It is not at all difficult to determine that there is a cricket in the house, since its appearance is accompanied by special sounds that the insect makes. Everything would not be bad, but their “concerts” keep the whole family awake at night and, in the end, unbalance the person. A person begins to look for ways to get rid of these interesting insects.
Catching a cricket is not so easy, so people use chemicals, traditional methods and traps. The most important thing here is to do everything correctly and then the “concerts” at night will stop.
Cricket: description
Several species of these amazing insects live in temperate latitudes. As a rule, they live in nature, where there is a lot of greenery, but sometimes they can be heard in the basements of houses, and often in apartments.
There are 2 types of crickets near a person - field and house crickets. The second species always settles next to a person, within the private sector or multi-storey buildings. And the first species appears quite rarely in a person’s home. Crickets are almost impossible to see during the day, so many people have no idea what they look like.
Life activity of crickets and appearance features:
- Crickets belong to the order Orthoptera. They prefer to live in warm but damp places. These insects are distinguished by a grayish-yellow body color, the length of which reaches 1.5-2.5 cm. The field cricket is black. Both species have long whiskers, like cockroaches.
- The body is squat, but not as long as that of cockroaches or grasshoppers.
- The hind legs are longer than the front legs, which helps the cricket move by jumping. The jumps are not as long as those of a grasshopper.
- Crickets feed on leftover food that they find in human homes. In addition, they eat moths and other small insects.
- During the daytime, crickets hide in secluded places, and at night they come out of their hiding places to hunt. At the same time, they make interesting but melodic sounds.
Reasons for appearance
Like all other insects that appear in a human home, crickets are attracted to warmth and the availability of food. In the summer, crickets mainly inhabit green areas near residential buildings, but with the onset of cold weather they begin to move into basements, and then into heated apartments, as well as into houses.
The ideal environment for their life is an abundance of food, acceptable humidity and temperature. In addition to all this, crickets are attracted to unsanitary conditions, as are cockroaches, flies, and ants. Before deciding how to fight insects, it is advisable to establish basic order in your place of residence.
How to get rid of it: methods of struggle
Many people try to catch this insect and take it out of their home, but this is not easy, since it does not allow anyone closer than 4 meters to it. This is due to the fact that the cricket has very sensitive hearing, and it senses any vibrations in the air. Therefore, we have to adopt other methods of struggle.
Despite the fact that crickets help in the fight against moths, they also prevent residents from sleeping peacefully at night. Therefore, many people believe that crickets are not so useful and try to get rid of them by any means.
Sticky traps
If you use traps based on a sticky substance, this will help get rid of insects. It is enough to place them in places where these creatures prefer to “give concerts”. To make the fight more effective, it is better to set several traps. Despite the fact that adhesive tape is quite inexpensive, the effect of its use can be significant.
On a note! If there are a lot of crickets and they are actively breeding, then traps alone cannot cope with them. In such cases, it is necessary to use toxic substances and mechanically remove the oviposition of this insect.
Folk remedies
Instead of fighting crickets, you can try to expel them using folk remedies prepared from various plants. For example:
- Wormwood decoction . Take 2 tablespoons of crushed leaves and stems of the plant and pour 1 liter of water. The broth is boiled for about 5 minutes, and then infused for about 2 hours. The product is filtered and poured into a spray bottle. After this, the product is sprayed onto problem areas, which are located in the area of baseboards, floors, walls, window sills, trim, window frames, etc.
- Pyrethrum powder . This product is absolutely safe for humans and pets. There is a certain variety of chamomile that is used against various insects. Crickets are no exception and they also cannot tolerate this aroma. The powder simply scatters in the places where crickets prefer to hunt.
Chemicals
When there are too many insects and traditional methods of control do not give the desired result, they resort to the use of chemicals based on Dichlorvos. These universal compounds destroy adult individuals. Repeated treatment after a week (indicated in the instructions) helps to get rid of individuals emerging from eggs.
How to use medications correctly
Since chemical control agents are somewhat toxic, their use is associated with the observance of certain personal safety measures. For example:
- When working with substances, you need to wear a protective suit, goggles, a respirator and protective rubber gloves.
- A can of Dichlorvos is always ready for use.
- All residents, along with pets, are removed from the apartment. All windows and doors are tightly closed.
- After this, they begin to disinfest the premises.
- Particular attention should be paid to places where insects like to appear and where they can hide.
- Surfaces are processed from a distance of about 25-30 cm. In this case, everything must be done carefully, without making mistakes.
- The container with the chemical must be held so that the substance does not come into contact with the face.
- After treatment, the room must be left and closed.
- After 6 hours (indicated in the instructions), the apartment opens, as well as the windows, for ventilation.
- The room is ventilated for half an hour (indicated in the instructions).
- After this, with the help of a vacuum cleaner, the egg-laying is collected and wet cleaning is done.
- After 40-70 days, it is necessary to re-treat to destroy the individuals emerging from the eggs.
- After the complete destruction of insects, it is necessary to think about how to ensure that insects do not appear in the home again. As a rule, it is enough to adhere to basic rules.
Methods for getting rid of crickets
Insects are one of those creatures that are quite difficult to get rid of, because they are “tenacious” and never neglect the opportunity to have offspring. All methods of breeding crickets are divided into types depending on the habitat of the insects:
- in the house;
- greenhouse;
- apartment;
- bath;
- car;
- vegetable garden
How to get rid of crickets in a private house
In this case, there are two methods of control: chemicals and traps. Of course, the first can be discarded if the owners are against the use of various harmful substances or there are children and pets in the house, and the second is not suitable for those who want to do everything faster and less troublesome.
Chemical method
The method will not cause much trouble. First you need to choose a poison. In this case, you should take into account whether the crickets had time to lay eggs (there are special sprays that fight them as well).
Spray against crickets
The most popular substances are those based on dichlorvos, since it is both safe for humans and effective. You can also purchase poisons from insects in general, and not just from crickets. There are specific features of the use of each product, but a universal trajectory of actions after purchase can be identified:
- Close doors and windows.
- Shake the substance.
- Spray 30-35 cm from the surface on all places where pests were noticed.
- Ventilate the room and carry out wet cleaning.
In this case, the use of protective glasses and a respirator is mandatory. Animals and children should be kept away from chemicals. Repeated treatment should be carried out after one and a half to two months in order to neutralize the crickets that appeared during this time from previously laid eggs. When processing, special attention should be paid to baseboards and the spaces between the floor and walls. These places are inaccessible to humans, and, often, the inhabitants of these particular zones survive after all their efforts.
We also recommend reading - How effective is dichlorvos against bedbugs - TOP 5 most popular brands of dichlorvos
Traps
The method is more troublesome, but safe. All types of traps differ, perhaps, only in the complexity of their manufacture. The following options are effective:
- Strips with glue. Making them is simple: cut paper and cover it with any adhesive substance. It is better to place it on windows, near walls and doors, as well as in damp and warm places;
- Bowl of water. Place a medium-deep bowl (or similar container) with water and molasses in a warm, damp place; The latter will attract the crickets, after which they will not drown in the container. The bait needs to be changed periodically and the bowl cleaned;
- Trap pit. In a glass you need to mix milk, sugar, corn flakes and alcohol. The pleasant smell of food will lure insects, and the evaporation of alcohol will complete the job;
- Animals. Pets eat not only special food, but also small insects. Therefore, a cat or bird can become a reliable helper in the fight against crickets
