When it comes to camel crickets there is good news and bad news; let’s first start with the good news, these crickets aren’t particularly dangerous and they don’t make annoying chirping sounds like their relatives the house cricket. Now for the bad news, these crickets are very creepy looking, invade in clusters, and spiders love to eat them. If you have camel crickets in your home, it will not be long before spiders are trying to get in as well. 

Let’s first, begin with a description of what camel crickets look like so you can better understand why these pests creep so many people out. Camel crickets have a hunched body, 3 pairs of legs with their back legs being much larger in size, and very long antennae. Camel crickets are wingless; adults range in color from a very light tan to dark brown and they often have dark bands of color on various parts of their body. Camel cricket tend to scare people not only because of their unattractive looks but because when they are startled and jump away in defense they can look very spider-like!

Camel crickets are also commonly referred to as cave crickets because they like to live outside in cool, dark, damp places, including you guessed it, caves! While they usually like living outside in dark, damp, cool places like under landscaping ties, mulch, stones, and logs they will move inside when the weather no longer suites them. If the weather becomes too hot or dry, they look to move inside homes and other buildings, usually congregating in damp basements, crawl spaces or other areas that provide them with the cool, humid environment that they are seeking. Camel crickets despite having the ability to bite, are generally considered to be nuisance pests. To help prevent these pests from becoming an annoyance to you and your family we suggest reducing humidity levels in your home by installing dehumidifiers in basement areas and making sure that crawl spaces are properly ventilated. Additional prevention tips include:

• Repairing cracks in the foundation, placing door sweeps underneath of basement doors, and caulking gaps found around basement doors and windows. Seal all possible entry points found on the exterior of your home.

• Reducing areas of clutter and debris is basement areas. The less “things” they have to hide in, the easier it will be to find and eliminate them.

• Storing fire woodpiles a distance away from the exterior of your home.

• Removing piles of leaves, grass, and other debris that camel crickets can live and hide under from your property.

The best way to prevent camel crickets, the spiders that eat the crickets, and other household pests from invading your home and becoming a nuisance is to put into place a year-round pest control program from the pest professionals at Russell’s Pest Control. All of our highly effective Power programs control and prevent infestations from annoying and damaging pests and protect your home, family and pets against 30+ common household pests. Call us today to learn more about camel crickets and how we can work together to keep camel crickets and other pests out of your home all year long!