Crickets

The tan house cricket (3/4" long) is found in warm, damp, dark places such as shrubs, grass, basements or crawl spaces. Active mostly at night, they will eat almost anything they can chew, and they usually enter a building from harborages outside.

Field crickets are black or brown and can range in size from 3/8-inch to over 1-inch in length. Crickets are often attracted in large numbers to outdoor lights, and they then enter through cracks in the buildings' exterior. Changing outdoor lighting to yellow "bug" lights(domes) or sodium vapor lamps(commercial buildings) attract fewer crickets.

Removing heavy vegetation and items on the ground next to the building eliminates potential cricket harborages. Sealing exterior cracks in the building excludes them from entering. When large numbers of crickets are present, exterior treatments by a professional are often warranted.