Grad Student Too Busy, Annoyed to Care about Giant Bugs in Basement
In graduate school, I rented a house with a few fellow students on a quiet, tree-lined street close to our university. To be quite honest, we spent very little social time together in this house. Most of our days, nights and weekends were spent in the lab, in the field, or in our offices, toiling away on our graduate research. We came home to sleep, grab a quick bite to eat, and maybe do a load of laundry.
In fact, when I think about the years that I lived in this group house, I have a hard time recalling what my roomies and I did together when we weren’t working. I do remember one raging Halloween party. This is not meant to be a slight on my roommates – they were lovely and interesting people – it’s just that we were all so busy and involved in our work.
So involved that, when thinking back now some ten years later, I’m stupefied that I didn’t give much pause or consideration to the annoying, alien creatures that had taken over our basement.
You see, our basement was infested with camel crickets — more specifically, greenhouse camel crickets (Diestrammena asynamora, photo above), native not to North America, but Asia.
I encountered these leggy, jumpy beasts on my regular forays to the basement to do laundry and yet never once did I pause and consider who they were or what might be so interesting about them.
Rather, I would carefully maneuver down the wobbly stairs into our musty basement carrying an overflowing basket of dirty laundry. I’d tiptoe over to the washing machine, trying to avoid squishing one underfoot. I’d annoyingly brush off the frass (the entomological term for their poop) that had accumulated on top of the machine and quickly get my load started before any jumped inside. I’d then sprint back upstairs, to the sounds of the washer filling and popcorn popping. Yet it wasn’t popcorn, just tens (maybe hundreds?) of camel crickets furtively jumping in the wake of my footsteps. I’d close the basement door behind me. Out of sight, out of mind.
Fortunately, over the last couple years, hundreds of citizen scientists seized a research opportunity that I as a too-focused grad student just flat-out ignored. Rather than quietly go about doing their laundry, our citizen scientists shared observations and photos of the camel crickets in their basements, sheds and crawl spaces.
Collectively, these citizen scientists helped build new knowledge about the distribution of a non-native species, knowledge that today is officially published in the scientific journal, PeerJ.
Epps MJ, Menninger HL, LaSala N, and Dunn RR. 2014. Too big to be noticed: Cryptic invasion of Asian camel crickets in North American houses. PeerJ 2: e523; DOI 10.7717/peerj.523
In the paper we share the first results from the Camel Cricket Census. We report that the greenhouse camel cricket (D. asynamora) is far more common than native, North American camel crickets (Ceuthophilus spp.) in and near homes east of the Mississippi.
Distribution of native Ceuthophilus spp. (black circles) vs. exotic Diestrammena spp camel crickets (white circles), based on photos and specimens submitted by citizen scientists.
Additionally, thanks to a few excellent photos taken by folks in the Northeast, we suggest that a second Asian species, Diestrammena japanica, not previously reported in the US, has become established in northeastern homes.
Notice the differences in color patterns between Diestrammena asynamora (A) and Diestrammena japanica (B). Photos contributed by Camel Cricket Census citizen scientists.
Much still remains to be studied about the camel crickets silently lurking in and around our homes. What do they eat? How do they spread from house to house? Do the Asian species compete with native camel crickets? Where and when were the non-native species first introduced into homes? How widespread is D. japanica?
Please continue to share your observations and photos of camel crickets with us by participating in the Camel Cricket Census – we’re especially interested in photos and specimens of D. japanica.
And more importantly, continue to pay attention to the creatures you encounter as you go about your daily life. Exciting discoveries are waiting to be made in every basement, perhaps even behind every washing machine.
Header photo credit: Lauren Nichols, YourWildLife.org
We bought a house in Cookeville, TN in 1998. During the moving in process I bunked in the finished walkout basement which was dry, carpeted.. Sleeping on the floor, turned in for the night, lights out, half asleep, got an eerie feeling, lights back on and my eyes played tricks but not really. The place was loaded with BIG camel crickets. Disgusting. Super hard to smash one, real jumpers. Sold the house less than a year later.
This year in Crossville, TN they’re back, followed me from 50 miles away. I am sorry to say that this is not a new pest. Perhaps they hitched a ride from here to there. What is the “Origin of this Species?” Iraq?
Our citizen scientists have reported both native (from North America) and non-native (from Asia — most likely from China or Japan) camel crickets in houses. In our new research, we report that the non-native Asian species is far more common in eastern US houses than the native species. We can tell the difference between the two kinds with photos — we’d guess based on your description that you had the non-native kind, but can only be sure if you send a photo or specimen.
I have cought these camel cricket an let me tell they are smart I cought one in a glass jar a slide a peace of paper under the jar an the cricket layed down to try to get out of the jar an if you flush them down the toilet be sure to close the lid because they can float on the water like a water spider
My roommate just bought a house also in Cookeville TN and it is completely infested with this horrifying creatures no clue what kind not getting close enough to get pictures sorry!!
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
I had never seen one of these crickets until after Super Storm Sandy. I had 6 feet of water in the basement from Sandy. 4 days later, when the water was finally pumped down to the floor, these crickets (we called them Spider Crickets) were everywhere in the basement.
Once the basement dried out, the crickets disappeared. I occasionaly see a few of them again if the basement gets damp.
I live on the south coast of Long Island.
I also live on the south coast of Long Island and have had camel crickets in my basement and garage ever since my house was built in 1993. So these buggers have been around for a long time on the East End. The best way to get rid of them is to get cats. My cats are fascinated by them and love the pop up mechanism of these creatures. It’s a cat delight. You’ll never see a live camel cricket in my basement. I find shriveled up cricket carcasses the cats used for batting practice when I vacuum down there.
I also live on the south shore of the island in South Hempstead, where these disgusting things can apparently be found in every corner of every property and in every house and building. The only thing is I had never seen or even heard of these things until my husband and I bought our first home in December of 2008! I was born and raised in Island Park, NY. I lived there until June of 2009 (which is when we moved in) due to a couple of factors, one we had to fix up the house, two we had to exterminate everything (Spider Crickets also known as Camel Crickets and Sprickets) in the basement, & three we had to clean up everything the previous owners and the bank had not removed from the home! When we started to eradicate these things I went to Home Depot and I searched for something that might be able to kill them so I ended up buying four 1 gallon sized sprayers of “Home Defense”. It took what felt like forever to kill these things, but we actually did get rid of them! One day my husband had to open a crawl space underneath my back sun room to get to our air vents which lead to that room, and these dames things came back with a vengeance! After they came back our daughter would not go down into our basement for a what seemed like a million of reasons. My husband after he had fixed the air vent had re-sealed the entrance to it and four more 1 gallon sized sprayers of home defense later and they were still not gone! My husband had made homemade sticky traps from duct tape which actually does work(so one more thing you can use duct tape for). We had also tried other methods like those stupid things you plug in and it emits a noise that is supposed to make them want to flee your property and that did not work! Finally we had hired an exterminator who sprayed a whole bunch of stuff through out our basement and he also gave us sticky traps up the wazoo. Another thing he did was put this powder stuff all around the entire foundation of our house, three sheds, dog house, all around every fence in our yard, and all around the front yard (which made a boarder that if they got this stuff on them would pretty much kill them through dehydration as it was explained to me) and woolaa. Basically it has been about a year and a half and we are stil spider cricket free(knock on wood). Anyway there has got to be a better way to exterminate these things, but unless people start taking this more serious I guess we will never get rid of these things. I am very curious as what these things are doing to or taking away from our natural native bugs! I wonder if these things could be responsible for all the lady bugs disappearing from our yard, and now that I think of it I don’t see snails, slugs, butterflies or praying mantises around here either. I wonder if anyone is looking into any of this. I just told my husband the other day how I am ordering lady bugs, and praying mantis eggs because I don’t see them at all! Also another thing I have observed is that they seemed to be immune to the home defense like as if they grew an immunity to it from the first time I sprayed!
the DE (diatomaceous earth powder) around your yard and buildings has killed all snails, slugs, butterflies or praying mantises Everything that walks,or crawls thru DE dies.
Interesting observations, Barry — Thanks for sharing!
Same as Barry C first time I ever heard or saw these crickets was after Hurricane Sandy So far the best ways of getting rid of them since I will not go anywhere near them is with glue traps and my Siamese cat many she loves to hunt and kill them.
HA! We used to call them, spider crickets, 32 years ago, when we 1st saw them, now we call them spickets (spider crickets) I had never seen them until I moved to VA. from MI. I hate them, they attacked me one too many times, they are aggressive.
ARGGHH! No spider, no centipede, no striped-venomous-flying insect nor wicked-looking beetle can freak me out as much as one of these crickets. We discovered them, in the basement initially, and then all over the house, especially at night, when we moved out into a rural home over 30 years ago, in the Twin Cities, MN.
They hop in great non-predictable leaps when startled, but crawl incredibly rapidly and stealthily in a straight line when it’s dark. We’d be sitting in the living room at night, enjoying a movie or television program with the lights off, and very much like a mouse on business, one would skitter across the rug. Then we’d be up, flipping lights back on, grabbing something to smash it (and they squish horribly, so you NEED something like a rolled up paper) and completely forget about the show on TV.
I realized they often materialized around sinks, tubs and toilets, and guessed they were crawling up from the septic tank. Once, when one of the septic pipes was uncovered outside and we shined a flashlight down the pipe, we saw it crawling with hundreds of these crickets!
Therefore, I dubbed them “the cockroaches of the country.” Whereas cockroaches infest cities, these crickets infest rural inhabitations. So not only are they ugly and creepy to behold, they also probably carry all kids of bacteria with them all over whatever they touch.
To clarify, I think we have the native species here, near the St. Croix River and 20 miles outside of St. Paul. It depends on which pair of photos, however, one looks at. In one set, I’d say it was the Asian variety, with the smoother and more rounded back. But in another, it’s striped like a lionfish, and the ones we have aren’t quite so flashy looking. My kids couldn’t sleep if they knew one was in their bedroom, and now they’re adults: scientists, mathematicians, amateur entomologists, nature-lovers – and camel cricket-phobes all!
Oh we’d love for you to snap some photos of your camel crickets and share them with us — Please upload info and files here: http://crickets.yourwildlife.org/participate/
Please come to Indianapolis Indiana 46227, they live in my basement and I welcome them. As I write this I just threw one a piece of cayenne pepper popcorn here in the living room and it jumped away from it, but later came back to it. I welcome them. I think insect life is much more intelligent than social media crazed human life today.
Holly is this post still active? I have a dirt crawl space. Went down and hundreds of beady eyes were upon me. Got a borate granular bait because once summer came, they were all over my house upstairs. My husband went down to sprinkle granules. There were None down there. Do they leave and come upstairs in summer and go back down in winter?
I bought a house in Hermitage, TN (suburb of Nashville) and it had been empty for five years and was infested with these crickets. I’ve been calling them spider crickets. I had never seen them before. I emptied several boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax in the crawl space under the house and it did a great job of eliminating them. Every other year or so I shake out another box under the house. The repair men who worked under the house all said that these crickets spit. I haven’t seen any mention of spitting in the articles I have read. Well, at least they don’t keep one awake all night long with their chirping! By the way, I have never seen a regular black cricket since I moved into this house – perhaps the camel backs ate all the black crickets (?)
I have encountered many of these spider crickets in my house and not just in my basement. In fact I find them upstairs in the bedrooms and I even found one on my kitchen counter!! That is way too creepy for me. I would be happy if they stayed in the crawl spaces or even behind the washing machine. But to find one on my kitchen counter and even one just sitting on my daughter’s comforter… while she was asleep!! This thing was a mere inches from her. That is completely unacceptable. I did call an exterminator a few years ago and I hadn’t seen them in a while until this year. I don’t know what to do about them. I sometimes go days without seeing one and then encounter three in a day. I usually throw a big towel over them and then throw the towel outside but unfortunately sometimes that’s not always an option. I cannot have them in my living space. They are gross! Everything I read about them says that they are basement dwellers… why aren’t mine?! Why do I find them leaping across the rug when we are watching TV? And no matter how much I clean they still seem to appear so I don’t think it has anything to do with that.
Hi – we have them too in our basement – try using the glue traps for insects – get them at your local home center. They work! It is gross, but you will see many of them in the traps. I know it is a cruel and slow death, but no one wants them in their living space. They are not dirty insects and don’t spread disease and are harmless to humans, but they are a nuisance for sure.
Hi Elaine, even though they are harmless as in they don’t bite. Their feces is very harmful to the respiratory system. When walking in an area where they have been recently, the feces become crushed by walking on it and is released into the air. They are not harmless like these websites state.
YES on the glue traps…I bought several boxes of the ones made for rats and placed them around my garage. Within a couple weeks they were completed saturated with these vile creatures.
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
[…] scholarship in a Your Wild Life lab and co-author of a study, phrased it in a subheading of her blog post describing a cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in a […]
I live in the Upstate area of South Carolina. I have a lot of these in my crawlspace under the house. I have lawn equipment and tools etc stored there and I go in there frequently. While I’m a bit “weirded out” by their appearance and jumping ability, they don’t bother me at all – the don’t bite or sting and very rarely even jump on my person. In my observation, they seem to have a stron aversion to daylight. When I open the door, they are all right there near the entrance but always seem to jump away from the opening rather than jumping outside to freedom. the seem to be very numerous, but very harmless. If they are making any noise under there, we don’t hear it upstairs and i live in an older house.
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
[…] scholarship in a Your Wild Life lab and co-author of a study, phrased it in a subheading of her blog post describing a cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in a […]
[…] science in the Your Wild Life lab and co-author of the study, phrased it in the subheading of her blog post describing the cricket-infested house.) [7 Insects You'll Be Eating in the […]
I lived across the street from the beach on the north shore of Long Island in the 1984 in Centerport, NY. The camel crickets in my apartment were the size of small sparrows. I’m not kidding : )
I am so glad someone is investigating this. I live in a house built in 1924 by my great-grandfather so we know the whole history of the house–and the creatures that live here with us. I know when I was a kid in the 1960s we did NOT have cave crickets in the basement. We had ordinary black crickets and a huge scary beetle-like creature we called a water bug. In the 1970s my brother started developing his own photos and poured the developing chemicals down the basement drain. Then we had NO basement bugs except the occasional flea in season. My brother moved out and sometime in the 1980s or 90s we suddenly realized we had these creepy odd looking crickets. I was intrigued when I did some research and found out they were cave crickets. A few years later neighbors started mentioning having weird crickets so I was able to share what I knew. I will go snap some pictures and take your survey. I am always pleased to learn more about my daily encounters with wildlife.
[…] snapped, the researchers made a surprise discovery. A second Asian species of camel cricket, called Diestrammena japanica, was seen in a number of the images. D. japanica has not been officially reported in the U.S., and […]
[…] snapped, the researchers made a surprise discovery. A second Asian species of camel cricket, called Diestrammena japanica, was seen in a number of the images. D. japanica has not been officially reported in the U.S., and […]
[…] had snapped, a researchers done a warn discovery. A second Asian class of camel cricket, called Diestrammena japanica, was seen in a series of a images. D. japanica has not been strictly reported in a U.S., and a […]
[…] had snapped, a researchers done a warn discovery. A second Asian class of camel cricket, called Diestrammena japanica, was seen in a series of a images. D. japanica has not been strictly reported in a U.S., and a […]
What a timely article! In just the past few weeks, my cats have caught and dismembered two of these insects, and I wondered what they were. I had not noticed them in the house until now. I have submitted a report with photos, but I believe the latest catch was a native. I’ll keep an eye open for them, now.
I live in Long Island, NY and have had these in my basement for the past 7 years. This year is particularly bad and I just threw out 8 glue traps with 10-15 on each, collected only in the past week. I do have a moisture problem in the basement that I need to handle to try to control the problem. I have professionally exterminated to no avail. The only thing that contains them is the glue traps. Once one dies, the others will jump on the trap to eat the dead one and it’s a chain reaction. They tend to stay in the basement unless the population gets out of control, and in that case you may find a few venturing in your living areas. If not for the glue traps, I would only think I have one or two… because that’s what you usually see at one time. It’s not until you put glue traps out, that you realize how many you actually have. I always tell people if they see one or two, they actually have 100+ lurking around around. How they get in my basement is anyone’s guess but I am sure there are slight openings they are getting through not visible to me. Good luck, they are nasty creatures.
I’m also on long Island (Jericho)….Camel crickets seem to love it here! Glule traps are the answer. I put a dozen or more in my basement, den and bathrooms esp. when we leave home for vacation for a few weeks. I once came home from a month-long trip and was met by at least a dozen crickets in my den and basement! Never again, I vowed.
[…] gangs all here. Citizen scientists track camel crickets' invasive infestations. Excellent, personal account, by Holly […]
I live suffolk county long Island new york, I recently discovered asian camels crickets in my basement
I live on the south shore of Long Island. These crickets appear in our basement every other year. Last year they started to appear in our garage. The first time I noticed these inside my house was 2001 (I moved into the home in 1992).
We brought one of them to the bus stop in 2001 and asked the folks at the stop to tell us what these pre-historic jumpers were. They called them “cave crickets”.
My observation is that they tend to like darkness. As soon as the lights are on, I don’t see them (unless I open the garage quickly). I would LOVE to know how to get rid of them without poisoning my pets and family. Please continue to study these and share your results.
I live in Babylon, Long Island and we just discovered some spider crickets in out basement running around. At first they were easy to catch but they have gotten speedier. The scary part is that my husband discovered hundreds of them in our crawl space that are at least 5 times bigger than basement ones. Besides glue traps that were recommended to us, what can we do before they multiply and grow bigger. Ahhhhhh!!!!!!
Hi Erin, I own a small rental cottage in Locust Valley, Long Island and get plagued with the camel crickets every year…I call them BOOGINS !! :) I set out 2 smoke bombs in the center of the basement, designed for roaches, and they kill hundreds of them, it’s a quick way to get rid of them before a service company comes to do my oil burner service. Then I vacuum up the carcasses, GROSS, and repeat in another 6 months, because they always come back ! I’m going to try the glue traps next time, less chemicals, and sounds easier to dispose of the bodies…still GROSS though…good luck !
I rent a town home in Springfield, IL and we get them all the time! They scare the daylights out of me! I think we have what would be the D. Japanica invading our home! First time in my life that I have ever seen a camel cricket.
Hi Erin, I live in Blue Mound, Il. about 45 min west of Springfield. I just rented a house and found two on the main floor. I had never encountered these shifty characters before but when today when they introduced themselves I had an overwhelming desire for a handgun. In lieu of a gun I stomped them both to death and after I stopped screaming, I swear… somewhere in the distance a wolf howled. :-)
I live in new jersey and I live in a split level where the bottom level the room towards the street is under ground with the window on the surface. I have a closet in my room unused that is musty that is under a stair case.. nothing is in there… and outside of my room straight out is the door to the garage… i have big black crickets in my garage. last year 2 or 3 came in my room even jumped up in my sheets…. due to the big black crickets we had wolf spiders too.. found in my room.. in the bathroom in my downstairs.. on the steps… and in the garage… they eat the black crickets.. havent seen 1 this year… they are biggg.. they dont have webs.. they hunt… like predators.. they go into burrows in the grass and come out on prey chase it down n kill it…. but this year just before me typing this i had a camel cricket crawling on my sheets.. the lights were off with the tv on saw movement in the corner of my eye… thought maybe eye was playing tricks swiped my hand over it just in case… sheets up the my neck watching tv see movement on my right of the sheet now… i get up turn the light on see the camel cricket… SMASH IT…. I also had those creepy crawly centipede looking things in my basement.. the camel crickets actually look like a mix of those and crickets.. weird… i live down here and sleep in the bed down here knowing i had spiders in my room sleeping every night conquering my fears.. i think my arachnophobia is long gone.. your fear will go away when you have no control and you cant do nothing about it and you have to live with it… calming your mind… but sometimes i may freak a little.. i think were moving ina year.. i want a room on the 2nd floor!
Jimmy, you wrote “I also had those creepy crawly centipede looking things in my basement.. the camel crickets actually look like a mix of those and crickets.”. In 2003 I worked in a café inside a renovated old warehouse building in London, UK. These creatures that I would discribe exactly as you describe the centipiedes used to crawl out of the sinks. We called the exterminators, and even though they took a specimen back to with them to their lab, they couldn’t identify what kind of creature it was. After a while we also had those crickets lurking around most corners. The area was full of ducts so it was fairly humid and most buildings had problems with damp. The shrubs outside the warehouse were always full of chunky-bodied spiders. I suspect they got a good meal out of the crickets.
OHHHH MY do we have these stinkin critters!! Located in Washington, NJ (North Jersey) It started about 4 yrs. ago in our shed & detached garages. You would open the door & they all would come flying (jumping) out at you. This year they are all over our house. We seem to shower with them as well. EWWWWWW!!! I’m thinking that we have an egg problem after reading some articles. We’ve tried some sprays & I think they like the taste of it!!?? They’ve jumped 2 times tonight on my neck, so I’ve HAD it. Did some internet research (which is how I came across your site). Some have suggested mixing 1 cup Beer with Teaspoon BORAX & set in shallow dishes. Well worth giving up a can of Beer if it works. I have dishes set up in the basement, living room, bedroom & bathroom. Another person suggested “Bi-fenthrin”. I’m ordering that tonight from Home Depot. It says to mix it up & spray around outside & inside & that it’s not harmful….well to us anyway. I’ll let ya know if any of these things work, otherwise I WILL be drinking the Beer to calm my misery. :o( I feel for all of you & can certainly identify with your feelings on these guys. I feel like we’re living thru the “plagues of Egypt” but with cave/camel crickets!! GOOD LUCK all!
I seen a couple of these things lastnight for the first time and was so curious to find out what they are. Ending up here. Readin all the comments. They were downstairs in my man cave. I just sat there and looked at it for a good minute then that thing went to hoppin. Man can those thing hop. Had me running all around tryin to get to just one of them. I live in southeastern North Carolina. Not too far from the beach. From what I’ve read it seems like they are like any other cricket. Which likes all the cool, damp areas. I rather deal with a common cricket then a camel cricket any day. Don’t want them in my house.
I live north Shore long island. I’ve only been seeing them for the last 2 years in my unfinished basement. Spring, summer and fall. They seemed to go away during the winter. It’s Nov 2014, and have more then I’ve ever had before. Can see about 15 or so jumping around in plain sight. I’m going to try the glue traps, but hopefully they die off again in the winter time. Also they were in my shed for the first time this summer. I also noticed them one time outside, seemed like honey bees love eating these alien looking bugs.
I also live on the NorthShore of Long island and am seeing them in my unfinished basement for the first time this year. I have four cats, but they don’t go into the basement; hopefully, they’ll keep these creepy critters out of the upstairs living areas. May get some glue traps, but they’re pretty inhumane. I’ve managed to stomp on a couple, but worry about whether there aren’t a lot more hanging around.
inhumane? these creatures are spawned from the devil himself and deserve no mercy… short of finding some ancient incantation that will open up a passage to hell that will swallow up my entire house, i’ll continue to use glue traps…
actually, i’m cheap, so i just put duct tape sticky side up, and that works… i’ve got about 30 of these jumping demons stuck to four duct tape traps and they keep coming…
I call them spawns of satan too! They are horrible! They have never shown me mercy so they will get none rom me either!
live near Nyack, NY. Had never seen the cave crickets last winter, began to notice them over the summer. At first it was an occasional sighting, finding one a few times a week upstairs. I now have an infestation. From the photos above I can positively state that they are Diestrammena asynamora (A) variety.
I’ve sprayed the baseboards in the bathrooms, kitchen and all of the crawl spaces in the basement and one month later had a professional exterminator in. Every morning I wake up and pick up at least 20 cricket carcasses in my living space and 2x as many in my basement. At night they hop on my son and I while watching TV. I keep a fly swatter handy to kill them. I’ve gotten quite good at it despite their jumpy nature.
It has been a month since the exterminator was here and I have not noticed a decline in their numbers. I’m wondering when this situation will improve or if this is going to be a loosing battle.
I live in a basement apartment in Long Island NY. Since March of 2013. I had never seen or even heard of the camelback cricket until the summer of 2013. I am afraid to say I am no where’s near as infested as some of you have said in these posts however it is like I’m in a horror movie for me every time I encounter one of these freaky creatures. Right now I’m pretty sure there is one dying under my couch as I sprayed it with raid “spider and scorpion” killer and it scampered away and went under the couch….. I have often found that usually if they are not facing you they can’t see you so you can actually put something right over them giving you a great chance at killing them. You also don’t have to squish them just knockem out then flush them so that their family doesn’t come to get them. Although I do have to agree with someone from above who said they seem to be faster this year! Recently I went into the unfinished side of the basement to do laundry and encountered a rather large one so I wacked it with the bottom of the clothes basket. I ran to get something to clean it up with and when I returned I noticed a VERY fowl smell and that the blood that came out of it was black…..ugh!! Gross!!! It smelled like death! I don’t know what that’s about but thought I would mention it. I plan to try the borax and glue traps. They have to go or I have to move as I cannot deal!!!
I have a few of the Cave Crickets in our basement in Kettering, Ohio. (I haven’t seen, or looked for the plagues that some seem to have.) After reading this interesting post and comments, I will seek to identify the type. They don’t bother me too much, but I fear our Thanksgiving visitors will not be pleased, and they will think we keep a dirty house. I expect the Cave Crickets must have some beneficial features– perhaps they eat smaller creatures that we would like even less if we could see them and knew more about the Cave Crickets’ diet. I am quite fond of “Granddaddy Long-Legs” and Praying Mantises and like to have them walk up my arm to show others how “brave” I am. Are there any advocates for these humble cave creatures? I would like to know more before I begin a serious campaign to rid my house of them.
I live in Nassau County Long Island, and have never seen these things before and now all of a sudden they are in my basement within the last month! They are huge and jump high and fast! I have a large fish tank in my finished basement and have 2 dogs. Besides the sticky mouse traps what else can be done to get rid of these things? My son usually goes down stairs to do his weight lifting, but he wont go down now!!!! I think i have seen both types!
I recently moved to an older home (1870ish) in Lincoln Park and had my first encounter with these cave crickets. Found one or two in the house and was able to kill them. Having the joist supports under the house replaced and the workman wanted to show me the MILLIONS of cave crickets that lived there. It is a stone foundation from the original house and it has portions that resemble a cave. Way in the back of this dark, dirt floor, 5 foot crawl space of an unfinished basement on the underside of one of the large rocks was literally black–covered with cave crickets. We are in the process of deciding how to get the moisture out of this basement. If the crickets stay where they are I’m ok with that. If we put in a de-humidification system and they decide to move upstairs, I’m in big trouble. SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT THE CAVE CRICKETS EAT MOLD, ANY ONE KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE??
We have Camel Crickets! I call them Devil Bugs and we Live South of Kansas City on the Kansas side
I live in Martinsville, VA, about 12 miles from the NC border, north of Greensboro, NC about 60 miles and south of Roanoke, VA about 60 miles, in almost a perfectly straight line. We have noticed these crickets for several months in our basement area and the guest bathtub. They don’t “scare” me, but I don’t particularly care for them and do try to smash them if I can. I have found that if you can squirt them with hairspray or poopoori or something that makes unable to jump, it gives you the advantage to get to them. But…after reading this article, I’ll try to take a picture or two before immobilizing the next ones. As one other poster said before me- at least they don’t chirp!
A ton of cave crickets moved into my home over the last week after a hard freeze. Usually, they jump quite well. These are very slow, easy to kill. Why would that be? Is it because the house is drier than their normal environment?
It may be the colder weather that slows them down. I know that’s the case with house flies.
I’m in nw New Jersey and we rarely see the camel crickets once the cold weather comes, at least in our living space. I have no idea what’s going on in the basement and crawl spaces. My guess is they go further underground, where the temperatures and humidity is stable and consistent year round. Either that or they go into some state of hibernation. Whatever it is, I wish they’d stay OUT of my sight.
I’m in nw NJ too. We get these cave crickets every spring/summer/fall. They are terrifying! The ones we get are black or dark brown. They come up from our unfinished basement which is damp. Any boy do they jump! I’ve heard it’s their defense mechanism…when they sense danger they jump at it to scare it. Sure works on me !
I first noticed these crickets about 7-8 years ago. I live in Central NJ. They first show up in the spring, then disappear during the summer, and show up again in the fall. In the winter you never see them.
The majority of the ones I find in my finished basement are nearly dead. Once they don’t have moisture for a day or two they can’t survive. I’ve read and been told that they eat mold. What has worked best for me is to keep a dehumidifier running to get the moisture level down in the 50s. And then in the areas I see them most I put out lots of glue boards, and change them every 3 months.
I have lived in this area for over 50 years, and never saw these bugs before. They just arrived about 7-8 years ago. No exterminator knows how to get rid of them. There is no pesticide or bait to control them that I have found. Yes, your typical bug spray will kill them on contact, but not stop them from coming back.
My basement is very sealed up, and it took me a long time to figure out how they were coming in. I’ve read that they are in hibernation all winter and then spawn in spring and come up through the ground. While I also made sure my french drain and sump were also sealed, I kept seeing them primarily in areas of my basement like closets and the equipment room that still had walls and ceiling that were not sealed by sheet rock and vapor barriers. Then one of the exterminators mentioned that since my foundation is cinder block and not poured concrete, the bugs could live in the holes in the cinder block and walk up through the wall and come out where the foundation meets the wood plate and studs – which makes sense. As a matter of fact, I have a wine cellar with stone from floor to ceiling, and I have never seen a cricket in there even though it is kept cool. The reason is because they have no way to get into or out of the cinder block walls.
But like I said, there is not pesticide or bait that will control these disgusting critters. And whoever does come up with a solution, will make a fortune. Until then, I just keep trying to control them.
I’ve lived in a rural town in Missouri, north of Kansas City, on the edge of woods and a creek for 11 yrs and never had seen one in my life. We started seeing these in the last few months. Thought at first they were wolf spiders, they had that look and those freak me out. I’ve seen them in the evenings mostly, adult and babies, bathroom, living rm and in my bedroom, all alone single insects, although I killed an adult and a baby in the bathroom in same day. My foundation is a cellar. I just found this sight so will get photos soon.
In the bathroom its easy to trap them in the toilet bowl brush, then dropping them in the stool, where they quickly go still. I’m just glad they weren’t wolf spiders!
I live in a partially below-ground apartment in Indianapolis, and have frequent run-ins with camel crickets. They definitely don’t show up in enough numbers for it to be a serious infestation, but I would say that I see 2-3 a week, just crawling around on the floor. They leap incredibly high if I get too close to them. The ones that I see look virtually identical to the greenhouse camel cricket picture at the top of the page, not the native species. As pests go, they aren’t awful–once I got over how utterly creepy they are, I appreciated that they weren’t biting me, at least!
We live in a suburb of St. Louis. I have seen these crickets over the past several years in our partially finished basement. They are much worse this year(2014). I check the bottom of our open staircase to the basement every time I walk by, and keep a “cricket smasher” flip-flop by the stairs so I can run down and smash them. I have seen other Camel crickets eating the dead ones – how gross! Most day we smash and leave the carcasses, and the next morning they are gone. We have grass wallcloth on the wall by the stairs and they crawl up it and come upstairs. It is easier to kill them when they are on the wallcloth because they are vertical and holding onto the wall and don’t jump away. Anxious to try the glue traps and sprinkle Borax near damp areas. Our basement walls are dry-walled but open at the top, and ceilings are unfinished. I am hoping that putting a vapor barrier and closing these areas up will keep them from getting into the basement. Or will they just be multiplying behind the walls? Wonder what their food source is?, each other?
I love my camel back cave crickets ….I can easily, by hand using a jar, catch them and relocate them outside … But in the winter, I can’t put them outside as they will freeze and die so I made a screen cage for them, which I put food and water for them…and they live in it all winter, then in the spring when it’s warm, I release them outside. I have them trained like fish…when I scratch the screen they come out to eat from the little tubes I made for them…and yes, they like it when I pet their heads. I know it sounds crazy but I am always amazed with nature and I don’t like to kill anything….I’ m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. I have great photos and videos of them. :) Ev
I admire your empathy for all God’s creatures, even these hopping turd generators. I have a shed full of them, thousands probably that I also rescue from the perils of winter. They usually live until mid- January or so until my provisions are about gone. I then get out my baking utensils, flour, butter and some baking soda and make about 20 or so “meat pies” . As good as eatin a chicken pot pie, leaving out the chicken.
I googled this because I realized that about ten years ago we didn’t have these space bugs in Virginia. I live near a swamp in a brick house so we’ve always had insects in the summer months. It used to be black ants, the occasional water bug, and black crickets. Now these aliens are around and they are the worst. They like to hide in showers, on cabinets, under beds and the most terrifying of all: our baseboard heaters. They rub up against the aluminum and make this horrible scraping sound. It’s woken me from a dead sleep. To be honest I don’t really care where they come from I just want the creepy things gone.
I absolutely abhor these things! Totally freak me out… But my husband says to quit griping about his free fish bait! Lol… How many fish does he think he needs?!?,
I live in the Southern most tip of Indiana, and our house is infested with the ones labeled A in your above pics. Nearly every time I go into our bathroom at night one of these things jump on me. A couple of times I have encountered them in the shower, which is not a good thing lol My grandson coined the name Spider Hoppers for them. Pretty fitting lol Anyway, it’s all good and well for bug people to want to cohabitate with them, but sorry to say I am not one of those people lol Any suggestions for getting rid of them?
I live in Northwest Mississippi. I have never seen these creepy camel crickets around until about 3 years ago. A couple of nights ago, I woke up and one was right beside my head but I blinked it was gone. It was HUGE and it scared the crap of me. While I don’t have a picture of any that I have killed, I am relatively sure we have the native species. Needless to say, these camel crickets are very terrifying but I am extremely happy that they are harmless.
I live in Brick NJ and have just been told by my plumber, who was in the crawl space, to do repairs,that it is full of them. I am headed to the store for supplies. This is war!!
Completely attacked by thousands of camel crickets. They began jumping everywhere and their back legs have small spines. They were caught in the dog’s fur and were hopping. We are going to flood the basement with smoke bombs.
[…] Do you have 15 minutes to spare? If so, you can be a citizen scientist. Over the past few years, citizen scientists — ordinary people who help scientists and organizations track the count and behaviors of such creatures and phenomena as birds, butterflies, bees, wildflowers, and even meteors — have been active and helpful information gatherers. After all, researchers can’t be everywhere, and many of us have habitats in our backyards and neighborhoods that can help others gain important information about nature. Some citizen science findings have resulted in important new discoveries that were published in scientific journals, such as this one about the distribution of non-native crickets. […]
I live on the south shore of Long Island and discovered a handful of crickets in my basement starting three years ago. The first year, I could see them at night hopping outside the house on the patio. Last year in September I spread Niban crystals around the entire house perimeter before the first cold night. I reapplied maybe 60 days later. My very non-expert theory was to put the bait outside and draw them out rather then attract them in I also keep the basement as dry as possible with my dehumidifier running constantly until winter. I put a few glue traps inside the basement and only caught one last winter so maybe the crystals worked.
I live in Midlothian, TX These camel crickets have infested our house, They jump on us when we sleep at night, they bravely come out in the middle of the day & simply walk across the floor in front of us! Not 10’s, not 100’s but thousands of these little bastards that keep everyone in my house awake all night long by jumping on our face…ALL NIGHT LONG!
We have had these camel crickets for the past 10 years & can’t seem to get rid of them!
Any suggestions?
Tonight I was sitting at my computer is the basement. I was bare foot and I felt something land between my toes. I quickly flicked whatever it was off and looked under my desk to see one of these crickets. I know it was one of these crickets because they were all overy house in NJ. Anyway it bit me. I can feel the throng between my toes though I don’t see a marl yet. It doesn’t feel serious more like a horse fly. I’m keeping an eye on the area…I’ve never had them bite before bit this one was the biggest I’ve seen.
I recently moved into an apartment. In mattoon Illinois. There is a slab of concrete in front of my porch that blocks a large gap to the underside of the porch. One day I decided to move this slab as it is very unsightly. D. asynamora had completely taken over. 50 or more of them were on the concrete slap and even more were under the porch itself ranging in size from that of a house fly to that of a half dollar. Needless to say, I put the slab back. I had seen a couple of them in my previous house, but never in this amount. So I paid them no mind. When I go outside at night it’s hard not to step on them as they venture out into the yard. Also as you said in the article you can literally hear them jumping as you walk by. They have a terrible habit of jumpin at, or even onto you or your clothing. I can easily get pictures of them if you are still in need of them. My dogs find them very entertaining as well. They have yet to move on into the apartment, but I just moved in. It is about to start getting cold outside as fall and winter are fast approaching, so I expect to start seeing them inside. If you do still need information on their behavior, or pictures of the group of them, email me and I will be happy to help as I am interested in them myself.
Thanks. Brenton B
I’m in Blue Mound Il and discovered them inside the house I just rented. Did yours come inside? If so how are you getting rid of them?
My damp basement in suburban DC was infested with them. My young son named them “slug boingers” because they are as gross as slugs, but they go boing. Professional extermination only controlled them temporarily. My neighbor’s cat took care of theirs, but my dog was afraid of them.
I’ve just discovered these things have moved into my unfinished basement. Although my cat takes care of the normal kind of cricket in a flash, she is for some reason spooked about the basement and will not go down there. I’ll be spraying tomorrow!
Oops – I forgot to mention this is in NE Kansas.
Ugh! I LOATHE these nasty bugs. Luckily our crickets (we called them cave crickets/spider crickets) stay in the basement and have never travelled up to our living space. I did notice a big decline in them once we took the basement toilet out and waterproofing the basement. I don’t see them as much. We used glue traps and I need to get more because they are all filled up. I just hate them because they jump so high and are so unpredictable! I am getting goosebumps just typing this. I never even knew what these creatures were until I moved to my current house which is only 15-20 miles from my old house. Interesting to me that at my old house we had house centipedes (which also freak me out) but no camel crickets. At my current house I have camel crickets but never see any house centipedes….I wonder if the crickets eat centipedes?
Oh forgot to mention I’m in the suburbs of Philadelphia!
Have had these disgusting creatures invade our home each October in Putnam County NY for many years. Have tried several professional exterminators,with no result. Am now purchasing glue boards and Niban by the case on the Internet. Just found one in my living area bathroom next to tub. Have 2 dehumidifiers now in basement , have seen them outside on foundation and in garage and on deck …I seriously would move if there is any place that they do not exist. It’s truly testing my sanity dealing with this annual invasion, it’s almost as if they stalk you…please – someone invent a way to annihilate them once and for all..
Nothing a little diatomaceous earth wouldn’t fix…
I live in Baltimore, MD. First started seeing these things last year in the basement and have been in this house for over 10 years. Why now? Basement is no different now than when we moved in. Our cat does not mess with them. And, they will get in her liter box and she won’t use it. Somebody tell me where these things came from. They are now starting to show up upstairs. HELP
They seem like intelligent insects, and not aggressive like the spiders and centipedes I’ve encountered. I held my hand out near one and it gently used its long antennae to feel my finger. It didn’t charge or run away, it merely seemed curious. Another one that I tried to kill last week cleverly evaded my efforts… Sneaky little guy. They’re quick and good at hiding. Anyway, they don’t bother me as much as other pests and I’m interested in learning more about them.
We have the native spikets. Killed 3 today . They are the most frightening bug of all. They are coming from a crawl space into the house. Will be puting glue traps out today, also in crawl space. This is the second year we have had them in Fort Wayne Indiana.
Live in northern VA. When my kids were younger and we visited the caves at Skyline Drive we came out of one of them, which had an insect collection for show, and my one son points to this bug and says,”hey, we got those in our basement!”, I about died, I looked and by jobe it was one of those dang space crickets, it was called a camel cricket, but the kids called them space crickets. I’m originally from PA, never saw one of those things before. I had noticed one of the basement wall one evening and was totally grossed out because it looked like a spider and jumped or flew I swear. So a few years go by, we move into a house, same area basically, but this house has a crawl space…OMG what the heck did I discover but those dang space crickets, AGAIN, I could’ve croaked, they are so disgusting. I can’t stand spiders as it is. Just thought I’d share.
We have these in Ontario California. Lots of them.
I live in Greensboro, NC. I live in a in law suite in the basement of my daughter’s home. Last year at this time I did not have camel back crickets and in fact never heard of them before. I freaked out the first time I saw them at the beginning of Fall. I have daily sprayed a bug barrier around the entrance and regular bug spray on them. It has not stopped them from congregating outside my door. They are all sizes. Professional pest control has sprayed with no results. I have two glue traps on each side of my door, they are on the outside landing, steps, and outside block barrier wall.
My house has tons of them year round my dogs i joy chaseing them & my tranchulla ejoys them as daily meals
I have the same issues (Plainview, NY). This is all I think about when I’m home. I can’t even sleep peacefully. I sleep with 1 eye open. I’m thinking about moving into NYC. I’d rather deal with rats and terrorists.
I live in Indiana and these nasty things usually anyways show up late fall and camp out for a few months and disappear. On top of that the last 4 yrs or so the stink bugs have been invading every fall and stay till around May when it gets warmer outside.
Very annoying beast!
I live in whiting, nj…I am freaking out, they are all over. Big, small disgusting. I have had them jump in my pajama pant, they get in the cabinets, I don’t sleep well as it is. PLEASE gi e me suggestions wha to do, I itch, feel gross and it’s embarrassing too!!!! Please suggest what to do, mass quantities are at my house..garage, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen basically ALL OVER…please help!!!!!!
Amazing how many people post with the fact they have them but very little advice how to get rid of them. Here’s what I know! Cats. WILL NOT EAT THEM. These critters have spikes on their legs that hurt cats mouths. So maybe your cat will eat one or two but after realizing how much it hurts they will stay away. I know I have 3 cats. These crickets will eat their own so immediately clean up their disgusting dead bodies. They like moisture so get a dehumidifier. You CAN get an exterminator to spray the walls of your basement. This WAS effective not sure how long it will last. Get glue traps. Also they don’t like the smell of mint so I’ve been using mint oil and just putting drops of it anywhere I think I see them. Leave a light on. They don’t like light. Most of all they are coming from outside so figure out where there is a damp spot outside….. Go outside in the dark with a flashlight…..you will see where they are. I just found a whole bunch on the north side of my stairwell leading to my basement. Treat outside to get rid of them coming inside. I don’t see anything beneficial to these disgusting creatures so I kill them. I don’t want thousands of babies that turn to adults living in my house! Maybe if we ALL start doing something to get rid of them they will start to decline instead of taking over our homes!
Good Luck and please if you know something else that works please post it. We need to add to the list of ways to combat these bugs!
I live in a tiny town called Honaker. That’s Hoe-nake-er. Located in the Appalachian mountains of south west Virginia in Russell county. I have seen both species here. Buy mostly the native. Where do we send the samples to? Next time I see one I’ll be sure to capture it to send in.
I also live on the south shore of the island in South Hempstead, where these disgusting things can apparently be found in every corner of every property and in every house and building. The only thing is I had never seen or even heard of these things until my husband and I bought our first home in December of 2008! I was born and raised in Island Park, NY. I lived there until June of 2009 (which is when we moved in) due to a couple of factors, one we had to fix up the house, two we had to exterminate everything (Spider Crickets also known as Camel Crickets and Sprickets) in the basement, & three we had to clean up everything the previous owners and the bank had not removed from the home! When we started to eradicate these things I went to Home Depot and I searched for something that might be able to kill them so I ended up buying four 1 gallon sized sprayers of “Home Defense”. It took what felt like forever to kill these things, but we actually did get rid of them! One day my husband had to open a crawl space underneath my back sun room to get to our air vents which lead to that room, and these dames things came back with a vengeance! After they came back our daughter would not go down into our basement for a what seemed like a million of reasons. My husband after he had fixed the air vent had re-sealed the entrance to it and four more 1 gallon sized sprayers of home defense later and they were still not gone! My husband had made homemade sticky traps from duct tape which actually does work(so one more thing you can use duct tape for). We had also tried other methods like those stupid things you plug in and it emits a noise that is supposed to make them want to flee your property and that did not work! Finally we had hired an exterminator who sprayed a whole bunch of stuff through out our basement and he also gave us sticky traps up the wazoo. Another thing he did was put this powder stuff all around the entire foundation of our house, three sheds, dog house, all around every fence in our yard, and all around the front yard (which made a boarder that if they got this stuff on them would pretty much kill them through dehydration as it was explained to me) and woolaa. Basically it has been about a year and a half and we are stil spider cricket free(knock on wood). Anyway there has got to be a better way to exterminate these things, but unless people start taking this more serious I guess we will never get rid of these things. I am very curious as what these things are doing to or taking away from our natural native bugs! I wonder if these things could be responsible for all the lady bugs disappearing from our yard, and now that I think of it I don’t see snails, slugs, butterflies or praying mantises around here either. I wonder if anyone is looking into any of this. I just told my husband the other day how I am ordering lady bugs, and praying mantis eggs because I don’t see them at all! Also another thing I have observed is that they seemed to be immune to the home defense like as if they grew an immunity to it from the first time I sprayed!
My husband recently took up part of the floor in our plant room to work on some plumbing issues. It has a shallow crawl space underneath. He later described seeing a huge population of “grasshoppers” huddling there and asked if I would go online to see why they would be congregating in such a place in wintertime and whether they pose any problems.
I didn’t find anything about grasshoppers, but plenty about camel crickets and I showed him the pictures and he confirmed that’s what they were. So far we’ve never seen any in the house, but it does concern me that they could invade; also that they might attract mice. We plan to spread some borax in the space.
Otherwise we have a much more vexatious problem lately — swarms of tiny brown ants that gather on the tiniest of food particles left on the kitchen counter; sometimes at spots on cutting boards even after they’ve been washed. We put out Terro on little pieces of foil, but it doesn’t seem to make a dent. I don’t like using poisons generally, especially in food prep areas, but I would like to get these nasty creatures out of here. We had an embarrassing moment during a party recently where there was a swarm of hundreds of ants around a small piece of food on the floor next to the kitchen trash receptacle. We’ve been in this house 12 years and never saw anything like this until the last few months.
I grew up with those horrible camel crickets in my basement in Washington, DC and they were there when we moved in in 1970. I guess our cats kept the population down because they were rarely on the first floor or above. They did leave horrible spit stains on our laundry down there and the worst was when we had to use the spare bathroom down there and since we found out the hard way they liked to hang out in the toilet and sometimes jumped on our butts at the shock of us peeing we always checked the bowl thouroughly before sitting after we experienced that !!
Anyway, I dont have them here in Wisconsin but as far as bug spray for speedy pest bugs for people who have pets and dont like to use pesticides I have found that putting rubbing alcohol slightly diluted with water and with an added few drops of Dawn dish liquid in it works well for flying insects like fruit flies , it kills them instantly and at least slows down house flies so they can be squished or swatted easily. Sometines it outright kills them. I have never tried it on camel crickets since I havent had any in a long time. Another household cleaner that is a good bug spray is “Cinch” brand all purpose cleaner that used to be mainly for windows but doesnt have ammonia in it It actually smells pretty good.. It seems harder to find now but it kills bugs great and then its ability to kill evaporates after about 5 minutes. If you find some remember what store you found it in and consider stocking up.and buy a refill bottle because based on its low availability compared to the past it ay be phased out soon. I dont know. Im not sure what the killing agent is in it especially since I was using it off brand but both of these sprays may be worth a try as an adjunct to those other methods especially for those times when you have to venture in the basement use it for self defense or use it if the come up and attack while you watch TV. If they came anywhere near my bed I would freak and keep a bottle of spray with me every night.
Interesting, we’ve always called them cave crickets. Recency my son was researching armadillos and their northward march. We live in southern middle Tennessee and have recently had armadillos show up. Cave crickets draw armadillos, I think they might eat them, or where there are cave crickets here are other sources of food for the pesty armored destroyer of lawns. We do have a few of them in our house occasionally, I usually try to catch them and put them outside.
I too see these cave crickets in my basement. I live in NJ and in an area where there are old iron ore mines. This is common in my area as I also live in a lake community with natural springs on my property. They love moist areas and my problem is mostly in my daylight walk out basement. I see only a few each year in that basement but one year about 3 years ago I started seeing them in my upstairs — they can venture through the walls and up holes from heating pipes. I have a corner fireplace in my basement and my pest control guy whom I’d called after seeing them in my living room said that if you see even a few that it means there are many — even hundreds in the dead space of that corner brick fireplace!!!! He used an animal friendly powder around the inside perimeter of my basement and guaranteed my not seeing them for a year or more within weeks. All true — after about 2 weeks I never saw another for 3 years! The cost of the pest control mediation was I believe $120.00 and he said he’d come back for free if I’d seen them at all in that years time. What was untrue was that it would be harmless to pets. Both of my cats got respiratory infections within days of the powder being put down. I used to run a dehumidifier downstairs and that probably helped but you have to dump the excess water from it every day or there is your water source for the cave crickets — kind of a pain since we don’t even use our downstairs. Worth a call to the pest control guy if they freak you out. I drew the line when they started creeping up to me while I watched tv at night!!!!
Just catch a few large wolf spiders, and let them inside….they will chow down on the crickets…that’s what we do in Texas.
The wolfies are solitary, and not aggressive, and they sure do appreciate a good meal.
G.Klingelhoets… we have armadillos, and luckily the offender only dug into the flowerbed in the front area, and nowhere else… fingers crossed.
Cats are the best things to prevent these nasty critters! I have 3 cats and we rarely see them in the house now.. although. …. if I walkout side and look in the cracks of the foundation to our house there is millions tucked away in there! It’s very disturbing!
I have lived with these in my basement for over 20 years now. I don’t mind them at all. They don’t bite and don’t make noise. The wolf spiders I HATE!!
YES they love the humidity.
Yes they have this very cool reflex jump that always takes them at a very precise angle. Back and to left or right. But same angle.
Yes, they love congregating. In my caller well they hide under the window sill or on the wall behind door. Different sizes but all coexisting.
As far as what they eat, it seems like alot. I’ve found them in the pet food bowls, the litterpan, eating other squished bugs. Unless they eat paper I think they are carnivores. I’ve never seen them on my plants down here.
Just last night I lazily put a plastic container that had chicken salad in it on steps of stairwell. This morning there were 6 to 7 dead crickets in there. So I’m wondering what in there killed them.
Must be the vinegar. And it was only residue. This evening I dumped some live ones out that had just gotten in there, one died immediately. Other 2 are moving very slowly. Cleaning their legs alot, but legs don’t seem to be working right at all.
Soooooo- leave out something with vinegar.
I’m in Silver Spring MD. I have seen both varieties but the striped one is predominant. They tend to move inside the basement in the fall and spring. Since basement unheated in over half of it, they tend to not be active as much in winter. I’m guessing they are dormant. When I do see them they are sluggish—-however in my heated room I will see in winter ooccasionally being much more active.
I’m hoping it turns out they feed on mold.
These guys are my favorite bugs. I’ve had them follow me around like a dog, or hang out & watch tv with me, & once when I was working in my garage looked up & there was a whole bunch of them gathered in a semi-circle watching me!I would swear they are intelligent-possibly from outer space.And have you ever seen the babies? So tiny you need a magnifier to tell what they are, adorable!
Yes me too. They are very intelligent and when you actually give them a chance and pick them up and let them know you won’t hurt them they actually like to touch you…. they are ugly but loving… so keep that in mind next time you kill one. They may come to your rescue one day LOL like incect/animal/ birds/ etc..movies in the past that came back and helped the humans that helped them… just kidding they can’t help us but KARMA is a BIT@$ and you wouldn’t want someone to kill you if you were that bug…
This article was so interesting. I’m in college myself ,about to graduate, and have friends in grad school so I understand being in the flow of school and sometimes ignoring the world around you. I stumbled upon this site while in search of what exactly are these “Camel Crickets.” I’m from a rural area of north eastern Tennessee, Appalachia mountains, and we call them cave crickets. These little guys are everywhere. I actually just caught two in my sink (I live in a very dark and very damp unfinished old basement apartment so perfect habitat for not only crickets but various types of spiders haha) I raise Eastern toad frogs and they love eating these things…well if the toad is big enough! One of these I just caught probably has the body thickness of my pinky finger. They get really large. I had no idea they were an invasive or non-native species. The more you know! I for one am not really afraid of them but they do get out of hand. Sometimes I’ll have one jump onto my head/shoulders while I cook or do dishes (again, unfinished basement apartment. Kitchen ceiling has a few holes) and having one of those large suckers land on your head unexpectedly is not the most pleasant of all things.
we had them all over our basement when we had a house (Baldwin, Long Island NY)- they TERRIFY me. I can handle snakes, rats, mice, etc. but these terrify me more than any creature. Now we live on a second floor apartment (a BRIGHT apartment and they come out in bright daylight!!!) on the north shore of Suffolk County Long Island NY and they are in our apartment! A vacuum hose works very well for getting them and disposing of them (I dont want to go near them), one hopped on my bed yesterday and that was the final straw. I called maintenance and they are bringing an exterminator to the building. Meanwhile I spoke to the exterminator that comes to the office I work at and he gave me a bunch of glue traps to put out. If I can keep them out of my bedroom it will be a definite plus! I already stopped sitting on our couch as its a dark color and I cant see them there.
Literally once I get one, I am shaking from head to toe. I call them spawns of satan, they are evil and come out of nowhere!