How to Get Rid of Spider Crickets
Beware the attack of the giant mutant crickets! While spider crickets are not actually members of the family of crickets -- or of spiders -- they are excellent jumpers and when frightened, will hop towards you, rather than away. This weird behavior, combined with the insects' extra-large size, makes
Posted — UpdatedThe spider crickets thrive in cave-like environments -- damp and dark. They shun the sunlight and instead enjoy hanging out in your crawl space and around your washing machine, sink, shower, or toilet, especially below ground. After Hurricane Sandy, large numbers of spider crickets were found enjoying the moisture of recently flooded basements in the region.
The reason for their preference is quite simple -- although spider crickets are omnivorous, their favorite foods are the fungi and molds which grow in damp spaces indoors.
One way to control spider crickets is to adopt a cat … or maybe two! Felines are fascinated by crickets' hopping motions and will hunt them.
Vacuuming up the crickets will reduce the insect population, but only temporarily.
Setting out bowls of water so that the spider crickets will climb in and drown is certainly non-toxic, but messy and time-consuming.
A more successful solution is to use glue traps, adhesive-coated sturdy cardboard that can be left in sheet form or folded into a box. They do not contain pesticide and will not poison children or pets. The downside is that you will periodically need to take the filled traps to the garbage. Ugh!
- clearing up your clutter to eliminate insect hiding places in your house and yard
- sealing foundation cracks and other gaps
- waterproofing the basement and
- installing a dehumidifier to reduce the moisture in your home.