How to Get Rid of Crickets in a Basement

Listening to crickets chirping in your basement at night can be an unpleasant experience to anyone. If you have valuable furniture items, paper products, and clothes stored in your basement, cricket songs should ring alarm bells in your ears due to their slightly destructive nature. However, with our short and effective guide on how to get rid of crickets in basement, we assure you calm and peaceful summer nights.

Things You’ll Need

Here is a list of things that may come in handy when you set out to get rid of crickets in your basement.

Cricket Trap

Bug repellent spray

Molasses

Caulk Sealant

How to Get Rid of Crickets in a Basement in 8 Steps

Tip 1: Trap the crickets using cricket bait.

This is the most effective and immediate solution to alluring crickets from the corners and crevices of your basement. It is also pretty simple as all you will need is a few spoonsful of molasses and water. Take a shallow bowl and place 2-3 tablespoons of molasses in it. Fill it halfway up with water. You can do this with multiple bowls if there is a cricket infestation in your basement.

How to Get Rid of Crickets in a Basement

Crickets love molasses, and the smell wafting from these bowls will make them stick to the water and molasses mixture as soon as they jump into the bowl. You can also buy chemical bait to get rid of crickets, but it is not children or pet-friendly due to toxic chemicals.

Tip 2: Seal your basement – cover all bases.

This is the ultimate long-term solution for getting rid of crickets and any other insects in general – prevent them from entering your basement to begin with. You can easily get a caulk-based sealant from Amazon; use it to caulk any windows and cracks in the basement walls as crickets tend to make nests in such places. Crickets can get through the smallest of cracks, so examine your basement for any such openings.

Tip 3: Catch the crickets by setting a trap.

Just like the molasses bait, setting up glue traps is another effective and non-toxic way of getting rid of crickets in your basement. Try to locate a good position for placing these traps by listening to the cricket’s song at night. If you are not sure where to place your cricket traps, good possible locations can be along the sides of the walls, windows, and doors. Any passages closer to heat and moisture will also make for good placement areas for the trap.

Tip 4: Vacuum cricket eggs, clean your basement.

Trash smells and junk attract crickets, and they love to nest in dark corners and crevices. Your basement can be ideal in this case if it is full of old junk and furniture. If any areas of your basement are carpeted, make sure to vacuum those to remove cricket eggs. If a cricket lays eggs in your basement, it can quickly become infested. We recommend using a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEFA) filter in your vacuum. Throw away the vacuumed contents in a sealed plastic bag.

Tip 5: Cut back on any vegetation near the basement area.

To get rid of crickets in your basement, make sure to keep any tall grass surrounding your basement area short and trimmed. This is because crickets love hanging out in shrubs and vegetation. Similarly, compost piles, mulch piles, and any wood piles should not be stored in or near your basement.

An additional step can be to check your drains and roof gutters for any plant debris to prevent crickets from nesting in them. Moreover, you should consider planting dense vegetation away from your basement and home – this way, you will not be depriving crickets of their habitat and getting rid of them at the same time.

Tip 6: Natural predators could be a solution.

Sometimes natural predators can be a natural solution to get rid of crickets in your basement. This does not mean we are advising you to rent out your basement to lizards or spiders but perhaps just wait a couple of days to see if one of the spiders already living in your basement, preys upon the cricket that has been giving you sleepless nights. Cats and birds are also natural cricket predators.

So, if you have a cat or pet bridie, you can spend a couple of nights with them in your basement depending on how feasible the idea is for you. Some people have video game and movie setups in their basements while others like to use them for storing unneeded material. However, if the cricket problem persists, you can consider using any of the other techniques we mentioned.

Tip 7: Remove bright lights from your basement.

Bright lights attract crickets, and if your basement is lit up with strong lights at night for any reason, this may lure crickets into your basement. Therefore, using lower-light ‘bug lights or amber LED lights can help in getting rid of crickets. If keeping the lights open is necessary for any reason, consider getting blinds for the windows in your basement.

Tip 8: Use a bug spray.

This is a frequently used technique that you may be already aware of. Using any standard bug repellant spray to get rid of crickets is an effective but toxic way. This is also why we are putting it last, as chemical repellents can harm pets and children. In any case, they are effective and do the job and may, in fact, be, your only solution in case of a cricket infestation in your basement.

Our Final Thoughts

A silent summer night can be very sleepless if cricket has found its way into your basement. Constant chirping from crickets can give anyone a headache, and if they increase in number, they can also harm your furniture, clothes, and even paper products. However, we hope that with our short guide on how to get rid of crickets in basement, you are able to keep your basement cricket-free in a non-toxic way.