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Quick answer: Crickets, including house crickets and the humpbacked camel cricket, wander indoors into damp basements, garages, and crawlspaces. House crickets chirp and can damage fabrics; camel crickets are silent and mostly a nuisance. Control combines reducing moisture and clutter, sealing entry points, and reducing outdoor lighting that draws them to the home.
What do crickets look like?
Two kinds turn up around homes. House crickets are light yellowish-brown, about 3/4 inch, with long antennae and produce the familiar chirping. Camel crickets (cave crickets) are humpbacked, tan, wingless, and silent, with very long legs and antennae, and are common in basements and crawlspaces where they jump when disturbed.
Signs of crickets
House crickets announce themselves by chirping, especially at night, and may leave chew damage on fabrics or paper. Camel crickets are usually noticed by seeing them in damp basements, garages, and crawlspaces, sometimes in surprising numbers.
Why crickets come indoors
Crickets seek moisture and shelter. Damp basements, crawlspaces, and garages provide the humid, dark harborage they prefer, so they move in during hot, dry weather or heavy rain, entering through gaps and along the foundation.
How to control crickets
Control targets the conditions that attract them: reduce moisture (dehumidify, fix leaks, improve crawlspace ventilation), cut clutter and harborage in basements and storage areas, seal entry points around the foundation, doors, and windows, and reduce bright outdoor lighting near entrances or switch to less attractive bulbs. Removing dense vegetation and debris against the foundation helps outdoors.
When to call a professional
For persistent cricket activity, especially large camel-cricket populations in a crawlspace, a professional can address the moisture source, treat harborage, and recommend exclusion and lighting changes that reduce them.
A Brooklyn-based, NYSDEC-registered company (Reg. #15140) led by Jorge Bedoya, an Associate Certified Entomologist (ACE). For pests in your home or building, NYE provides IPM-based, low-exposure control matched to the exact pest and verified with a follow-up. ACE-led work comes with a client portal of service reports and photos, fully bilingual service, and no long-term contract.
Cricket FAQ
How do I identify crickets?
House crickets are light brown, about 3/4 inch, with long antennae and the familiar chirp. Camel crickets are humpbacked, tan, wingless, silent, and have very long legs and antennae, often found in basements and crawlspaces.
Are crickets harmful?
Crickets do not bite or spread disease. House crickets can chew on fabrics, paper, and stored items in large numbers; camel crickets are mainly a nuisance by their appearance and jumping.
How do you get rid of crickets?
Reduce moisture in basements and crawlspaces, cut clutter that provides harborage, seal entry points, and reduce bright outdoor lighting near the home. These steps remove what draws crickets inside.
Why do crickets come into basements?
Damp, dark basements, garages, and crawlspaces mimic the sheltered, humid conditions crickets prefer, especially camel crickets, so they gather there when it is hot or dry outside.
What attracts crickets to a house?
Moisture, clutter and harborage, and bright outdoor lighting at night. Reducing all three makes a home much less attractive to them.
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