If you have ever been kept awake by relentless chirping inside your walls or garage, you have experienced a brown cricket invasion. The house cricket (Acheta domesticus) and the field cricket (Gryllus species) are the two most common brown crickets found in Arizona homes. Both are brown to tan, 3/4 to 1 inch long, and produce the characteristic chirping sound by rubbing their wings together — a behavior called stridulation that only males perform to attract females. In Arizona, cricket populations peak in late summer and fall, when cooling temperatures drive them indoors in search of warmth. They are particularly common in Maricopa, Casa Grande, and other desert communities.

Brown crickets are attracted to light, which is why they congregate around exterior lights and lit windows at night. Once inside, they hide in dark, warm areas — under appliances, in closets, behind baseboards, and in garages. They are omnivores that will eat fabric (especially wool, silk, and cotton), paper, food crumbs, and other organic material. A large cricket infestation can cause noticeable damage to clothing and upholstery. The chirping, while harmless, can be maddening — a single male cricket can chirp at 100 decibels, and a group of them inside a wall void is genuinely disruptive to sleep.

Controlling brown crickets requires both exterior and interior treatment. Outdoors, reduce lighting near entry points (switch to yellow or sodium vapor bulbs, which attract fewer insects), eliminate debris piles and dense vegetation near the foundation, and apply a residual perimeter treatment. Indoors, seal gaps under doors and around windows, use sticky traps to monitor and capture crickets, and apply bait or residual spray in harborage areas. Professional treatment is the most effective approach for large infestations. Pest Control Bros provides cricket control across Maricopa, Chandler, Casa Grande, Tempe, Gilbert, and Mesa — free inspections, no contracts.