For many, the fall season also means crickets. Swarms of chirpy, destructive crickets.

Crickets chew on field crops. But did you know that crickets also feast on your fabrics of cotton, wool, linen, silk, synthetics, leather, or fur? They especially enjoy clothes soiled with sweat or food stains. Imagine them chewing on your son’s football practice gear. And, as a final kicker, they even eat other dead cricket carcasses. Yeesh!

Check out these handy tips for how to prevent crickets from invading your home:

• Secure your doors and windows. Patch up any holes in screens, seal off drafty windows, fix holes in masonry. This not only deters crickets, but lots of other pesky critters, too. Check out this page for other pest prevention tips.
• Change your outdoor light bulbs.  What a bright idea! By using yellowish-tinted light bulbs or a sodium vapor lamps, you’ll attract fewer crickets. And, like we wrote about in our blog about outdoor lighting, using different types of light bulbs will ward off lots of other pests, too.
• Remove woodpiles. Not only is this good for crickets, but wood piles could spell disaster here in subterranean termite country. Read our blog about termite prevention tips for a helpful story about that particular problem.
• Call The Bug Man! We are always willing to come cease the chirping. We want you to be able to sleep at night, chirp free.

Thanks for reading! We’ll catch ya next week for more Bug Basics!