Why do I have crickets in my basement

Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
So, I've now lived in my new (well, built in 1987) for ~3 months now. In general I really like it. Deck out back, now complete with some simple deck furniture and a second-hand but functional grill, is great. I love reading outside near sunset. I also really like having the space to move someplace when the wife makes noise, or vice-versa.
But...
Lately I've been finding black crickets in my basement. Like 3-4 per day, mostly in my bathroom and storage area. Why? did some mamma cricket give birth to a brood? Are they crawling in from somewhere? Do they come in from where ever and for some reason migrate to the cooler basement? I'm getting sick of killing them. At least they're slow. And taste good. J/K.
 
Bozo

Bozo

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Feb 12, 2002
Messages
4,396
Location
Twilight Zone
Maybe the crickets like your cooking.

About twice a year I fumigate our house. You can buy 'fogging' kits anyplace that sell RAID, DeCon or other pest killers. This seems to keep bug problems under control.

Bozo :joker:
 
F

Fushigi

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
2,890
Location
Illinois, USA
We have spiders in our basement. They eat any insects that can somehow get in. Seems to work well enough except for having to clean out the spiderwebs once in a while.

We do get crickets in our garage. Thankfully we don't hear them inside the house.
 
Clocker

Clocker

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
3,554
Location
USA
Small numbers of small spiders (like Pholcus phalangioides) and ants are normal and you will never get rid of them completly. I have never heard of crickets in a basement though.

Fumigating is a good short-term solution but, if the crickets come back after you give it a go, I would talk to a pest control service to see if you can find out how they are getting in and what they are living on. There may be some holes or cracks that need filling or some food sources you will want to get rid of.

Do the crickets chirp at night? That would drive me freaking nuts! We get one in our garage once in a while but, like Fushigi, we can't hear'em in the house.
 
timwhit

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
Get a caulk gun and walk around the perimeter of your house filling anything that resembles a hole. If the hole is too big for caulk then get that expandable foam, I have seen it at Home Depot or Menards.
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
Oddly enough, they usually don't make noise inside the house. There is at least one in the laundry room that I can't find that was chirping away last night. We have crickets outside the house as well that I can hear inside. Maybe I can hear the one in the basement, but I can't tell if what I hear upstairs is coming from inside or outside. It really doesn't bother me, and after living in Minneapolis for years it's better than traffic noise. I also like the sounds of birds outside. The cricket thing bugs me (pun intended) mostly because they vaguely resemble cockroaches from a distance, which I associate with less than clean living quarters.
 
P5-133XL

P5-133XL

Xmas '97
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
3,173
Location
Salem, Or
As a kid, my room was in the basement and there were crickets. I rather liked them ...They will come in from outside. As long as they have food, water, and it is relatively cool, then they will thrive, but not normally breed.

If you don't want them, then there are Cricket control methods
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
P5-133XL said:
As a kid, my room was in the basement and there were crickets. I rather liked them ...They will come in from outside. As long as they have food, water, and it is relatively cool, then they will thrive, but not normally breed.

If you don't want them, then there are Cricket control methods
Click to expand...
GO GOPHERS!
Props to you for linking to my alma mater! Did you specifically search for crickets in Minnesota?
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
Field Crickets. Yup, that's what I've got. All males from what I can tell - the ones that make noise. I just went down stairs and killed two more. Interestingly, one of them was sitting about a foot away from bits of exoskeleton bits of another one, making me think that perhaps this cricket had just cannibalized one as they are known to do at times. That's one way of reducing cricket numbers, I guess.
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
And now, the crickets have water-front property: my basement flooded last night/early this AM. Nothing precious was damaged, but we'll have to replace at least a lot of the flooring downstairs.
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
Indeed, it was the rain. It seemed to have come in from at least 3 different spots in the basement, and a walk around the house during the rain did not reveal any significant problems.
 
Pradeep

Pradeep

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
3,845
Location
Runny glass
Where do your downspouts from your gutters end up? If they terminate close to the house and you have room get some extensions so the water flows out well away from the foundation.
 
Adcadet

Adcadet

Storage Freak
Joined
Jan 14, 2002
Messages
1,861
Location
44.8, -91.5
About 2 feet. Since this was the heaviest storm ever, at least in some places, I hope this never happens again. But I'll be looking for longer downspouts just to be safe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top