Duct tape one way to help control crickets

You can try to reduce the entry points by making sure all the doors to the outside have tight weather-stripping especially at the thresholds. Attaching a sweep like weatherstrip piece to outside lower stile of sliding door panels might help but again, don't count on it. Check the basement window perimeters and caulk as needed.

The garage is a losing battle. The door stays open while cars and people come and go and so do crickets. Even closed, garage doors are notoriously loose fitting. Garages tend to be the repositories of all manner of stuff such as lawn equipment, athletic gear, boat stuff, grilles, bicycles etc, providing dozens of little nooks and crannies where crickets can hide. They love garbage cans.

Crickets love dark corners and dank recesses so you'll find them in outside stairwells to basements and in garages. They get into the house through tiny openings under doors and around windows and once in the house they go looking for something to drink, which is why you'll frequently find them in the basement near the sump pit. I know there are different types of crickets that get into houses but they are all the same to me.

Crickets sense the change of season and seek shelter to wait out the winter. Mice too, so watch for signs of them. Your house looks like a good spot to hide out so here they come.

Outside perimeter spraying with some of the available broad spectrum insecticides, such as products by Ortho, may reduce the numbers of crickets and other household pests such as ants but in the long run we all know it won't eliminate them.

I generally take a tolerant view of most living things until they take up residence in the house with me, uninvited. The cricket strain I dislike the most are the ones that become ensconced in a corner or under a couch and start chirping for a mate while I'm trying to sleep. All those stories about them being good luck aside I can't sleep until I've silenced the offender and sometimes the search is maddeningly long. I've been told that if they can't find a moisture source they eventually dry out and die inside the house. I can't wait that long.

Like you, the nontoxic long-term solution that I've come to employ is setting out those sticky traps frequently sold for mice control. Crickets jump onto them and that's their last leap. I have taken to using our old stand-by - duct tape - in strips about eight inches long placed glue side up in room corners and behind furniture and it seems to work as well as the sticky traps and a whole lot cheaper.

I take about three or four eight inch long strips of duct tape and attach one to another overlapping about a 1/4 inch to make a piece about 8-by-8 square and I get a ton of crickets. Just a single strip of duct tape alone won't get many crickets but you'll get some. Make a wider field for them to cross. The one I set out last week now has 12 on it.

The old mouse counting formula - if you can see one then you have 20 - holds even more true with crickets. I've been told that a healthy cat can significantly reduce cricket populations in the house. When you use the sticky traps or duct tape strips, hide them behind things where the kids, cat or dog can't get to them.

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crickets - 2009-10-17 03:17:44

: Schnowzer, my katz, is intrepid in controling wayward crickets. More homes need one of these; plus, they purr and like to be stroked.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

b. - lynnbrook, md - Karma: Neutral

going green - 2009-09-27 15:49:06

Since when does 'going green' have anything to do with being humane? I'm all for trying to find cleaner ways to produce energy, etc. Also, the duct tape and sticky traps mentioned are green especially compared to insecticides.

Matt B. - Deale, MD - Karma: Excellent

? - 2009-09-26 15:09:18

"yes crickets are a nuisance but I am positive they are here for a reason..."

Snakes and Buzzards are here for a reason too but I don't want them in my house either.

Emmaline Giles - West River, MD - Karma: Terrible

Duct tape and crickets - 2009-09-26 12:03:43

I just had to mention that I find it odd that right after reading an article about Annapolis going "green" I read an article that has someone trying to find ways to kill crickets with either traps or even less humane ways such as duct tape... yes crickets are a nuisance but I am positive they are here for a reason...

Ann S. - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

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