House Crickets
A Quick Look At House Crickets
House crickets are brown to gray in color. They are also called gray crickets, and their average size and easy reproductive habits have garnered them the top position as feeder and bate insects, aside from worms and night crawlers. The house cricket cannot fly; neither the female or the male, but both have fairly developed wings. They appreciate the warmer climates, upwards of 85 to 90 degrees, and therefore are the cricket most likely to be seen indoors at bakeries and kitchens. Unlike cockroaches, these creatures are “clean” and leave no trace of bacteria or disease where they tread. The only exception to this rule is when an infestation occurs, and the food sources that they are offered are tainted. Otherwise, the house cricket is considered as a noisy but not so pesky pest.
These crickets are sold in just about every size, custom matched to the needs of the consumer purchasing them. The adults will rarely break ¾ inch in length, and these larger house crickets usually go for fishing and for larger reptiles such as old turtles. From that large size all the way down to the baby size of about 1/5 inch, the house or gray cricket is much in demand and can be bred quite readily by anyone who knows what they need to do. In most cases, a female house cricket will lay a maximum of 100 eggs per season, depositing them in set of five to ten per day until they are all laid. This means that they will hatch in this same pattern, five to ten babies immerging per day until the cycle has finished.
This cricket is of European descent, and was imported to the North American continent sometime during the 18th century. He was thought to have been a product of the Middle East and Africa before it got comfortable in Europe and then, finally, made his escape to the Americas. He has a beautiful, shrill call which he sings out at night, much like the rest of his family does. His call is made from the rubbing of his wings together and against his back, and he has three distinct songs which he offers at the appropriate times.
If you need help removing house crickets from your home, you probably don’t need to panic. A simple over the counter pesticide fogger may just do the trick if you feel that you can’t remove them by hand or without the use of poisons. They tend not to do too much damage, though fabrics and wall paper treatments may be the food of choice for trapped and hungry crickets. At times, the noise is far too much to bear on a nightly basis.