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Kyle Kraft
09-10-2007, 1:12 PM
Anybody have info on a cricket trap either store bought or home made? I'm looking at getting rid of these pests "dead or alive" (preferably dead).

There are couple that got in my basement, and a grip of them in my garage that need to die.

Jim Becker
09-10-2007, 1:53 PM
My shop seems to be a "Cricket trap". Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to kill them is my foot...when I can catch them. I'm looking forward to the suggestions in this thread.

Benjamin Dahl
09-10-2007, 2:39 PM
I have had decent success with ortho home defense spray (not a trap) that I spray occasionally for palmetto bugs. the spray definitely kills crickets as well and seems to last for a while (at least 2-3 months in my shop setting).
Ben

Nancy Laird
09-10-2007, 3:26 PM
Kyle, try to find an old-fashioned hardware store and ask for a roach or cricket trap. See a picture here: http://www.bugs.osu.edu/~bugdoc/Shetlar/PCDevices/roachtraps1.htm. Then when you find one (if you can), put some bread in the bottom. The bugs crawl in, fall down the tube and can't get out. I can remember my parents having one on the back porch when I was small and using the crickets for fishing bait.

Nancy (102 days)

Cliff Rohrabacher
09-10-2007, 3:49 PM
criskets~!! HA I have wolf spiders that out weigh me.

Wrestled with one for an hour and a half yesterday before I bit it in the thorax and bled it to death.

David G Baker
09-10-2007, 7:54 PM
Kyle
I live about 30 miles North of Mount Pleasant and have noticed that crickets are out in force this year. The biggest infestation I have seen in years. The Ortho Home Defense seems to work but it may already be a little late because the critters have already found places to hide where the spray won't reach them. I have used a product made by Black Flag that comes in two parts. You put one of the parts in water that is held in the second part and the product emits a smoke that will kill almost any critter in a building if it is closed up for several hours. The product claims to kill the critters in all of the hidden spaces in your building.
Nancy's suggestion of using roach traps also works well.
I have never used crickets for bait when fishing and haven't a clue on how to attach them to a line.

Dave Laird in NM
09-10-2007, 8:12 PM
Kyle I have never used crickets for bait when fishing and haven't a clue on how to attach them to a line.

Just run the hooks through their little bodies and watch them wiggle as you dunk them in the water. They'll keep on wiggling for a few minutes and attract the fish.

Nancy (102 days)

Peter Stahl
09-11-2007, 6:02 AM
The last house I was in I had crickets get in and what a pain. Got a male Jack Russell pup and he caught most of them. He would bite off the back legs, no more noise. He's always chomping at a bug that flys by. I have to watch it when there are bees.

David G Baker
09-11-2007, 10:24 AM
Peter,
I have some hearing loss and it seems that it is in the frequency range of crickets, but I can hear them when a bunch of them get together and sing. The frequency range seems to coincide with the sound of a female's nagging voice.
I have a cat that loves to munch on crickets.

Kyle Kraft
09-11-2007, 11:50 AM
Thanks for the suggestions, looks like the roach trap would be pretty easy to build.

Lee Schierer
09-11-2007, 12:51 PM
The last house I was in I had crickets get in and what a pain. Got a male Jack Russell pup and he caught most of them. He would bite off the back legs, no more noise. He's always chomping at a bug that flys by. I have to watch it when there are bees.
Actually crickets use their wings to make the sound. The legs are only for transportation.

Cliff Rohrabacher
09-11-2007, 2:46 PM
Thanks for the suggestions, looks like the roach trap would be pretty easy to build.

Yah but what are you going to bait it with?

Nancy Laird
09-11-2007, 3:28 PM
And it's only the male crickets who make the sounds!! (Gotta be something to be said about that, but I can't think of anything at the moment.

"Crickets are known for their chirp (which only male crickets can do; male wings have ridges or "teeth" that act like a "comb and file" instrument). The left forewing has a thick rib (a modified vein) which bears 50 to 300 "teeth". The chirp is generated by raising their left forewing to a 45 degree angle and rubbing it against the upper hind edge of the right forewing, which has a thick scraper . This sound producing action is called "stridulation" " and the song is species-specific. There are two types of cricket songs: a calling song and a courting song. The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song. Crickets chirp at different rates depending on their species and the temperature of their environment. Most species chirp at higher rates the higher the temperature is (approx. 60 chirps a minute at 13*C in one common species; each species has its own rate). The relationship between temperature and the rate of chirping is known as Dolbear's Law. In fact, according to this law, it is possible to calculate the temperature in Fahrenheit by adding 40 to the number of chirps produced in 15 seconds by the snowy tree cricket common in the United States." (Wikipedia.)

Bait the trap with bread. It works.

Nancy (101 days)

Karlan Talkington
09-21-2007, 9:38 PM
A pretty decent trap can be made with an empty 2-liter cola bottle.

But the bottle 1/3 from the top and invert into the bottom half to form the trap. Bait with a slice of apple. The crickets will climb in for the apple and won't be able to get out. Just take outside and dumb or use them for bait.
C'est La Vie!

Karlan Talkington
Novice woodworker, Avid Learner

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my children may have peace." - Thomas Paine

Curt Fuller
09-21-2007, 10:05 PM
As the legend goes, the early Mormon pioneers were invaded by crickets and the seagulls came and saved the day. Hence, the Seagull is the Utah state bird even though we're some 800 miles from the ocean and the seagulls mainly live at the dump nowadays.

http://ldsfaq.byu.edu/emmain.asp?number=168

Kyle Kraft
09-22-2007, 2:57 PM
I saw that trap idea in a woodworking magazine, of all places, and tried it with a slab of tomato as the person suggested. All I got was a rotten slab of tomato. I could try again with some apple, as maybe my crickets just don't care for tomato.

Karlan Talkington
09-24-2007, 12:25 PM
I use it to keep my garage/workshop clean of crickets. I have only used apples slices so I don't know if I'm just lucky or if crickets have certain likes/dislikes. It helps to also keep the trap in a cool dark place.