If you have ever heard a loud chirping noise in your garage at night, there’s a good chance you have crickets. These pesky insects can be hard to get rid of and annoying if they don’t stop chirping!
Luckily, with a few methods, you can be cricket-free quickly!
Aside from creating a lot of noise, crickets can cause untold damage to your home. They chew through paper, leather, and other textiles. They can also spread diseases like salmonella.
We’ll help you learn how to identify the signs and prevent crickets in garages and basements. More importantly, we’ll cover how to get rid of crickets in garages if they’ve already started making a home there.
Let’s get hopping! (Sorry…I had to)
Table of Contents
Do You Have Crickets in Your Garage?
All it takes is a single cricket to find its way inside your home before starting an infestation! If you hear a lot of chirping at night, you might have a cricket problem.
Other signs that you might have crickets in garages or basements include:
- Finding holes in your papers and fabrics.
- Finding cricket droppings around your home.
- Seeing dead crickets in your garage or house.
The first step is identifying the type of cricket that has infested your garage.
There are many different species of crickets in North America. Each has similar characteristics – long antennae and legs. Crickets usually have a bulky, straight body shape.
Some cricket species are black or brown, while others may be greenish-yellow. This depends on their environment (including temperature).
The most common cricket is the House Cricket, which loves moist, dark, and warm places. That’s why they find garages so enticing. Another common species is the Field Cricket, which has wings reaching up to about half an inch long.
How to Keep Crickets Out of Your Garage [Prevention]
Crickets can enter your garage in many ways. The most common route is through an opening in the door or wall.
However, they can also enter through vents and cracks in the walls and floor. They prefer to hop and walk, but they can also fly. Because of this, it’s easy for them to enter through windows and vents.
If a cricket wants to get in, it’ll find a way!
So, what can you do?
Seal any openings with caulk, metal flashing, or weatherstripping. Use a flashlight to test for any openings you missed, and ensure the seals are tight with no gaps.
If you think you’ve spotted crickets in your garage, chances are they’re already moving in. You can prevent them from staying by sealing any openings where they could get through.
Old holes may remain from previous pests, such as mice.
Mice can get in your garage to search for food without you realizing it, so keep an eye out for tiny entry points like these.
The mice may have worked, but crickets will take advantage of any opening they can find.
DIY Methods
A cheap way to create a barrier is by using petroleum jelly. You can smear petroleum jelly over the cracks of your garage floor to prevent crickets from entering. The jelly makes it slippery and sticky for them and often means they get stuck before coming inside.
Another DIY option is using peppermint oil. Crickets hate the smell of it, and it’ll also help keep the spiders out of your garage.
Applying peppermint oil to cotton balls and stuffing them into the holes in your walls should keep them out. You will need to reapply oil regularly with this method, but it’s cheap, easy, and effective.
Reduce Moisture
Crickets are attracted to moist environments, so keeping things as dry as possible in your garage will make it less appealing to them.
There are a few ways to reduce moisture in your garage, but the most common is to use a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier pulls the moisture out of the air and collects it in a container, which must be periodically emptied.
Another option is to use fans to circulate the air and help it dry out.
Regardless of what method you choose to use, you may not be able to prevent humidity.
If it’s humid outside, your garage may never get truly dry. Because of this, sealing off holes is vital to prevention.
De-clutter Your Garage
Crickets are scavengers who feed on decaying matter or leftover pet food dishes.
Limit the places crickets can dwell by keeping your food away from them. Don’t leave dirty dishes or pet food outside where they can feast.
Put household garbage inside a protected trash container with a lid.
If you see cricket eggs on your walls, it is too late for prevention. Crickets lay hundreds of eggs simultaneously, so they won’t all hatch overnight!
However, you can still stop more from hatching by removing any potential food sources. This will also help prevent future infestations. Female crickets prefer laying their eggs near a source of nutrition.
How to Get Rid of Crickets in Garages [Elimination]
Crickets are nocturnal, so they’ll be active at night and hide away during the day.
Don’t worry if you can’t catch any during the day. Set out traps and check in the morning. You’re more likely to have a successful “catch.”
There are also plenty of options when it comes to how you can get rid of these common garage bugs.
Sticky Traps
You can use traps with sticky paper inside as bait for catching crickets. This method won’t work unless there’s some food source nearby. Use a few piles of newspaper or cardboard next to the trap as bait.
Glue traps use a strong adhesive to trap insects on the surface. Once the glue comes in contact with the insect body, it hardens instantly and traps them on its surface.
This trap will work when other surface treatments fail to eliminate the bugs.
Vacuum Cleaning
Another way to catch crickets in garages or basements is by using a vacuum cleaner. However, this method will only be successful if you’re at the start of an infestation. It won’t work if you already have too many crickets in the garage.
Vacuuming can be effective, but it is important not to suck up any live crickets in garages or basements. They can jump out and escape.
If you have pets, keep them away from the area while you catch the crickets. Some pets might see the insects as prey and try to eat them.
Boric Acid
Boric acid is a substance that slowly dehydrates insects. It is non-toxic to humans but can be toxic for pets – so keep your four-legged friends away. The boric acid crystals dissolve slowly in damp environments.
Boric acid creates micro-cuts in insects’ exoskeletons, dehydrating them quickly. Simultaneously, it absorbs into their bodies and poisons their stomachs.
Sprinkle boric acid inside boxes with your paperwork or along the edges of the garage. Boric acid is commonly called Borax. It’s an inexpensive and highly effective solution if you can keep your pets away.
Insecticide
You can use an insecticide to help quickly get rid of pests in your garage. But each brand and variety is different.
When using insecticide, carefully read and follow the instructions. Wear gloves and a mask when using insecticide, and keep it away from children and pets.
If you have a cricket problem, you can also mix insecticide and Borax.
Follow the instructions on the back of the package to determine how much of each item you need. Once mixed, sprinkle it around areas where you’ve seen crickets in garages and basements.
Call a Professional
If you don’t want to kill the crickets in your garage, some companies will do it for you. However, pest control experts can be expensive.
This option may not be cost-effective if your infestation isn’t very large yet (or hasn’t even started).
But, if your garage cricket problem has gotten out of control, investing in professional pest elimination is often worth it.
