Crickets in the Basement? Why They Show Up in September
The chirping starts somewhere below the floor and stops the second you open the basement door. Cricket season peaks in summer, but September is when they stop living in your yard and start living in your house.
The reason is simple. As nights cool, crickets look for warm shelter to lay eggs, and a basement is close to perfect.
Why Cricket Control Matters in September, Not October
A single female can lay between 150 and 400 eggs in one season. If she lays them in a warm basement in September, you are not dealing with the crickets you can hear. You are dealing with the ones that hatch later, in a space that stays warm all winter.
That is why the timing matters. Treating and sealing now interrupts the cycle before it becomes an indoor population.
Which Cricket You Have on Long Island and in NYC
Three species turn up regularly across Nassau County, Suffolk County, and the boroughs:
- Field crickets are the loud ones, up to three quarters of an inch, dark brown or black with large rounded wings
- House crickets are yellowish brown with three dark stripes behind the head, and they are the species that damages fabric
- Camel crickets are tan with a humped back and no chirp at all, and they prefer cool dark spaces, which is why basements and crawl spaces suit them
Camel crickets catch people off guard because they make no noise. You find them by sight, usually jumping when the light goes on.
How Crickets Get Into Basements and Crawl Spaces
Crickets come in at ground level, through the same openings that let in moisture:
- Gaps under basement and garage doors
- Unscreened or damaged crawl space vents
- Cracks in older foundations and window wells
- Utility line penetrations
- Anything stacked against the house, like firewood or cardboard
Look for live insects indoors, small brown droppings, and small oval egg cases, called oothecae, tucked into corners.
What They Actually Damage
Crickets are not a structural threat, but house crickets do real damage to fabrics and will feed on clothing, upholstery, and stored linen. In a finished basement, that means carpet and furniture. They also draw in spiders, which follow the food source indoors.
Dry It Out and Seal It Up
Run a dehumidifier, fix leaking pipes and drainage that pools near the foundation, get cardboard storage up off the floor, and swap exterior white bulbs for yellow ones, which pull fewer insects toward the door in the first place.
For an infestation already inside, the fix is treatment plus exclusion, since removing the crickets without closing the entry points only buys a few weeks. Crickets are covered under our KO-12 Annual Program along with ants, spiders, silverfish, and mice.
Knockout Pest Control has been family owned and locally operated since 1975, serving Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester County, and Rockland County. Call (800) 244-7378 or request a free estimate any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. New customers get $50 off the initial service.
