House Crickets
House cricket adults are about 3/4 - 7/8 inch long. Their color is light yellowish brown with 3 dark crossbands on their head. The antenna is threadlike, longer than the body. Their wings lay flat on the back. Adult females have a long tube like egg laying structure called a ovipositor, located at the top of the abdomen. Nymphs look like adults except smaller, lack wings and an ovipositor.
House Cricket Damage
House crickets typically surface feed, leaving the surface roughened from pulling or picking the fibers loose while feeding. Their feeding sometimes results in an irregular matted network over the surface, or if the infestation is heavy, large areas of the fabric may be eaten out. Fecal pellets can be found on or about the damaged materials. The larger fecal pellets are about 1/16 - 1/8 inch long and about 1/32 inch wide, with the pellets almost or entirely lacking longitudinal ridges.
House Cricket Biology
Outdoors, house cricket overwintering eggs hatch in the late spring and adults appear in the late summer, with only 1 generation per year. When raised under ideal conditions, females lay an average of 728 eggs. The nymphs go through 7-8 instars(developmental stages), which require an average of about 56 days for males and 53 days for females.
House Cricket Habits
During warm weather, house crickets typically live outdoors and especially garbage dumps. With the approach of cold weather, they seek sheltered places such as sheds and houses.
These crickets are nocturnal or active at night and usually hide in dark warm places during the day. Their presence is indicated by the male's chirping, which is done by rubbing their front wings together. His "calling song" serves to attract females.
Outside, they are often attracted to electric lights in large numbers, sometimes by the thousands, and they rest on vertical surfaces, such as light poles and house walls. Outside, they feed on plants and dead or live insects, including crickets.
House crickets often enter homes seeking moisture. When these crickets enter homes, many kinds of clothing and even carpets can be damaged. Favorite fabrics include wool, cotton, silk and synthetics. Clothes soiled with perspiration are especially attractive to crickets. They damage large areas of fabrics as opposed to the small holes typical of clothes moths or other fabric pests.
