Pest Control in Brick, NJ

Challenge

Recently, we went out on a service call for a homeowner in Brick, NJ who was having a bit of a pest issue. As the homeowner was tending her garden she came across a number of sprickets jumping at her! Terrified, she ran inside and called Cowleys for help.

We began our inspection on the exterior of the home and came across the "sprickets." These jumping insects are actually called camel crickets or cave crickets. Continuing our inspection we noticed that the camel crickets seem to be emerging from the crawl space door. We opened the door and low and behold, discovered a large colony of camel crickets throughout the crawl space.

Outdoors, camel crickets are commonly found underneath wet leaves, rocks, and decomposing foliage. When invading a home, they seek out damp, cool areas like basements and crawl spaces. Unlike field crickets, these crickets do not have sound-producing organs and do not chirp.  Although they may look like something straight out of a Wes Craven film, they aren't harmless at all. They are wingless and they do not bite or spread diseases. In fact, their only defense to scare off predators is using their long limbs to jump when startled. To an unsuspecting predator or human being, this will scare the daylights out of you! They can become a nuisance if they gain entry into a home and some species have been known to damage clothing and other fabrics like curtains.

Solution

For treatment, we applied both a liquid application and granular bait treatment in the crawl space. We also sprayed the block wall and sill plate to stop the crickets from entering the home through any small gaps around the wire and pipe chases, and we placed more granular bait around the base of the foundation wall. Once the camel crickets come in contact with either the applications, they will ingest it and in a short amount of time, be neutralized