Pest specialist gives tips to help East Texans guard homes against cricket invasion

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The crickets in East Texas are making themselves known with their infamous chirps and invasion of indoor spaces in the excessive summer heat.

This spring created the perfect mating conditions for the insects: moist air and moderate temperatures.

Like most insects, they find their way into homes and businesses seeking shelter from the brutal temperatures.

“They need three things: enough of the weather moisture to make them, and then, the right amount of food, and then, a little good place to harbor,” says integrative pest control specialist Janet Hurley.

They have even found a way to join a church for Sunday services -- and every other day of the week.

“We do have an exterminator that comes every month, in fact, we’ve even called him back out on occasion, and there’s just crickets,” says Scott Brown, a pastor at First Baptist Church in Bullard. “It’s nobody’s fault, and we’re just having to live with the chirping that comes with that,” he adds.

Hurley has some helpful tips for how to prevent the crickets from making your home theirs.

She says, “The biggest preventative measure is, if you don’t want them in a building, make sure your doors seal correctly, and the easiest way to check that is take a credit card, see if you can slip it under the door. If you can slip it under the door, or a pencil tip, or even a hard piece of cardstock or something, chances are a bug can get in.”

She also recommends positioning outdoor house-lights to face the house, but from a distance, maybe in a yard or near the street, because crickets are attracted to them.

Luckily, Hurley predicts the crickets will die off in the extreme heat over the next few weeks, but she also warns of their potential return this fall.

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