Mystery insect in Jackson, NJ basement is Cave Cricket

Challenge

I was dispatched to a Jackson residence to resolve a “bug” infestation of some sort in the basement. Most bugs are identifiable, but here, the homeowner could not identify the type of bug. So, I arrived at the residence wondering what mystery insect I would be confronting. After speaking with the homeowner, I descended into the basement with my trusty flashlight, not sure what was awaiting me. I came upon an infestation that you don’t see every day. This homeowner had an extensive cave cricket infestation.

Cave crickets? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of them. Most haven’t. Crickets as a group of insects are part of a larger insect family that includes grasshoppers and katydids. Most male crickets “chirp” by rubbing a structure called a scraper that is on the top of their wings to "a file" on the underside of their wings. For those familiar with different types of music, chirping is like playing a musical washboard used in Jug bands. It’s also like running your finger along the tooth of a comb. One fascinating part of chirping is that some crickets are natural thermometers. You can actually estimate the temperature with cricket chirps. Since crickets, like all insects, are cold blooded, when the temperature drops, everything slows down, including their chip rate. You can get a good estimate of the outdoor temperature in Fahrenheit just by counting the number of chirps in 15 seconds and adding 40. Once it gets too cold, below 55 degrees, crickets are silent.

When people think of crickets most think of black field crickets or light yellow brown house crickets. Both of these types of crickets are strongly attracted to light, have wings and can fly, and can enter buildings when the temperature starts to drop in early fall.

Cave crickets, the type of cricket in this Jackson infestation, is much different. Cave crickets are so-named because they seek out dark, damp places. Outdoors, they can be found under logs or stones or in stacks of firewood. Indoors, they like cool, dark areas with moisture like basements and crawl spaces. Unless you’ve seen them, it’s not so easy to recognize these bugs as crickets. Their appearance is quite different. Unlike other crickets, they have a distinctive humped back, and because of this feature, they are commonly called camel or camelback crickets. These crickets have long antennae and long powerful back legs, making them strong jumpers. When approaching them, they often jump right at you, giving an unsuspecting person a bit of a scare. Since they are wingless, they don’t chirp and can’t fly. They are also called “sprickets” because of their spider-like long legs. Cave crickets feed on fungi that grow on damp basement or crawl space walls. They can also feed on fabrics and cardboard, and each other. One cave cricket species, if hungry enough, will cannibalize itself, eating one or two its own legs. Heavy cave cricket infestations produce large amount of droppings that look like coffee grounds, covering walls and floors dark brown.

Solution

Fortunately, I was able to quickly resolve this infestation with an exterior perimeter crack-and-crevice treatment and some interior baiting. With the right treatment, these harmless, but nonetheless scary-looking, insects can be controlled.