recommended to not use plastic sprayer as the boiling water can damage plastic products.
7. Turn Off Lights
One way that is really effective against crickets are turning off lights on those areas where you see crickets. In order to drive crickets away from your house all you have to do is turn of your room light and turn of external light that will drive them away from your house and once they are out immediately close the windows and keep it closed till morning. Next time on wards keep windows closed and they won’t be able to enter your house and then you can turn on your rooms lights.
8. Use Sticky Trap
Sticky trap also works really well against crickets just buy and put some sticky trap in all those places where you see crickets and that will get rid of the infestation. Crickets will get trapped in the glue of the sticky trap and won’t be able to get out. Then in the morning just throw that sticky trap away.
9. Get Rid Of Their Nest
If you want to have a long term relief from crickets infestation then you have get rid of their nest. This requires hard work but if you do it correctly you will feel the difference.
Crickets usually hide in cracks and crevices of your house. So, when you see them over there use a pesticides to get rid of them
Keep your house cluster free as crickets like to hide in those places. Throw trash away, keep your dustbin clean at all times. This is to ensure that no crickets can hide inside your house.
Crickets make their nest in long bushes and shrubs. Get them trimmed to get rid of their nest and stop the growth of crickets. You can also spray insecticides in your garden to get rid of the remaining crickets.
10. Get Rid Of Clusters
Crickets love clusters and clusters can increase cricket infestation so in order to avoid that you should get rid of any unwanted cluster like unwanted stored paper, card board pieces, boxes etc. Crickets can hide inside these clusters and it will be difficult to get rid of them if they do so. Pesticides won’t be able to properly penetrate through this cluster as result their infestation may not decrease to the desired level. Thus it’s important to get rid of clusters if you want to get rid of crickets.
11. Use Caulking
If you have cracks and crevices in your house then crickets can enter from that area. So, you need to seal them and the best way to seal them is by using caulking. Caulking can lasts up to 5 years so you can remain stress free once it has been applied. Crickets will not be able to enter from those areas once it is caulked.
12. Soapy Water Mixture
You can make a soapy water mixture and spray it directly over crickets to get rid of them. Just mix liquid soap or any soap with water, put it in a sprayer and spray it. Soapy water mixture will create irritation in crickets skin and crickets will go away from that area. This won’t kill them but will definitely keep them away. You can buy caulking products by clicking here.
13. Use Bleaching Powder
The strong smell from bleaching powder will repel crickets away totally. Wherever you see crickets just use bleaching powder. Crickets simply can’t tolerate the smell of bleaching powder. Bleaching powder also repels many other harmful pests. It’s a cheap but very effective remedy. Just use the bleaching powder around those areas where you see crickets and then let id stay there for 1 hour and then wash it away. This is very important for allowing bleaching powder to work against crickets. If you immediately wash it away it may not work properly. You need to do it often. It doesn’t kills them but definitely repels them.
14. Use Molasses
Crickets love molasses so using it as bait is really effective. You can make a very simple trap to capture and get rid of crickets.
- Just take a bowl and add molasses.
- Then pour water over it and fill half of the bowl.
- Place it around those places where you see most crickets and you’ll soon see crickets getting caught inside that trap and won’t be able to get out.
- You just need to throw it away when you see enough cricket has been trapped.
- You can also keep this trap overnight and in the morning change the trap if that catches crickets.
Make sure your dog or kids doesn’t consume that trap as it can be poisonous.
15. Bug Spray
Bug sprays really helps in killing crickets. It works against various kinds of pests. There are specific bug sprays and all insect killer bug sprays. You can go for the all insect killer bug spray as it will come handy in getting rid of crickets along with other pests also. Just spray it directly over crickets or in their nests to kill even more crickets. It will kill them immediately. A single spray may not get rid of all the crickets at once however whenever you see crickets immediately spray it to kill them that will eventually reduce their number.
16. Keep Pets
Pets like cat and dog will help you to get rid of crickets. Whenever your pets see crickets it will chase after it and will kill it. Along with that if you have a cricket predator in your house then crickets will get wary and will avoid your house.
17. Use Pepper spray
You can simply make a pepper spray to get rid of crickets. As you already know pepper are very strong and will easily get rid of crickets it is as effective as any chemical repellent.
- Just cut 4 chillies and put it in a sprayer and mix it with a little water.
- Mix it well
- Add soapy water over it to make it more effective
- Mix it well again
- And then spray it directly over crickets or over the plants where you see crickets infestation from your garden.
This mixture can also be used for big gardens as it is highly effective.
18. Get Rid Of Moisture
If your house or room has high humidity then it will attract crickets so, it’s very important to get rid of humidity. If you have air conditioner installed in your house then turn it on or you can buy dehumidifier that will reduce the humidity, purify the air and will give you clean air. You can automatically see crickets numbers decreasing once you do this.
19. Call An Exterminator
This is the final option if you don’t want to do it yourself then you can call an exterminator to do their job. They will use insecticides along with other chemicals to get rid of crickets and in case of severe infestation it is also advised to call an exterminator.
Damage Caused By Crickets
Crickets have a varied source of diet, they eat vegetables, fruits, leaves, other insects, if they are staying outside and can eat papers, fabrics, wood, leather, rubber etc and can cause serious damage to your household products. The best way to stop this from happening in the first place will be to get rid of crickets when they are outside your house.
Once they are in it becomes difficult to exterminate and can cause damages to various things in your house. They usually create holes in all those things that they feed on like your shoes, furniture, paintings etc are all on their diet.
Crickets are usually found on farm and can cause damage to crops creating holes in it. Infestation level varies. They can attack from small to large numbers but in case of severe infestation it is advised to do immediate treatment otherwise they can cause massive damages to crops leading to massive looses.
Common And Dangerous Crickets
You should know about some common types of crickets so that you’re not mistaking them with other insects.
Here are the common and dangerous crickets
Camel Cricket
As the name suggests these crickets have a hump like structure on their back and they like to stay in cool and moist places usually they are found under logs, wet leaves and stones however during summer or other seasons when they don’t get moist and cool places they enters house and can be found near refrigerator or on those places that are cool and moist and they can damage your garments and linens. They look like spiders but are actually crickets it goes by many names like spiders crickets etc. They don’t have poison but eats varieties of things which creates major problems.
Cave Crickets
These crickets also like to stay in moist, dark and cold places like hollow logs, caves etc. These crickets can also damage clothes and linen.
Sand Treader
Sand treader crickets are usually found in sands. In the day they stay under sand so that they won’t lose water. They can live in your house in basement if they are facing scarcity of food. Your house basement is a perfect choice for them because it is a cool and moist place where they can breed and grow their numbers that can lead to severe infestation.
Crickets can be brown, green, black and red in colour. They are omnivorous and can eat almost anything. Although they have wings they barely fly. They just jump from one place to another.
Some Info About Crickets That You Should Know
Crickets doesn’t have the ability to bite nor they contain poison. They can jump very high. They also doesn’t contain any disease that can harm humans the only drawback is that they damage various kinds of goods. If you have house plants then these crickets can damage them especially if there is serious infestation.
Another major problem that you can face if there is severe infestation of crickets in your house or garden is their sound. They can produce sharp sound that can destroy your sleep and can cause disturbances. Especially if they are making that sound in house it becomes intolerable. This is also one of the reason why you should get rid of crickets immediately and stop infestation form happening in the first place.
Most crickets lay eggs in moist soil. The female has long needle like organ to give birth. They can be small to medium sized. They are nocturnal insects and spends the day hiding in cracks and crevices of house, inside leaves etc. They have adopted jumping, camouflage and aggression as defense mechanism. However their defense is not strong enough and usually ends up becoming prey.
They make that loud chirping sound often called as the song of crickets to attract females and repel other males. The stronger the sound is the more dominant the male is. That’s why you’ll hear multiple crickets making sound one after another. This is just a competition to prove which is the strongest male in that region and that male gets most females.
They chirp at different rates depending upon their species.
You can locate from where these sound are coming and then you can use trap to get rid of crickets. Although these sound repels other male crickets but it attracts predators like frog, snakes etc. They can pinpoint their location because of that sound and that’s can catch them.
Conclusion
Crickets are harmless to human, they don’t carry any poison or diseases but they do severe damages to fruits, vegetables and clothes so it becomes very important to get rid of these crickets as soon as possible. Heavy infestation can cause major problems so it’s very important to stop that from happening in the first place. Follow the solutions mentioned in this article to get rid of crickets.
Welcome to my blog. I have been doing pest control for years since my house, garden and pets were always attacked by various kinds of pests and as a result I had to know proper pest control techniques that works. In this blog I share all the tips and tricks that I know and I hope you’ll find it helpful.