Crickets!

[gritsar]

Anyone have more than a passing knowledge about them?

First a lil background: We have been living for almost two years now in the farmhouse that my SO's family built 40 yrs. ago. Before we moved in the house sat empty for about 2 yrs. and for a few yrs. before that his mama lived here, but she was already sick then and not able to keep the house up. When we first moved in I had to do battle with tons of spiders...what I call granddaddy long legs. I knocked down tons of webs and relocated the spiders to the garden area. I guess they finally got the idea because I rarely find one now.
Anyhow, the house is overrun with crickets. I find at least 2 -3 per day. Most of the ones I find appear to be in the process of dying. A few, like the one I just helped outside, are still pretty small and lively. I tell each and every one of them that they get a free ride this time, but once I get my chickens they will be going in a jar for snack time.
I've never seen so many crickets in a house before. Why could they possibly be here? Oh! and they don't make alot of noise like you'd expect.

 

[theOEGBman]

It could be for warmth. If you have moist areas in their house, they might be laying eggs. I've tried breeding crickets before, and they layed the eggs in moist soil. If they appear to be dying, maybe they layed eggs and are reaching the end of their life. That's why you could be finding so many. I dont know what you can do about it though, whenever one of mine gets loose, my mom screams her head off and I grab it,lol. Also, its the males that make the noise, and they only do it once they reach breeding age ( I BELIEVE, its what I've read.). Maybe you had a million hatch recently and they havent reached breeding age. Heck if I know,lol.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

The spiders would totally freak me out. I am so deathly afraid of them getting on me. When I was little my grandparents lived in a really old house and when I would get in the bathtub, long legged black spiders ould creep out around the tops of the tub like a horror movie, proably never got too clean as a kid because I would jump out and run screaming everytime I saw one...and there was a never ending supply of them..guess they like the damp, dark crevices too....the crickets, on the other hand wouldn't bother me too much, catch them and your chickens will gobble them up...hope they aren't those spider-cricket-thingys with the huge bent long legs...yuck, creepy. Regular crickets are supposed to be good luck in a house (why, I have no idea, lol!) so you should have plenaty of good luck!!!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
The only creature that provokes the auto-squish reflex in me is centipedes! I try to make the distinction between centipedes and millipedes (harmless lil things), but usually I have squished before I get that far in my thinking.

Centipedes are just....wrong!

 

[Gonzo the Great]

Well, in Asia, crickets are considered good luck . So enjoy the good fortunes!

 

[nccountrygirl]

My chickens love crickets, turn a chicken loose in your house and they will be gone PDQ.