Ah, what joy it is to venture down into your basement so cool and dark in the warmer months. Yet so loud!
Chirp, chirp, chirp…
Insects can be annoying, but crickets in a basement, serenading away at high decibels without a break is enough to make anyone crazy.
Ok but here’s the great news:
There are quite a few proven ways to silence these pests once and for all!
In the following, we’ll delve into the details of identifying and eliminating these pesky insects and ensure your basement remains cricket-free.
Trust me, I’ve been successful with a few of these methods including one time in the middle of the night so I could get back to sleep in peace.
And peace is what you’ll find too!
The easiest ways to remove crickets from a basement are to use insect sticky traps or set out jars baited with boric acid and sugar to poison them.
Additionally, natural repellents like essential oils, vinegar and citrus peels will deter these pests.
Be sure to seal cracks, keep your basement dry, and cover cricket food sources like fabric and cardboard.
Read on for many more tips and remedies below!
The Importance of a Cricket-Free Basement
Crickets might seem harmless, but I’ll tell you what: you don’t want them in your basement!
These little pests can cause damage to your belongings by chewing on fabrics, papers, and more.
And we already know they’re noisy—believe it or not, this can be cause for emotional instability.
Plus, a cricket infestation can attract other pests like spiders and rodents.
So, for your comfort and the safety of your stuff, it’s crucial to keep your basement cricket-free.
Signs of a Cricket Infestation in the Basement
Unusual Noises
You’ll most likely hear chirping sounds at night over the span of many days.
This tells you that you have active cricket families thriving under your house.
And yes, the loud chirping sounds are the males trying attract females… to mate and product more crickets!
You may also hear clicking or buzzing like sounds, which are the audial ways these critters talk to each other.
Seeing Crickets or Their Droppings Around the Basement
If you spot more than just one cricket hopping around or notice small, dark droppings, it’s a sign of their presence.
The droppings they leave behind are dark in color and resemble tiny black grains of sand.
Odor
Crickets produce a musty, earthy smell from their waste and pheromones.
While your basement may already smell musty, if you sense it’s more than usual it might be a sign of the size of your actual infestation.
Damage to Furniture or Clothing
Crickets are known to cause damage by chewing on fabrics. Lovely right?
So if you find holes or frayed edges on any stored clothes or furniture fabric, you could be dealing with a whole gang of crickets in your basement.
Their chosen fabrics are often made of wool, silk, nylon, rayon, cotton, and linen.
Common Causes for a Crickets Living in Your Basement
Food Sources Are Available to Crickets
Crickets are attracted to your basement when there’s enough food available for them.
They feed on various items like plants, decaying plant matter, fabric, wood, carpet and even cardboard boxes (no, it’s not just silverfish who eat paper!).
To help prevent an infestation, you really gotta remove these food sources by cleaning things up.
Use a ShopVac to vacuum your basement regularly and cover other items that attract crickets securely in bags or air-tight plastic containers.
Crickets Love Moisture and Dampness
Your basement provides the perfect environment for crickets to thrive, as they prefer damp, humid areas.
It’s the same reason other intruders like silverfish and millipedes enter your house.
Moisture in your basement is usually due to leaky pipes, poor ventilation, damp carpets or humidity coming from walls that aren’t sealed well against ground moisture.
Make sure your basement is well-ventilated and consider using a dehumidifier.
There Are Entry Points to the Outdoors from Your Basement
Crickets can enter your home through gaps in doors, windows, plumbing, or your foundation.
It goes without saying that you’ll want to seal any potential entry points with caulk, weather stripping, or other sealing materials made for damp environments.
Keep your yard neat and free of decaying debris, as this will help deter crickets from coming near your home in the first place.
Crickets Also Love Dark and Undisturbed Areas
Basements are usually dark and undisturbed, which makes them naturally attractive to crickets.
You can try using bright lights to deter them from your basement. Leave LED lights on or put them on a timer for overnight illumination.
Steps for How to Get Rid of Crickets in Your Basement
Now here’s the fun part. Where you take the steps to send these guys packing or shall we say, the ends of their lives.
We’ll assume you’ve taken measures to seal entry points like cracks and small gaps.
Also that you’ve fixed any leaky pipes, hung up plastic barriers or are running a portable dehumidifier to reduce the dampness.
1. Apply diatomaceous earth
Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth around your basement perimeter, i.e. the corners of your floor and wall, and in areas where you’ve seen crickets.
The natural DE powder essentially causes thousands of micro cuts as they walk or jump through it. They’ll be dead soon after.
2. Set out boric acid and a borax sugar bait
Mix equal parts boric acid, sugar, and water to create a bait.
Pour this mix in small containers near cricket hiding spots.
They’ll be attracted to the sugar and ingest the boric acid, which essentially poisons them.
3. Use natural repellents like essential oils, vinegar, cedar wood, cinnamon, and citrus peels
Deter crickets from your basement using natural repellents.
I love these because you’ll be warding off other pests at the same time (I use these fragrant deterrents to get rid of spiders in our attic).
Essential oils
The ones that work best are for crickets are: lavender, peppermint, neem, tea tree, and eucalyptus.
Mix with water and spray in corners and crevices where crickets hide.
Or, you can simply plug in a diffuser if you have one to permeate the entire basement.
I’ve also found that soaking cotton balls in the essential oils and laying them around works too.
Vinegar spray
Simply use a 50/50 mixture with water. Use in crevices and around windows.
Cedar
Place cedar wood blocks, chips, shavings or cedar oil in problem areas.
Citrus peels
Scatter citrus peels around your basement. Orange or lemon are best. You want the strongest odor you can get, so the more the better.
Just be sure to replace after a few days with fresh ones.
Cinnamon
Sprinkle ground cinnamon or place cinnamon sticks around where you see crickets.
With any of the above, you’re sending them an unharmful message. Crickets hate all of the above smells and they’ll be driven away!
4. Use sticky traps
Place sticky traps around your basement, especially near cricket hiding spots.
They’ll be attracted to them. Then once they hop on, they’ll get stuck to the traps, which you can then easily dispose.
Grab some traps here, on Amazon.
5. Make a homemade cricket trap
Create a simple trap using a glass jar:
- Coat the inside with petroleum jelly.
- Add a small amount of bread soaked in molasses, beer or apple juice as bait.
- Put the jar near cricket hiding spots.
The crickets will be attracted to the bait, climb in, and get stuck. Super easy!
6. Chemical options for cricket control
If you’re the type of person who just wants to bring in the big guns, consider using chemical insecticides.
Once of the best insecticides for crickets is Ortho’s Home Defense for Cracks & Crevices . You can pick it up over at Amazon now.
As a foaming spray, it works perfectly for getting at all those nooks and crannies.
Always follow the instructions on the label and keep them away from children and pets.
7. Get professional pest control services if necessary
Sometimes, it’s easier to call in the pros if you’re short on time or don’t want to buy anything. I get it!
If you’re struggling to eliminate crickets from your basement, consider hiring a pest control service to handle the problem for you.
Final Tips for Cricket Control in the Basement
Address the issue promptly
You should tackle cricket problems early to prevent infestations.
Quick action can save you time and effort later. It’s as simple as that.
Take action now
At the very least do the tasks listed above to make it difficult for crickets to move into your house and basement.
If they can’t get in because there’s no cracks or gaps, that’s ideal. But if they do, don’t make food and water available to them. This is the best way to start!
I solved a lot of our issues just by doing a complete basement revamp of decluttering and organizing using techniques like in this video:
Share your experiences
Share what’s worked best for you in the comments below!
We can all benefit from each other’s cricket control experiences in addition to everything I’ve laid out here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I eliminate crickets without using chemicals?
As mentioned above, there are plenty of ways to do this!
Prevent crickets from getting inside in the first place. Seal any entry spots in the foundation, walls, around window sills and pipes.
Next, make your basement uninhabitable for them. Dry it out with a dehumidifier and enclose anything they might eat in storage containers.
Then, be sure to use deterrents like natural fragrances listed above.
Finally, fight back naturally with D.E. powder and homemade traps discussed earlier.
Are there any effective traps for catching crickets indoors?
Absolutely! You can make a simple DIY cricket trap using a jar filled with water and molasses or beer.
Place the jar near cricket hotspots, and they’ll be tempted to jump in, but won’t be able to escape once they do.
What home remedies can help me silence cricket chirps?
You can partially mute cricket chirps by lowering the temperature in your basement.
Crickets tend to chirp faster in warmer temperatures, so keeping your basement cool will slow down their chirping.
Another option is to use white noise or a fan to drown out the sound of their noisy serenades (for you).
For them, you can get a noise machine made for insects that can “play” sounds continuously in your basement.
This will disturb the crickets but be soft enough that you aren’t further annoyed!