Cricket populations are a bit higher than normal this year.  

John Gavloski, Entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture, says it's normal to see them as we start getting into August. 

“It is starting a bit early. And there are high numbers this year, so we can expect to hear and see quite a few crickets.” 

He says with both crickets and grasshoppers, hotter and drier summers help build their populations. 

“Weather and natural enemies are the two big factors that help regulate their populations,” he says. “And there are natural enemies, so things that either eat crickets or parasitized crickets, and ultimately, those things will help provide some control.” 

Gavloski says the warm June weather got the crickets through their stages of life quicker. 

 

“They hatch and they get to the adult stage quicker, and you will start noticing them a lot more as they get into those bigger stages, especially when they start singing. All that warmer weather we had in June really pushed the insects life cycles further along than we often see.” 

He notes there are 17 different types of crickets in Manitoba, two of which are field crickets. 

“We've got a spring field cricket and we've got a fall field cricket. The spring field crickets are adults early, and you'll hear those chirping in June and quite early on,” he says. “So what we're seeing right now emerging sometimes in very high numbers is the fall field cricket. Some of them are still juveniles and some are getting their full wings and are adults already.” 

 

Gavloski says female crickets don’t make any sounds, but the sound you hear come from the male crickets rubbing their wings together to attract the females. 

“And as the females search for them and get closer, the males make a softer call. That's why crickets are doing their singing, and that's why we hear so many of them usually throughout August but again, this year we had a very warm start to the season.” 

He says that when cricket populations are higher, we start to see a parasitic animal called horsehair worms. 

“They get inside the crickets, and if people step on them, you get this big long worm that pops out. We've been seeing a little bit of that in the population recently.” 

For this reason, it’s advised you don't kill a cricket in your home, as you might get more of a mess than you expected. 

 

If you see a cricket in your home, Gavloski encourages you to try and release them back outside as it will be better for the both of you. 

“The house isn't where they want to be, because that doesn't have a good assortment of food. They're in there by accident,” he says. “If you can track them down and find them and release them, you're doing them a favor and maybe yourself one as well. There is more food for them outside. That's the easiest way to deal with them in a home situation.” 

He assures that crickets won’t do damage to your house. 

“They don't damage the house itself structurally in any way, some people find them a nuisance just because they don't like them being in there chirping away, but they're not damaging the house in any way.” 

He says they won’t even eat your house plants. 

“They're probably going to end up more in the basement looking for something to feed on there.” 

Even though the crickets have appeared earlier than normal, he expects them to be around until the freeze. 

“The hatch is usually very staggered, so you have this very long season, and field crickets can live quite a long time as adults, so do expect them right up until we get a good hard frost or two.” 

As for grasshoppers, Saskatchewan has been seeing large populations. 

Gavloski assures that they won’t be coming to us, as locusts in Canada don’t move in swarms across provinces. 

“We've got our own grasshoppers that have emerged, we've got a couple of species that we will consider to be pest species that are, in some areas, already at high levels and some people are having to deal with them.” 

He notes that in Manitoba we have 85 different species of grasshoppers, and only 4 of those are considered potential pests. 

Two of those four species are at slightly higher levels this year. Those are the two striped grasshopper and the clear winged grasshopper. 

“When their levels get high enough, that can be a problem for farmers and gardeners, so we've already got our issues.” 

He notes that no more grasshoppers will be hatching this year, so what’s hatched right now is all that’s going to be here. 

Populations will gradually be declining, but in some areas, people might start noticing them more for two reasons. 

“They're getting bigger when they get to be their adult stage they're a bit more noticeable, and also, as some crops start maturing and becoming less attractive or pastures might start drying up, they start moving around locally and people will start noticing them a bit more.”