Crickets - Field and House

Adults are brown to black with long antennae and wings that fold flat on the back when at rest. The eggs hatch into nymphs which will become adults in nine to fourteen weeks. Some nymphs will overwinter.

Crickets hide from bright sunlight and are in their most active state in late afternoon and at night. Male crickets produce their familiar chirping sounds during egg laying season by rubbing their legs together. House crickets will often live around compost piles and garbage dumps and seek warmth inside when the weather gets colder.

Crickets are omnivores. They will eat vegetables, young plants, seeds, paper, and clothing.

Although they are often found in gardens, their feeding rarely causes damage to vegetables, especially established crops. When their numbers build up from lack of cold winter, they could possibly be destructive to tiny seedlings. But in the rare instances when this does occur, they are easily deterred by covering with row covers or protective barriers.

In Japan and Asian countries, some crickets are definitely nice when used as a beneficial insect burglar alarm. Kept in tiny cages, the crickets guard households by acting as living motion detectors. But the downside to that is that once the prowler is near enough, they stop chirping.

The minor risk they pose to garden seedlings is certainly insufficent to consider them a true pest. Crickets are definitely beneficial when they eat fly pupae, however. And of course the calming effect of their summer serenade can be beneficial to those who sleep better when soothed by the sounds of nature. (I personally can't sleep with that horrendous noise blaring.)

Enjoy them, don't kill them. They don't bite either, so picking them up to play with can be quite fun and exciting especially to children.

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