How to find and remove a cricket that has appeared in the house?

As a popular saying goes, if a cricket appears in a house, it promises happiness and prosperity for the owners. Only people who have this “happiness” for some reason are looking for a way to quickly get rid of it. It is quite possible to cope with this scourge.

Let's get acquainted - house cricket

The homeland of the house cricket is the semi-deserts and deserts of Central Asia, North Africa and the warm regions of the Far East. Gradually, this insect spread to the northern and western regions, settled throughout Europe, then, crossing the oceans, came to the countries of North America and even to the south of Australia.

The cricket is a small insect (16–25 mm long), somewhat similar to a grasshopper, but with a shorter and denser body. Coloring ranges from light fawn to dark brown. Its wings are well developed and it can fly, although it does so quite rarely. This insect is common enough that most people know what a cricket looks like.

These creatures are thermophilic. At temperatures below 20 degrees, insects become inactive and stop feeding. Their larvae also stop growing and developing. Therefore, they live outside and reproduce only in the south. In the middle zone, the house cricket lives in nature only during the hot summer months, and with the onset of cold weather it moves closer to humans.These insects no longer live behind stoves, as in the old days, but settle along heating mains, warm basements, and boiler rooms. The premises of livestock farms are excellent for them, where it is always warm and there is an abundance of food. Therefore, there are usually a lot of crickets in such rooms. These insects are frequent guests not only in country houses, but also in city apartments.

Crickets feed on plant debris, but also readily eat captured insects, such as cockroaches. Males defend their territory. They engage in mortal combat with discovered competitors, after which the winners eat the losers. Crickets are nocturnal, and during the day they hide in secluded crevices.

Females lay from 50 to 200 (and in favorable conditions - up to 500) eggs in a secluded place. After about a month (although the period greatly depends on temperature), the eggs hatch into larvae, which differ from adults only in size and the absence of wings. After 6 weeks, during which they molt several times, the larvae turn into mature insects.

The house cricket does not live long - the life cycle lasts 3-4 months, of which only 1.5 months it lives as an adult.

A cricket appears in the house - what to expect?

Crickets have been living near people since ancient times. It is not surprising that many superstitions were born about this restless “tenant”. A folk sign states that the appearance of a “singer” in a house portends joy, good luck, wealth and prosperity for the owners. In addition, there is a belief that if there is a sick person in the house, he will soon recover, and if there is a bride or groom, then one should prepare for the wedding. But killing a cricket is not recommended as it may bring bad luck to the house.

How to treat these signs is up to everyone to decide for themselves. In reality, it should be remembered that these insects strive to get into human habitation in search of warmth and food. And the purpose of the “songs” - the trills of the male - is to lure the female. In any case, after a couple of sleepless nights you have to decide how to remove the crickets.

How to get rid of an annoying “neighbor”?

If there is a cricket in your home, it will not go unnoticed by the household. The monotonous trills that prevent you from sleeping at night invariably give rise to the desire to quickly get rid of this uninvited “guest”. There are several ways to do this.

• Those who believe in omens and do not want to destroy the “singer” should catch him and release him into the street. This is quite difficult to do, since these insects are active only in the dark. During the day they hide, and finding their shelter is not easy. In addition, crickets are very careful and agile, they jump well. When a person approaches, they quickly run away and hide somewhere in a crack. Therefore, in order to bring out the “singer”, you will have to work hard.
• It is somewhat easier to find an insect, forget about the signs and swat it (for example, with a slipper).
• The easiest and most reliable way to get rid of a troublesome “neighbor” is to use some kind of chemical to combat household insects. Only during disinfestation and after it is it necessary to strictly follow the instructions so as not to accidentally harm people and pets.
• If you can't use a chemical method, you can remove the crickets using sticky insect traps.
• There is a proven folk way to get rid of night concerts. In the area from which trills are most often heard, you should fume with lighted sealing wax.The annoying insect will quickly retreat from the area and leave the unpleasant-smelling apartment forever.
• You can try to create conditions in which crickets cannot exist. They settle in places where there is constant access to water. These are warm bathrooms and kitchens. In a dry environment, these insects will either die or leave to look for more suitable places to live. It is necessary to block access to moisture, ensure ideal dryness in the premises, and the question of how to get rid of crickets will no longer arise. At the same time, the health of pets and humans is not exposed to the slightest danger.
• If there is a cricket in the apartment, it means that there is no cat in it, which is a natural hunter of such living creatures. Take a kitten into your house, and it will quickly catch the jumping “singers”, and at the same time get rid of mice forever.

Thus, getting rid of these insects in a house or apartment is not so difficult. But you should think about how to prevent crickets from appearing in your home in the future. After all, an uninvited “guest” somehow made his way into the apartment. Therefore, you should seal all the cracks and crevices along the baseboards, the places where pipes pass through the walls, and cover the opening windows and vents with a mosquito net.