How to Get Rid of Spider Crickets: A Plain-English Guide
These critters may try to make their way into your home this fall. Here's how to keep these pests out without harsh chemicals.
Quick Reference
- What they are: Spider crickets, also called camel crickets, cave crickets, sprickets, or criders. Wingless, humpbacked, six-legged.
- Where you find them: Damp basements, crawl spaces, garages, and sheds across the United States, most often August through October.
- Do they bite: No fangs, no chirp. They can gnaw, and they jump toward what startles them.
- Best fix: Dry the room out. Caulk the gaps. Move woodpiles 20 feet from the house.
- Worth knowing: They eat fabric, cardboard, rugs, wood, and sometimes each other, so keep them out of finished storage.
Spider crickets are the long-legged, hump-backed jumpers that turn up in basements and crawl spaces every fall, and the first time one launches at your shin you remember it. They are not spiders. They are not the singing crickets you hear on a summer porch. They are camel crickets, sometimes called sprickets, and they are real, common, and easier to manage than they look. Here is what they are, where they come from, and the plain-English steps that keep them out without spraying the place down with anything harsh.
What Are Spider Crickets (Camel Crickets)?
Spider crickets earned that nickname because of their spider-like shape, but they are not spiders at all. They belong to the cricket family, and a single bug goes by a long list of names: camel crickets, cave crickets, sprickets, criders (a Southern term), and cave weta in New Zealand. According to NC State Extension, they get their common name from a slight humpbacked shape that brings a camel to mind. They love damp, dark places. They eat almost anything they can chew, including fungus, plant matter, paper, and other sprickets.
What Do They Look Like?
Most people meet a spider cricket and think they have found a wolf spider. The size and the color match. Look a beat longer and the differences show: long sweeping antennae, only six legs, and two oversized hind legs built for jumping. Common crickets have the same six-legs-and-jumpers build. Wolf spiders have eight legs and no antennae.
Unlike other crickets, sprickets are wingless. Their bodies have that almost humpbacked shape (hence the name camel cricket), and they can run on the large side, up to two inches long. Some readers swear they look more like a freshwater shrimp than a bug, which is one of those comparisons that you cannot un-see.
Do not lean in too close. Spider crickets jump toward whatever startles them, which means one might leap straight at you the moment it spots you. It is not an attack. It is a defense mechanism meant to spook predators long enough for the bug to escape. Knowing that ahead of time takes most of the fright out of the first encounter.
Where Do Spider Crickets Live?
You can find spider crickets all across the United States. In the wild, they prefer caves (hence the name cave cricket) and forested areas with plenty of cover: leaf litter, damp logs, rocks, and the underside of anything that holds moisture. Summer and fall are the peak active months.
Like stinkbugs, spider crickets are what entomologists call "accidental invaders." They wander into homes looking for the same conditions they want outside: dark, damp places like basements, crawlspaces, garages, and sheds. A spring with heavy rain, or a wet fall, tends to push more of them indoors as the outside cover starts to break down.
They gather in groups, sometimes large ones, which is why a flashlight in a forgotten corner can be a rough surprise. If you see one, plan on more. Sprickets are mostly harmless to humans, but you do not want them settling in, because of what they chew on next.
Your house is, from a spider cricket’s point of view, a stocked pantry. Fungus and plant matter cover most of their diet outside, but indoors they will work through fabric, rugs and carpet, wood, cardboard, stored paper, and sometimes other spider crickets. A basement full of cardboard boxes is, in their language, a buffet.
Regional Breakdown: Where Sprickets Show Up Most
Spider crickets turn up in every region, but the peak season and the worst-hit rooms shift with the climate. Here is the rough map readers report:
| Region | Peak season | Most-hit spots |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast and New England | August to October | Stone basements, bulkhead doors, root cellars |
| Mid-Atlantic and Appalachia | July to October | Crawl spaces, garages, sheds against tree lines |
| Southeast | June to November | Damp crawl spaces, garages, outdoor sheds, pool houses |
| Midwest | August to October | Finished basements, unfinished basements, sump rooms |
| Pacific Northwest | September to November | Mossy garages, woodpiles, crawl spaces |
| Mountain West and Plains | July to September | Window wells, walkout basements after wet summers |
If your house sits close to a wood line, a stone wall, or a creek, expect more pressure than the table suggests. A wet spring or a heavy late-summer rain almost always shows up as a spike in basement sightings four to six weeks later.
How to Keep Spider Crickets Out of Your Home
For a heavy infestation, a pest control professional is the cleanest route. For everything short of that, the playbook is the same one that works on most damp-loving pests: dry the room, seal the gaps, cut the cover. These simple steps keep sprickets, and a long list of other dark-and-damp pests, on the other side of the wall.
Inside your house:
- Caulk the entry points. Walk the foundation, the rim joist, and any spot where a pipe or wire passes through the wall. Seal cracks and gaps with caulk or expanding foam. Most sprickets get in through openings smaller than a dime.
- Reduce moisture. A dehumidifier in the basement is the single most effective step. Aim for indoor humidity below 50 percent. It may take a few weeks, but a dry basement is a spider cricket eviction notice.
- Minimize clutter. Cardboard boxes, fabric piles, and stacked storage all give sprickets cover. Switch to sealed plastic bins, lift things off the floor, and add light. A bright, open basement loses most of its appeal to them.
- Keep crawl spaces well-ventilated. Vapor barriers on the dirt and working vents (or a small inline fan) move air through and dry the soil. Stagnant, humid crawl spaces are where the heaviest populations live.
- Vacuum the strays. The simplest control for the few that get in is a shop vac. Empty the canister outside and well away from the house. No spray needed.
Outside:
- Move woodpiles at least 20 feet away from the house. Stack off the ground on a rack so the bottom row stays dry.
- Move garbage cans the same distance away. Compost piles, leaf bags, and yard debris all draw sprickets the same way.
- Mow tall grass around the foundation. A two-foot band of short grass or gravel right at the house cuts the main highway in.
- Reduce mulch near the foundation. If you cannot remove it, pull it back six inches from the siding and keep the layer thin. Damp mulch against a house is a spricket nursery.
- Check window wells and bulkhead doors. Add covers, screen any vents, and replace cracked weatherstripping. These three spots account for most accidental entries in older houses.
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Do Spider Crickets Bite?
The reports are mixed. Most entomologists say no: spider crickets do not have fangs, and they do not have the urge to bite people the way mosquitoes or bedbugs do. They use mandibles, the same chewing mouthparts grasshoppers use, to gnaw on whatever they are eating. If one lands on you, it might give you a small chew on skin, but a true bite is rare and harmless.
No Chirping, Just Popping
Spider crickets do not chirp. They lack the wing-rubbing organs that give field crickets their evening song. Readers who have lived with a basement population report a different sound altogether: when a group of them is jumping around on a hard floor or a stretched ceiling membrane, it sounds like popping popcorn. Apologies in advance to popcorn fans, that comparison sticks.
Are Sprickets Toxic?
Sprickets are not toxic. Dogs and cats often go out of their way to crunch on them, and that is usually fine. Two practical cautions: their exoskeleton can be irritating to a small pet’s stomach and trigger a brief bout of gastrointestinal upset, and a small number of people report allergic reactions to spider cricket frass (the dry pellet droppings they leave in basement corners). If you find frass, wear gloves and a mask while you clean.
A Final Thought
If you spot a spider cricket, do not fret. They look unsettling, but they are mostly harmless and they play a part outdoors, recycling leaf litter and feeding small mammals. The work, then, is not to wipe them out. It is to make your house a poor habitat: dry the room, seal the gaps, cut the cover. Do those three jobs and most of the population leaves on its own and goes back to the woods, the leaf pile, or the cave wall where they belong.
Frequently Asked Questions About Spider Crickets
Are spider crickets and camel crickets the same thing?
Yes. Spider crickets, camel crickets, cave crickets, sprickets, and criders all describe the same family of long-legged, wingless crickets. The names come from regional habit (criders in the South), shape (camel for the humpbacked back), and habitat (cave for their wild home). They are not spiders, even though the long legs make them look like one.
How do I get rid of spider crickets in my basement fast?
Run a dehumidifier and aim for indoor humidity below 50 percent. Vacuum the live ones with a shop vac and empty the canister outside. Seal foundation cracks and rim joist gaps with caulk or expanding foam. The combination of dry air, sealed entry points, and less clutter usually clears a basement in two to four weeks without sprays.
Do spider crickets jump at you?
Yes, and that is the part people remember. When startled, spider crickets jump straight at the source of the noise or motion. It looks like an attack but it is a defense reflex. The point is to spook a predator long enough for the cricket to escape. They are not aiming for you.
Are spider crickets dangerous to people, pets, or houses?
They are not dangerous to people or pets in the medical sense. They do not bite in any meaningful way and they carry no notable diseases. The real risk is to the house: they chew fabric, cardboard, carpet, stored paper, and sometimes wood. A few in a corner are harmless, a long-running population in a finished basement is worth treating.
Do I really need a pest control company for spider crickets?
Most spider cricket cases do not need a pro. Dehumidify, seal, declutter, and vacuum, and the population drops on its own. A pest control visit is worth the cost when you have a heavy long-running infestation, a crawl space you cannot dry out yourself, or signs of damage to stored fabrics and finished walls.
What if I find spider crickets in my house in winter?
Outdoor populations die back with the first hard frost, but indoor populations in a warm, damp basement can carry on year-round. A winter sighting almost always points to a long-running indoor colony, not new arrivals. Run the dehumidifier through the cold months and seal any obvious entry points before spring, when the next outdoor wave will look for a way in.
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Amber Kanuckel
Amber Kanuckel is a freelance writer from rural Ohio who loves all things outdoors. She specializes in home, garden, environmental, and green living topics.
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