Don’t Let Crickets Take Over Your Basement In Montgomery Village, MD
If you’re lucky enough to live in Montgomery Village then you’re located right outside Gaithersburg city limits and can enjoy the massive, magnificent Seneca Creek State Park. There are so many things to do there, from hiking to boating to cycling to fishing and even horseback riding if you have a touch of John Wayne in you. Made up of over 6300 acres of nature, you can expect to see all kinds of wildlife and insects. One particular insect that’s great in the woods but not so much indoors, is the cricket.
Crickets are considered more of an outdoor insect but there are times they show up inside your home, especially in your basement. Why does this happen? Well, turns out they’re simply looking for a snack.
Most cricket species, indoors or outdoors, are omnivorous. They will eat almost any organic material, usually preferring items derived from plants. Depending on what kind your basement is harboring, the crickets may consume dried leaves blown in from outdoors; potted plants brought inside to overwinter; natural-fiber clothing and stored rugs, or synthetic fabrics, especially if they are soiled; rubber and leather goods; cardboard boxes; and other insects, dead or alive. Read more at NY Times…
So just like you may take a trip to your local fast food restaurant for something to eat, crickets hop into your house, usually settling in your basement, to find sustenance. This isn’t what you had planned when storing your plants or summer clothes downstairs, but it explains why crickets move in.
So how do we get rid of crickets? Some kids in San Antonio came up with a way that involves another C-lettered creature. The chicken!
“Van Raub Elementary School in Boerne has the best weapon for combating the cricket apocalypse yet: chickens. Seven chickens, all hens, were incubated and hatched… last school year, and there are plans to hatch more in the future.” Read more at Wide Open Pets…
Talk about using what you’ve got to fix a pest problem! These fourth-grade farmers were already rearing free-range chicken and noticed they were eating up crickets and other insects outside, bringing a cricket conundrum under control.
But unless you’re planning on keeping chicken in your basement, you may want more indoor-appropriate ways of getting rid of crickets. Well, Barbara Badder, a green thumb gardening author, has some tips to keep these critters at bay.
Tips to Get Rid of Crickets
- Recruit a child to catch the crickets, like my Grandpa did. The kids think this is fun. Have them put them in a jar. If they want to have them for pets for awhile, let them. Just be sure they don’t let the crickets loose.
- You can use boric acid. This is a good solution unless you have small children or pets.
- Get a cat. Cats love to catch crickets.
- Pet frogs and toads will eat the crickets, but I’d think they would be more bother than the crickets themselves.
- There is a product called Orange Guard that is made from plant extract. It is approved by the EPA and has safe ingredients.
- Try vacuuming the crickets. The vacuum cleaner will probably kill the insects, but check after you’ve finished. If they are alive, you may want to kill them. If you are really humane, place them a long way away from the house. I wouldn’t feel sorry for the crickets though, because they are cannibals and will eat each other if they are hungry enough. They will also eat other crickets that aren’t as strong as they are.
- Set out a jar with molasses in it. The crickets jump in and can’t get back out.
- Sticky paper will catch the crickets.
So you have loads of options, from re-purposing them into pets to vacuuming them up to using boric acid. Consider your killer instincts and whether or not you have kids before going one way or the other.
If you have a cricket infestation or just want the chirping sounds to stop pronto, call the cricket-fighting team at Backyard Bug Patrol. We’re just a click and call away.