Cricket problems

[Az tortoise compound]

I need a little help here. Our outdoor enclosures are becoming over run with crickets. I don't want to spray any pesticides for obvious reasons.
What can a person do to suppress them? I don't think they will ever be eliminated.
I know spiders eat them but in my mind spiders are just as bad. I have a family of lizards (native and naturally occurring) that live in and around the pens but they are out gunned. Should I buy a group of geckos and hope they don't run away into the neighbor's yard? Praying mantis? Any ideas no matter how odd will be appreciated.

 

[Len B]

Toads, they hunt for food at night the same time the crickets are most active.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Toads, they hunt for food at night the same time the crickets are most active.

2nd this excellent suggestion...adopt some native toads and your problem wioll soon disappear!

 

[dolfanjack]

Just curious, Whats wrong with lots of crickets?

 

[Az tortoise compound]

Well besides being kinda creepy, they attract the predators that feed on them. Black widow spiders and bark scorpions are the two most frequent here in Phoenix. I am not interested in either of them. Anyone have any ideas besides a toad? I will need to research a little to find which species does well here.

 

[terryo]

Frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders and chickens. Get yourself some chickens.

 

[Neal]

Personally I think your out of luck. We are infested with crickets, lizards, and toads. Over the past three days I have found 3 scorpions in the back yard. So you can get all the lizards and toads you want, but in my experience you'll end up with more of those then you want and still have a cricket problem. I've tried diatomaceous earth and certain plants, but nothing has stopped the crickets.

I know this isn't popular but the only thing that works for me is to use some high grade bug spray. If you can't get any (I think you need some sort of license) you'll have to call the bug man. I make sure I am home when they come over, I tell them to not spray too much in the backyard and to use their spray cans. I usually have them spray right up against the house where I don't have any grass or plants, and on the outside of the hide boxes where there is no grass or anything growing. I don't have them come over to much, maybe twice a year, but have never had any problems. It takes care of the crickets for a couple of months anyways. I know there is a lot of concern with bug spray around tortoises so don't take this as a recomendation, only how I handle that issue.

 

[Tom]

Tough one. I tried mantids this year for the biting flies. Didn't seem to help much. I use Tokay Geckos INSIDE my roach room, but they'd just leave outside.

Unfortunately, Neal is probably right on this one. Some very careful applications of pesticides might do it. In the past I've tried flea sprays that are safe to put on kittens. Kittens are very sensitive, so I figured these would be the safest around the animals. I had mixed success.

 

[dmmj]

the poison suggestion reminds me of the simpsons episode where monty burns released a bunch of cricket poison to kill some crickets outside his home.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have a mercury vapor light hanging right above the door to my house. It comes on automatically in the evening, and calls all the moths, mantises, crickets, beetles...every bug in the world! There is a bit of a space under my door, and I get lots of bugs in the house, especially the crickets. I hate their chirping. So what I've done is lay down a bead of boric acid powder along the threshold. It keeps them from crossing into the house. I believe it also kills them. It has been very effective for me.

I also have many, many toads that the light calls to. They are quite good at eating the bugs that come down to the ground close enough for them to get.