Crickets in California: The Two Species That Get Into Riverside Homes Every Fall

Every September the calls start: chirping from the garage, from behind the water heater, from somewhere in the kitchen nobody can find. The old explanation is that crickets are cold-blooded and come in for warmth. That is a small part of it. The bigger reason is what the males are doing in fall, and why Riverside has a species most of the country does not.

What Kind of Crickets Are in California?

Five you will run into, and Dr. Siavash Taravati, the UC Cooperative Extension IPM advisor for Riverside County, sorts the ones that matter this way.

Taravati notes that many people, the pest control industry included, do not realize there are two different house crickets infesting urban California. The tropical house cricket favors hot climates and is common across the Inland Empire. Its call is higher pitched and faster than the house cricket’s, which is why a Riverside cricket sounds different from the one your relatives in Ohio complain about.

The black cricket on the driveway is a field cricket. The brown one in the garage is a house cricket or a tropical house cricket. Those are the two that matter.

What Attracts Crickets to a House?

Shelter to chirp from, and harborage right outside. Male crickets of both house species seek out protected spots to call for mates, and in the process they follow gaps under doors and around pipes into garages, kitchens, and laundry rooms. Once inside they wedge under appliances and cabinets, which is why you can hear one for a week and never see it.

Outside, crickets aggregate under stones, debris, and the edges of concrete: driveways, sidewalks, the slab itself. Taravati’s management note is that baits alone are not a sustainable fix because crickets keep crossing property lines and hiding in that harborage, so the hiding places have to go too.

Light and moisture round it out. Exterior lights pull crickets to the wall at night, and a dripping hose bib or an irrigation line soaking the foundation keeps the soil under the slab edge damp enough to live in through a Riverside summer.

Why Are There So Many Crickets All of a Sudden?

Because it is September in Riverside and the males started calling. Fall is mating season and the nights cool at the same time. Males are calling hardest, they want a sheltered spot to do it, and the warm slab and garage are the closest ones. Add a summer’s worth of population that built up under the pavers and along the sidewalk, and the first cool week pushes them against the house all at once.

That is why the same houses get them every year. The harborage is the same, the gaps are the same, and the crickets are already there.

Where Do Crickets Hide in the Day?

Under and behind whatever is closest to the wall: the fridge, the water heater, the cabinet toe kick, a stack of boxes in the garage. Crickets are nocturnal and spend the day wedged into the tightest dark space they can reach.

Finding the one that is chirping is a separate problem, and your ears are not built for it. Taravati points out that a cricket’s call is rapid, repetitive pulses at high frequency, which makes it hard for the brain to pick up timing differences between your two ears. The sound seems to come from everywhere. Even when you narrow it to one room, the cricket is under the fridge or behind the toe kick, and it stops chirping when you get close.

The practical trick: stop, wait for it to start again, take two steps, stop, repeat. And check the garage first. It is where most of them are.

How to Get Rid of Crickets in the House

Work from the outside in, in this order.

• Clear the harborage. Woodpiles, leaf piles, stacked pavers, anything sitting on soil within a few feet of the foundation. Pull mulch and dense ground cover back from the slab edge.
• Fix the water. Hose bibs, irrigation heads spraying the wall, AC condensate lines dripping at the foundation.
• Change the light. Swap bright white exterior bulbs for warm or amber ones, and keep porch lights off when you do not need them.
• Seal the entries. Door sweeps on the garage and exterior doors, weatherstripping, caulk around pipe and conduit penetrations. This is the step people skip and the one that matters most.
• Bait the perimeter. Granular baits placed along the slab edge and driveway seams work well on tropical house crickets. Taravati reports they take it immediately. Southland’s general pest visit includes the perimeter and garage treatment.
• Then handle the ones inside. Vacuum them. Reduce clutter and move stored items into sealed bins so they have fewer places to hide.

Crickets in the Garage

The garage is where most Riverside cricket problems live, because it is the room with the biggest gap to the outside. The rolling door never seals at the corners, the side door has no sweep, and the slab edge on the driveway side is prime harborage.

Three fixes cover it: a new bottom seal on the roll-up door, a sweep on the side door, and the perimeter bait placed along the driveway seam where it meets the slab. Move cardboard off the floor. If you hear chirping in the house, check the garage first, because that is usually where it got in.

What Cricket Control Costs in Riverside

Crickets are one of the pests covered under general pest service, along with ants, spiders, earwigs, and American cockroaches. The regular visit treats the exterior perimeter, the garage, and interior baseboards as needed, and active clients get a spot treatment between visits at no charge if the chirping comes back.

Pricing effective 2026, confirmed at inspection. Licensed PR 7461, Branch 2 and 3. Our Riverside cricket control page has the service detail, and our guide to whether pest control is worth it runs the numbers on one visit versus a plan.

Cricket Questions From Riverside Homeowners

Do crickets bite?

Rarely, and not in a way that breaks skin or matters. A cricket handled roughly may nip. What they do chew is fabric, paper, and stored food when a population settles indoors, which is the real reason to deal with them.

What kills a cricket infestation?

Granular bait along the slab edge and driveway seams, placed where the crickets are actually hiding, plus removing the harborage so the population cannot rebuild. The UC Riverside County advisor reports tropical house crickets take a good granular bait immediately. Sprays on the wall kill what they touch and miss the ones under the concrete.

What smell do crickets hate?

None that keeps them out of a garage. Peppermint, vinegar, and the rest are a day or two of relief at the spot you sprayed. Crickets respond to shelter, moisture, and light, and changing those three is what moves them.

Will crickets go away on their own after fall?

The adults die off as winter comes. The eggs they laid in the soil along your foundation do not, and they hatch into next summer’s population. A house that gets crickets every September has a harborage problem at the slab edge, and clearing it in fall is what breaks the cycle.

What is the difference between a cricket and a Jerusalem cricket?

The Jerusalem cricket is the big, bald, amber-headed insect Riverside homeowners find in the yard after rain, and it is not a true cricket at all. It does not chirp and it does not come indoors on purpose. If the thing in your garage is chirping, it is a house cricket or a tropical house cricket.