How Much Do You Know About Crickets?

I was in the sauna at the Y not long ago, when I heard the chirp of a cricket.  He was definitely IN the sauna.  The woman sitting in there with me said he'd been around for quite a while.  (maybe not him, but some of his relatives).  She had even seen him sit by the sauna door and wait for someone to open it to go out into the locker area when he got too hot.  Then he'd wait outside until the door was opened again and come back inside.  I didn't see this, but the lady swears that happened.  Anyway, a few days later I heard the chirp of a cricket in my office.  He was definitely inside the house, but hard as I tried, I couldn't find him.  This all got me thinking about crickets, and I wanted to learn more about them.

Crickets are relatives of the grasshoppers and katydids, have chewing mouthparts, and strong back legs.  They have long, thin antennae, and wing.  Most crickets are brown.  They chirp by rubbing their front wings together.  They have ears which are on their legs.  Crickets live all around the world.  There are 120 species in the United States.  They are found on the soil, hiding under plants.  They only live where there is plant matter to eat, and prefer humid areas.

Crickets have incomplete metamorphosis.  They hatch from eggs, and they look much like adult crickets when born, without the wings.  They molt as they grow.  They can live for a year or more, but usually don't survive more than one winter.  They are nocturnal, sedentary, solitary and territorial.  They are more active and chirp faster and louder on warm nights.  Crickets communicate by sound, scent and touch.  They can see, but not well.  Males sometimes have chirping "duels," each one trying to sound better for potential mates.  They are omnivores, eating fruit, nectar, seeds, small insects and leaves.

Crickets hide in the daytime, and are very alert to predators.  They hop and run fast to get away, if needed.  Their main predators are any insect eating bird, mice and rats, bats, frogs and toads, salamanders, snakes and small lizards, and spiders, wasps, ants and ground beetles.  They've got a lot of predators, so they must stay very alert.  Crickets are not very important in economic terms.  In some countries, they are popular pets.  Many people like to hear them chirp at night.  I do not like to hear them chirp, and after two weeks of constant chirping coming from my office at night, Jimmeny Cricket has moved on.  He either left or is dead, and I'll find him when I clean.  Either way, our house is now without crickets, and after researching the species I know a lot more about them.