North Texas

Crickets Are Invading the DFW Area

You've probably had to step over them recently. If not you've heard the horrible crunch walking over them. Crickets are starting their invasion in North Texas.

"Crickets are supposed to be good luck, but honestly it makes your skin crawl," Luna Fyke who works in MacArthur Park Shopping Plaza of Irving said.

For the past few days she and her customers have been going crazy over cricket because they've been covering everything.

"It's pretty much all any of the customers are talking about coming in the store saying what is going on," Fyke said.

Fyke said every morning they've had to sweep to clear a path into the store for customers.

"Pretty much the entire shopping center in front of the store fronts was lined with them," Fyke said. "They were coming up the walls. If you looked up on the front of the stores on the ceiling it was just black with crickets."

"As the weather starts to turn and cooler weather brings rain we should expect these crickets to start showing up in a lot of places," said Texas A&M AgriLife Extension entomologist Dr. Mike Merchant.

He said this is an annual fall tradition. The crickets have reached maturity and the swarms we are seeing are called mating flights.

"That's where we get the large number of crickets flying around stadium lights at night, lighted places of business and getting in around windows and doors," Merchant said.

The crickets are mainly just a nuisance. They can cause a stink when they pile up and die.

Merchant said there really isn't much you can do to stop them. 

"Turn off the lights or restrict the number of hours per night your lights are on," Merchant said. "So, if you have all night security lights you might want to consider having them turn off at 11:00 in the evening and that will mean fewer crickets ending up around your house in the morning."

The invasion should last for about two weeks and then we should see the numbers start to go down.

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