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crickets in my basement
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Anonymous
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Now that the weather is warming up, I'm expecting these horrible jumping crickets to return to my Georgetown finished basement where my children play every day. They are huge, and they lay in waiting, ready to jump TOWARDS us when we surprise them. They are the most disgusting things I've ever seen - and I'm usually not worried too much about bugs of any sort. These crickets can jump about four feet at a time.
I talked to an exterminator last year, but ultimately I didn't want the chemicals in my house with a young baby and a toddler. He also told me that sprays aren't very effective for the long term. I was wondering if anyone has any advice. My kids are older this year, and my daughter is going to freak out if she sees them. (I live in G'town.) Thank you! |
Anonymous
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I cut off all sources to water. I used duct tape and window screen and sealed off the drain in the floor, and around the sump pump. For the few scragglers, I used sticky traps. Don't be surprised by other things on the traps though. Last year I caught a snake that we figure came in the front door while I was bringing in costco things.
I had Humane Wildlife Solutions come out and see me. They gave me the idea of cutting off the water supply for the crickets. They were against the sticky traps though, especially since ultimately, it was responsible for the death of the snake hatchling. |
Anonymous
| We had the same problem in our Arlington basement for years - huge crickets! Based on Internet research, I bought a dehumidifier (about $150 on Lowe's website). Problem solved! I could not believe it worked so well. |
Anonymous
| I have crickets in my basement too. When you say cut off water supply, do you mean taping up the two sinks and closing the toilet cover? What else? |
Anonymous
Wow, what size did you buy for a basement? Is it one that stays on all the time? |
Anonymous
OP here. I have the same questions. I'm going to buy a dehumidifier, but should I also close off the sink, toilet, and shower drain? Also, has anyone had any success with an exterminator? Thanks! |
Anonymous
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I think those are the spider crickets - brown with long legs connected to a round body. Totally gross I agree.
We just bought a Kenmore dehumidifier from Sears and set put the dial to the "max" for dryness and "medium" for fan speed. Double sided tape around the baseboard areas works well...until there are like 8 of them on there and you have to shout to DH to remove the tape with the gross crickets on it. |
Anonymous
| Glue traps work wonders, although someone has to be brave enough to pick them up and throw them out. (When it comes to camel crickets, I don't feel so humane.) |
Anonymous
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They were talking about these bugs yesterday afternoon on NPR. They called them "camel crickets" or "cave crickets". The entomologist said that they're attracted to dark, damp places, which is why we find them in basements. And, they can jump the equivalent of if a human was able to jump 60 feet.
He said that they come into our homes in May when they're fairly small, through cracks in the wall or whatever. Then, they grow.... and grow. He also recommended the sticky traps to get rid of them, or he said to vacuum them up and take them outside. We had them in our previous first-floor apartment in Falls Church. Ick. |
Anonymous
| Oh god we had these TERRIBLY in our home in Parkwood/Kensington. Both kinds - the brown Camel and the black ones. The dehumidifier helped. It ran constantly and we changed it at least twice a day. If we had stayed in that house longer, we would have used one that never turned off (has a hose or something...) |
Anonymous
| We had this problem--tons of them and they started making their way up to the living room! My husband walked around the house and looked for any holes that they were coming in from. Lo and behold, right behind a bush was a big hole (the size of an orange). We never knew it was there (older house). He sealed it up and no more crickets. |
Meconbear
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Our cat eats all of them. All that's left are the legs. 
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Anonymous
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The only thing my DH is scared of! They absolutely freak him out. I catch them and release outside. I"m trying to teach my kids not to be scared of bugs. Really, other than jump high, what's so scary about them?
We don't get many though - perhaps a handful a season. If we were over-run, maybe I wouldn't be so nice. |
Anonymous
They lived (thrived) in the drain in our basement floor. One night I was stepping over it to go and do laundry, and hundreds of crickets (well maybe 50-60) jumped out at me, and slammed into my legs. I would have screamed, but I had just gotten the kids to sleep. I used duct tape and screen to seal it off. The drain still works perfectly, but the crickets no longer live there. I did the same thing with the sump pump. I always keep the lid closed on the toilet for sanitary reasons, and didn't tape off the taps or sink drains. I would have screened and taped off the shower drain though, if we had one. When Humane Wildlife Solutions came out, they inspected the basement and looked for places where the critters could have been coming in. Especially since we had that newly hatched black rat snake stuck to a sticky trap. We had sealed the basement off really well, and used a ton of the expanding foam, so there was no way the crickets were coming from the outside. We figured that the snake must have come in a day or two before when I was bringing in Costco stuff, because I just left the front door open. The snake was probably sunning on our southern facing front porch, and decided to see what was inside. We also figure that it followed a cricket to the sticky trap. We had Terminix come in before the humane people, and they left the sticky traps, and sprayed, but it hadn't really done much for the cricket population. Cutting off their breeding ground, and water supply, is what really seemed to do the trick. |
Anonymous
They will bite if the kids catch them. |