how to get rid of crickets in your garage

How To Get Rid Of Crickets In Your Garage

Chirping crickets in your garage or basement can be one of the most annoying sounds ever. Especially at night when you are trying to sleep. Some cricket species are so loud that they can chirp up to 100 decibels. By comparison, that is the average noise of a lawnmower.

This article will show you how to get rid of crickets in the garage and keep them from coming back. This advice will also work for your basement or workshop as well as for other pests.

Effective cricket control involves getting rid of their entry points, removing attractants from their environment, and in some cases, using pest control measures to eliminate them. If you have a cricket problem, rest assured that you can control them and prevent them from coming back.

Why do crickets like garages?

Crickets like to hide in dark, warm, safe spaces. Outdoors, in nature, crickets live among ground cover, tall grasses, under logs, and rocks. They prefer dry to low moisture spaces that are hidden from predators. Crickets are attracted to garages, especially as summer ends, and the outside temperatures start to drop.

Crickets do best in temperatures that range from 82 to 86 degrees. They like it warm but can live at lower temperatures.

This is why garages and basements make ideal conditions to attract crickets.

Do crickets cause damage?

Generally speaking, crickets aren’t that harmful unless you allow them to take up residence and create an infestation. Crickets will eat just about anything from plants to other insects. They have even been known to eat other, smaller crickets.

You may notice evidence of them chewing on paper or cardboard in your garage or the carpet and other fabrics if inside. They can carry diseases such as E. coli and salmonella, which are sometimes found in their waste.

Crickets don’t generally bite people, but you should wash your hands after handling them to prevent getting cricket feces on your skin or any open sores.

How to prevent crickets from getting into your garage

Crickets, like other insects and pests, are a nuisance. The best defense against house crickets and field crickets is to start with prevention. Look around the perimeter of your garage and home for openings and environments that attract them. If you can remove these, you have a great shot at getting rid of crickets before these take over your garage.

One indicator that you have crickets is spider activity. Spiders love crickets and prey on them. But, most of us prefer to keep spiders out of our garage, so reducing or eliminating a spider’s food source is ideal.

Eliminating tall grass, plugging cracks and holes, and making sure you have a good seal on your garage door will help keep crickets at bay.

Having a regular mowing schedule and keeping firewood piles and other outdoor storage items like trash cans, boats, ladders, old cars, etc., more than 20 feet away from the garage can eliminate places they like to hide and lay eggs. If you have bushes or other large plants that provide shelter and hiding places, you can cut back the plants and bushes a bit with proper pruning to help open those areas a bit.

Inside your garage, remove items from the floor and place them on shelving or other storage raised 6 inches or more off the floor. Check that your garage and entry doors are properly sealed with good weatherstripping.

Often, checking your perimeter and removing their natural habitat and entry points can prevent crickets and cricket infestation.

How to get rid of crickets

While crickets are not harmful, the noise they make in the garage or basement can penetrate the whole house. These nocturnal insects sleep during the day and at night, chirping to attract a mate to lay eggs. A female cricket can lay up to 100 eggs a day.

So when it comes to getting rid of existing crickets in your garage or basement, here are several tips to get rid of these pests:

  1. Use a shop vac – If you can’t reach the cricket by hand (they don’t bite) or you prefer not to, you can use a shop vac to vacuum up the cricket. This is especially helpful when the cricket is behind or underneath something.

    If you have carpet, be sure to vacuum around the edges as this is a common location for crickets and other bugs to lay eggs.

  2. Use natural baits – One simple DIY cricket trap you can make is to fill a shallow bowl with water and a few teaspoons of molasses. This makes the ideal cricket bait. Crickets love the sweet liquid so much that they jump in but drown when they can’t get out.

    Crickets also like dog food, vegetables, fruits, and even cracker or bread crumbs mixed with sugar.

  3. Use diatomaceous earthDiatomaceous earth is a soft, siliceous sedimentary rock crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It is non-toxic and all-natural, and safe to use indoors or outdoors around children and pets.

    Diatomaceous earth penetrates the cricket’s exoskeleton, which leads to dehydration and death. It is not an insecticide and does not need to be consumed to be effective. In fact, it is used in a lot of products, including toothpaste and other food-grade applications.

  4. Apply Insecticide – Insecticide often referred to as bug spray, can be applied around doors, cracks, crevices, etc. to kill crickets. The use of insecticides should be limited to areas away from kids and pets.

    Insecticides contain chemical toxins designed to kill crickets and other pests but should be avoided if possible due to their toxicity. Insecticides are designed to kill insects rapidly. If you use them, avoid getting the spray on you when spraying.

  5. Use Cricket traps – Cricket traps are another form of pest control that uses glue to trap the crickets (and other insects) as they are attracted to a chemical attractant used as bait. For best results, these traps should be placed in areas around the edge of the garage, under workbenches, and near the garage door.

  6. Use lawn barrier treatments – One of the best ways to get rid of crickets in your garage, house, basement, or workshop is to use lawn and home barrier treatments.

    Pest control professionals can help you by spraying a commercial insecticide or sprinkling granules along the outside of your home to keep crickets, spiders, and other bugs away. Your local garden center or home improvement store should also have a few options available for use in the Spring and early Summer. Sprays and granules are very effective for creating an invisible boundary around your home.