What is this small black cricket in my house?

"Do black clickets fly? I keep finding them in my home, and I don’t know how or why they’re getting in."

Most often, when you find a black cricket in your house, it will be a field cricket (Gryllus genus), which vary in size. You might find a tiny black cricket or a larger, fully grown cricket hopping about in the house.

Why are there black crickets in my house?

Crickets are drawn to warmth, moisture, and light: everything your home can provide. Crickets usually enter homes through gaps around doors, cracks in siding or around windows, and open windows and doors.

The fact that field crickets can fly means they’re especially skilled at getting indoors through open windows, where they’ll most likely be attracted to a light. While jumping and flying insects can be annoying, field crickets aren’t harmful to humans. They can damage fabrics, paper, or stored food if present in larger numbers, though.

How to prevent field crickets from getting in

Here are tips you can use to prevent and get rid of field crickets in your home: 

1. Seal entry points like gaps under doors and around windows
2. Install or repair screens on windows and doors
3. Reduce outdoor lights at night 
4. Use sticky traps to catch those that make it indoors 

For long-term protection, especially if you are seeing many crickets in your home, our technicians can provide you with cricket control by helping to remove crickets that have made it inside, as well as inspecting your home and implementing exclusion techniques to help prevent them from getting inside in the future.