Content:
- What are Crickets?
- What is the Easiest Way to Catch a Cricket?
- 5 Homemade Cricket Trap
- Best Baits to Easily Lure Crickets into Your Traps
- Placing Your Traps
- Final Thoughts
Crickets can constitute a serious nuisance to man. However, do you know that they taste really delicious and are very rich in proteins and vitamins?
Are you tired of the incessant chirping of crickets, and need some bait or food? This article will teach you easy methods to catch a cricket.
What are Crickets?
There are about 900 different types of crickets in the world. Field crickets, black crickets, tree crickets, and green crickets are some of the most common species.
Crickets may be found all throughout the world, so there is no need to panic if you see one in your home.
Generally, cricket does not pose any real danger to you as a human since they are not one of the most destructive insects. The major trouble that these tiny insects bring to your home however is the endless chirping which disrupts your sleep moment at night especially if they take up comfort in your home and lay eggs.
In addition to this, the insects can damage your books, fabrics, and carpets and there is the possibility of them carrying diseases. For these reasons, crickets are hardly welcomed in any home.
What is the Easiest Way to Catch a Cricket?
Just as crickets can be caught for a variety of reasons, there are almost as many techniques to catch them.
Although many people would rather want to eradicate a cricket totally instead, you can just catch it with a trap and make it serve other important purposes like feeding it to your pet snake or making a delicacy out of it.
The easiest technique is by using a trap. Continue reading this article if you want to collect crickets by the dozen in no time using different methods.
5 Homemade Cricket Traps
The best way to control the spread of crickets is by preventing them from gaining an entry into your home but if your house is already infested by the insect, do not worry, there are clever methods that you can use to capture them for usage or prevent the spread.
Plastic Trap
Cricket traps are an excellent method to repurpose plastic bottles that have found their way into your home. To make a plastic trap, you’ll need:
- Scissors or a knife.
- Tape.
- Sugar or other bait.
Use a sharp knife to cut around the circumference of the bottle. Cut where the cylinder is the widest, not where it is the smallest by the opening.
Invert the top and place it inside the bottle, forming a funnel with the spout. Then seal the top edge of the bottle with duct tape. Crickets can conveniently get inside but have a lot of trouble getting out, which is why this strategy works so well.
Sprinkle the bottle with sugar or another form of bait. Because crickets like carbohydrates and sugar, you have a wide range of foods to pick from. Continue sprinkling until the bottle has a fine layer of sugar at the bottom.
Leave the bottle in the cricket-infested area overnight. It should be buzzing with crickets the following morning.
To get rid of them, remove the tape and open the trap to get them into your desired container
Newspaper Trap
Crickets are drawn to carb-rich foods, so a combination of bread and granulated sugar will most likely attract a large number of them. For this method, you will need:
- Plain bread crumbs.
- Granulated sugar.
- Newspaper or paper towel.
- Jar.
Mix together equal parts of plain bread crumbs and sugar. Do not use flavored bread, plain bread is a better option because crickets detest some odors.
Sprinkle the mixture over areas of the ground where crickets are frequently found. Using a single sheet of newspaper, cover the mixture overnight.
The next morning, take a jar with a firm lid with you, lift the newspaper, and catch as many crickets as you can. If you want to keep the crickets alive after you catch them, poke holes in the lid.
The best time to do this is in the morning since most crickets are nocturnal and will hop away into hideouts if you wait till sunlight.
Note that this method is preferable in outdoor usage as the sprinkling of bread crumbs and sugar may invite other insects such as roaches into your home.
Duct Tape Trap
Duct tapes or sticky boards can be used to catch crickets, flying insects, and even mice. Making your own glue traps is simple and inexpensive, and they work just as well as store-bought sticky boards.
Place the sticky side of duct tape up where you frequently see crickets and leave it overnight. You can put baits like molasses or bread near the sticky trap to draw them to it.
Return to the place in the morning to dispose of the crickets which are stuck to the tape as they try to walk across.
This method is more effective indoors since the tape can easily harbor dirt if kept outside. Any pet or critters can get stuck so keep them in safe spaces such as under the refrigerator
Cardboard Tube Trap
You start by placing a small amount of food in a cardboard tube. Then you place the tube in the cricket-infested areas. This way, crickets will be able to jump into the tube but unable to jump out.
Return to the tube the next morning to collect the insects for storage.
This method works effectively both indoors and outside the house.
Loaf of Bread
Using a bread slicer, cut a long loaf of bread in half lengthwise (do not use an already sliced bread). Dig a hole in both sides of the bread with a spoon, then place it in a bowl.
Mix some of the removed bread with granulated sugar. Fill one of the hollowed-out halves with the mixture. Fill the container with as much as you can. Replace the top and use rubber bands, duct tape, or toothpicks to keep the loaf together.
Remove the bread’s ends and slice them off. This allows the crickets to enter the hollowed-out part. Place the bread in the cricket area. You should have a full loaf of crickets in the morning.
Best Baits to Easily Lure Crickets into Your Trap
When using any or all of the homemade traps discussed earlier, you need to use bait to lure the cricket into your trap.
A combination of something sweet and a sort of carb is the greatest bait to utilize in your DIY trap. To entice a cricket out of hiding, you can place bowls containing tasty items or smells that are appealing to them.
Although the commonest is bread and sugar, you can also make use of granular foods such as oats, cereals, soda, baby carrots, sweet potatoes, or even beer. Note that because dried bread has a stronger aroma that attracts them, it usually works better than fresh bread.
Any of these substances can be placed in a bowl or cup near cricket hiding areas to entice them inside.
Lastly, turning on lights at night is an excellent technique to attract a cricket out of hiding.
Placing Your Cricket Traps
The next important thing is picking a venue for putting your trap. Regardless of whether you intend to completely eradicate them or keep them for usage, it is very important that you pick a good location for your traps if at all you want to have a catch.
Focus on the areas where you both see and hear the bugs frequently. Once crickets find a place to live, they hardly depart far from it.
Also, look for dark and private spaces near your house, such as bushes and gardens, and place a trap there
Crickets can enter your home through your front door or any other opening they come across, such as a gap between your window and its frame. Thus, it is a nice idea to keep a trap nearby
At least one cricket trap should be placed in each corner of your attic and basement, as well as one beneath your refrigerator. It’s also a good idea to keep them in your cabinets.
Final Thoughts
Cricket trapping is a frequent activity among pet owners to obtain live feed, as well as to obtain live bait for fishing.
DIY traps are the cheapest and easiest ways to catch crickets since most of the needed items are already in your home. Follow our strategies to catch crickets.
