On a warm summer night in Boise, the chirping from the driveway can be loud enough to hear through a closed window. Crickets gather along concrete edges, garage doors and foundation cracks, and once a few find their way into the garage or basement, the chirping moves indoors too. They’re harmless to people, but they’re noisy, they can chew fabric and paper, and a lot of crickets near the house usually means spiders aren’t far behind.
Here’s why crickets collect around Treasure Valley driveways, which ones you’re hearing and what actually keeps them away from the house.
Why Crickets Like Driveways
Concrete and asphalt soak up heat during the day and release it after sunset, so driveways and sidewalks stay warmer than the surrounding lawn well into the night. Crickets are drawn to that warmth. The edges also give them shelter: cracks and expansion joints, the gap between the slab and the lawn, landscape rock and the bottom seal of a garage door.
Light plays a big part, too. Porch lights, garage lights and landscape lighting draw insects at night, and crickets are no exception. Irrigated lawns next to dry pavement add the moisture they need.
Which Crickets You’re Hearing
Field crickets
Dark brown to black, about an inch long, and the loud, steady chirpers of late summer. They live in lawns and fields and move toward houses as fall approaches. Field crickets are the ones most likely to wander into garages and basements. University of Missouri Extension has a good overview of house-invading crickets, including field crickets.
House crickets
Lighter, yellowish-brown, with dark bands on the head. They’re more comfortable indoors and can survive in warm basements and utility rooms.
Camel crickets
Humpbacked, wingless and silent. They prefer cool, damp, dark spaces like crawl spaces, window wells and basements, and they jump when disturbed.
Why Only the Males Chirp
The chirping is a mating call made by males rubbing their wings together. It gets faster as the temperature rises, which is why warm nights are louder. One cricket in a garage can sound like many, and the sound often seems to come from everywhere.
Crickets and Spiders
Crickets are a food source for wolf spiders, hobo spiders and black widows. If crickets are gathering along your driveway and garage, it’s common to see more spiders there as well. Our post on spider control for Eagle garages covers that connection, and the spider identification guide helps you tell what you’re seeing.
How to Reduce Crickets Around Your Driveway
Change the lighting
- Switch porch, garage and landscape lights to yellow or warm LED bulbs.
- Use motion sensors so lights aren’t on all night.
- Close blinds in rooms facing the driveway after dark.
Seal the garage and foundation
- Replace a worn or torn garage door bottom seal and check the side seals.
- Add sweeps to entry doors between the garage and the house.
- Seal cracks in the foundation and gaps where pipes and wires enter.
- Fill or seal larger driveway cracks and expansion joints.
Our post on bug spray for doors covers what works at entry points and what doesn’t.
Clear shelter along the edges
- Keep a strip of bare ground or gravel between the driveway and dense groundcover or mulch.
- Move firewood, boards, bags and stored items off the garage floor and away from the slab edge.
- Trim tall grass along driveway and sidewalk edges.
Control moisture
- Adjust sprinklers so they don’t soak the driveway edges or foundation.
- Fix leaky hose bibs and make sure downspouts drain away from the house.
- Run a dehumidifier in damp basements.
Deal with the ones already inside
Vacuum up crickets you find indoors, and use sticky traps along garage and basement walls to catch strays and see where they’re coming in.
Crickets in Late Summer and Fall
Cricket noise around the Treasure Valley usually peaks from late July through September, when adults are fully grown and males are calling. As nights cool in fall, field crickets look for warmer shelter, and that’s when they’re most likely to end up in garages, window wells and basements. Sealing and lighting changes made in midsummer pay off most in fall.
When to Call a Professional
If crickets keep getting into the garage or basement despite sealing and lighting changes, or you’re seeing a lot of spiders along with them, a technician can inspect the outside of the house, find the gaps they’re using and recommend the right approach. Spiders, ants, wasps, mice, rats and fall invaders are the core pests in our residential pest control. Give us a call to ask about crickets around your home. We offer quarterly, bi-annual and one-time service, and quarterly service plan customers get free return visits.
Serving Boise and the Treasure Valley
ProGuard is based in Eagle and serves homes and businesses in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Star, Middleton, Emmett and Garden City. Call (208) 352-2062 or contact us to schedule your inspection.