At a glance
- Field crickets are the crickets most often seen around Phoenix-area homes, and house crickets can also live and breed indoors.
- Cricket numbers around East Valley homes usually rise in late summer and fall.
- Crickets are one of the main foods of the Arizona bark scorpion, so heavy cricket activity near a house often means more scorpions.
- Yellow bulbs and warm-color LED bulbs draw fewer crickets to doors and garages at night than bright white bulbs.
- Platinum Pest Management controls crickets with exterior treatment around the foundation and garage, plus granular bait in landscape rock.
On this page
Why crickets and scorpions show up together
Crickets are one of the main foods of the Arizona bark scorpion. When crickets gather along the foundation and the garage door at night, scorpions come to the same places to hunt. Heavy cricket activity near a house often means more scorpions, so reducing crickets is one of the ways we keep scorpion numbers down around East Valley homes.
Homes that already have scorpions usually need crickets treated too. Our scorpion control page explains how we handle bark scorpions in Gilbert and the rest of the East Valley.
Black widow spiders feed on crickets as well, and garages with heavy cricket activity often have black widows in the corners.
Field crickets and house crickets in Arizona
Field crickets are the ones that collect around porch lights and garage doors in late summer. They are dark brown to black, up to about an inch long, and live outdoors in turf and ground cover. Many wander inside, but they rarely breed indoors.
House crickets are lighter, a yellowish tan with dark bands across the head. This species can live and breed inside in warm places such as utility rooms and garages, and pet stores sell it live as reptile food. The males of both kinds chirp at night, and indoors the chirping is what most homeowners notice first. Crickets can chew holes in fabric and paper as well.
Why crickets increase in late summer and fall
Cricket numbers around Phoenix-area homes rise in late summer and stay up into the fall. Crickets that hatched earlier in the year reach adult size by then, and monsoon rain keeps the soil and plants damp, which crickets need. Adult field crickets fly at night and are strongly drawn to lights, and they collect in large numbers at lit doorways and windows.
How to keep crickets away from the house
A few changes around the house reduce how many crickets reach the walls and how many get inside. Most of these are jobs a homeowner can handle.
Outdoor lighting
Crickets, like most night-flying insects, are drawn to bright white and bluish light. Replacing white exterior bulbs with yellow bug-light bulbs or warm-color LED bulbs lowers the number that gather at the front door and the garage. Where it is practical, move fixtures away from doors or light the entry from a post or wall several feet away, so insects collect there instead of at the threshold. Motion-sensor fixtures and timers cut the hours a light is on.
Garage door seals and weather stripping
Many of the crickets that get inside come in under the garage door. The rubber seal along the bottom dries out and cracks in Arizona heat, and gaps open at the corners and wherever the slab is uneven. Replacing the bottom seal and the weather stripping along the sides of the door closes the easiest way in, and the same repair blocks a common entry point for scorpions. Door sweeps belong on exterior doors and on the door between the garage and the house.
Irrigation and ground cover
Crickets spend the day in damp, shaded cover and come out at night to feed. Dense ground cover against the house and rock that stays wet around drip emitters give them shelter right next to the walls. Trimming plants back from the foundation and adjusting emitters so they water the plants rather than the wall take away much of that cover. Firewood and stored items stacked against the house give crickets and scorpions another place to hide and are better kept a few feet from the walls.
What our cricket control treatment includes
Platinum Pest Management's cricket control is mostly outdoor work. Our licensed technicians apply an exterior treatment around the foundation, the garage door, the weep screed and other entry points, using EPA-registered products applied according to the label. In landscape rock and along turf edges, we spread a granular bait that crickets eat when they come out at night. The granules settle between the stones, where crickets hide and feed.
Treatment works best when it starts before the late-summer increase and continues through the fall. Crickets from open desert and neighboring yards keep moving in during a heavy season, so regular visits do more than a single treatment. Expect some dead crickets around the garage and patio for a few days after a visit, and sweep them up, since piles of dead crickets smell as they break down.
Crickets are covered by our general pest control plans, and if they come back between scheduled visits, we return and re-treat at no extra charge. Our pest control plans page explains the monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly options, and pricing is quoted after a free inspection.
Frequently asked questions
Why are there so many crickets around my house in the fall?
Cricket numbers in the Phoenix area rise in late summer and fall, when crickets that hatched earlier in the year reach adult size. Adult field crickets fly at night and are drawn to lights, so they gather at lit doors and windows. Damp ground cover and irrigated beds near the house give them places to hide during the day.
Do crickets attract scorpions?
Crickets are one of the main foods of the Arizona bark scorpion, and scorpions hunt where crickets gather. Heavy cricket activity near a house often means more scorpions nearby, which is why reducing crickets is part of our scorpion control. Homes with both problems should have both treated.
What color light bulb attracts fewer crickets?
Yellow bug-light bulbs and warm-color LED bulbs attract fewer crickets and other night-flying insects than bright white or bluish bulbs. No bulb keeps crickets away completely, and it helps to move lights away from doors and switch off fixtures that are not in use.
Can crickets live inside the house?
House crickets can live and breed indoors in warm places such as utility rooms and garages. Field crickets, the dark ones that gather at lights in late summer, wander inside but rarely breed there. Sealing the garage door and adding door sweeps cuts down on how many get in.
Is cricket control included in general pest control?
Crickets are covered by our general pest control plans. Technicians treat around the foundation and garage on each visit and add granular bait in landscape rock where it is needed. If crickets come back between scheduled visits, we return and re-treat at no extra charge.