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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 7:54am | IP Logged
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Ugggghhhh.
My cats dismember them. I sweep them up. I can live with this.
But they are SO LOUD in my basement. I think they're in the sump pump area. I get up early to write and I can't even think because of the noise.
(Of course, now that I'm talking about them, all's quiet. Grrr.)
The pest control guy has been here. No help. The cats are doing their best but I think they are tired of chasing the pesky crickets.
All advice welcome.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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marihalojen
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Snakes. Snakes love damp basements and crickets. 
Of course, I don't know if this is the advice you were looking for but it sure worked for us! Not that I voluntarily put a snake in the basement but once I had dh remove the cute little thing, the crickets came back full force. 
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 12:34pm | IP Logged
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Okay, snakes won't work for me and we don't have a cat. Anything else? Ours are so bad that Michael is sleeping on the couch upstairs because the basement is too loud to sleep.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MaryM
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 12:36pm | IP Logged
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marihalojen wrote:
Snakes. Snakes love damp basements and crickets.
Of course, I don't know if this is the advice you were looking for but it sure worked for us! Not that I voluntarily put a snake in the basement but once I had dh remove the cute little thing, the crickets came back full force. |
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How funny since another thread is trying to get rid of snakes!
This looks like the perfect beginning to our little children's story that was started there. Because after you got the snake to eat the crickets, then we would need the goats to scare the snakes, then the lions to eat the goats, the Masaii warrior to chase the lions.... oh my!
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MaryM
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
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And you probably aren't looking for cute little go along picture books - but in case you are  A Pocketful of Cricket is an adorable book. Great nature study picture book.
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 12:48pm | IP Logged
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Found this info online
Outdoor lighting is the most important single cause of severe cricket infestations around homes and commercial buildings. Buildings that are brightly lit at night are most likely to attract the largest numbers of crickets during the fall mating season. Reducing outdoor lights is the first, and most important, step in a cricket control program.
All potential points of entry for crickets should be caulked or sealed. Such sites include weep holes, soffits along the eaves of homes, windows, garage doors, etc. Crickets are especially likely to enter cracks and openings around outdoor lights, so check these areas carefully. Steel or brass wool may be stuffed in weep holes as temporary insect barriers, while allowing continued air circulation.
The heaviest cricket mating flights usually last only 1-2 weeks, although crickets will continue to remain active for many weeks, until cold weather arrives.
I knew they are only active when it is warmer, so can you make it really cold.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 1:15pm | IP Logged
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I recommend a big, fat wolf spider or two. 
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 26 2006 at 2:56pm | IP Logged
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LOL!
Can't stuff the doorway...defeats the purpose of the sump pump, after all...don't have outdoor lights back there or near the garage door...???
Snakes are DEFINITELY out. Ack. I had one in my dryer once...what a surprise when it slithered over my arm onto the floor...where it promptly got stuck on a glue trap left over from a mouse problem. Dh used all my nail polish remover getting the poor thing off the trap.
I am not planning to make it really cold right now. Perhaps we should ask the Good Lord to take care of that one? (After I get firewood!)
Our crickets are way, way bigger than our wolf spiders. Maybe I should just proceed directly to the warrior step. (We'll probably end up like "The King, the Mice and the Cheese," though!)
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Sarah
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| Posted: Sept 27 2006 at 2:36pm | IP Logged
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Definately don't spray to kill your spiders, since they will eat them.
Its my understanding that there are certain years that are worse than others.
When we lived in Oklahoma City a while ago we had plague year with them. They were everywhere. I remember them jumping on me while I was sleeping, jumping out of no where and onto my plate while eating . It was miserable. . .and then it resolved.
The sprays people use to kill them are worse for people than the crickets are. They might chew a hole in some clothes, but that's about it. . . besides being LOUD.
I think its one of those "grin and bear it" situations.
We have lots now, but we also have ENORMOUS spiders, which must be eating them. I leave the wolfies when I can. If they are an accidental invader in my bedroom or main living area. . .they're toast. I can't deal with spiders as big as mice running across my floor.
If your kids smash a big cricket (outdoors) it might contain an egg sack. Their eggs look like rice. 
I impressed the kids the other night serving cricket/grasshopper eggs instead of rice. Okay, it WAS rice, but they thought it was cool.  I'm a bug mom!
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marihalojen
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| Posted: Sept 27 2006 at 5:26pm | IP Logged
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You could go fishing.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Crickets!
