There are about 900 species of crickets found in the United States. The most common types are field crickets, camel crickets, and house crickets.
Field Crickets are shiny black in color and they grow up to an inch and a quarter long with short rounded wings. Camel Crickets are tan with a humped back and have a body length of up to one and one half inches long. They have long antennae and unusually long powerful back legs giving them an unusual appearance. House crickets usually grow to about one inch in size and are a light yellow brown color.
Crickets can be found in a variety of places in the United States.
Field Crickets are the most likely to accidentally enter homes in late summer and early fall looking for a warm haven from colder evenings. Camel crickets are sometimes are fond of dark damp places. Outdoors, they can usually be found under logs or stones or in stacks of firewood. When they get indoors they can be found in cool, dark areas like basements or crawl spaces. House crickets are now common outdoors in many parts of the United States, especially around garbage dumps. Like Field Crickets, House Crickets are strongly attracted to light. Like Field Crickets, House Crickets sometimes enter buildings when it gets colder in late summer and early fall.
In order to prevent crickets from entering your home, keep plants away from the perimeter of your home, seal any cracks in windows, screens, foundation and exterior walls. Make sure to keep grass near your home trimmed short, and turn off outdoor lights as light attracts crickets.
Crickets are not aggressive towards humans. The only time they tend to bite is out of self-defense (for example, if you picked one up and squeezed it), but even then the bite doesn’t break the skin.