The nocturnal House Cricket makes a disctinct chirping sound and normally lives outdoors. It will, however, venture inside, searching out warm areas such as the kitchen, fireplace or in cracks. House Crickets are from 1/4 to 1 inch long, with yellow-brown coloring and three darker bands on their heads.

They will eat and drink virtually anything available, and are partial to crumbs and food scraps. House Crickets will place their eggs in tight spaces such as cracks and baseboards, laying from 40 to 170 eggs at one time. The egg stage for House Crickets lasts from 2 to three months.

Use caution when handling House Crickets, as they do bite.

Halt Bugology Factoid
Male House Crickets make their song by rubbing a scraper on the inner edge of the left wing against the teeth of a file that is beneath the right wing. The calling song is a series of short chirps consisting of two or three pulses which correspond to two or three wing closures (graphs). (Factoid Source: Thomas J. Walker, University of Florida)

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