This article has been written to discuss cricket’s lifespan, lifecycle, and more. You’ll find these and more as you read on.

Crickets are arguably the noisiest bugs you’ll deal with around your home.

Like their grasshopper relatives, they have more giant hind legs that help with hopping. You’ll find these around marshes, swamps, beaches, bushes, caves, grasslands, and even in homes.

The noisy nature of these creatures may pique your interest. If you find these fascinating, you may want to learn more about them.

What Attracts Crickets to My Home

Before we get into details about the lifespan of crickets, we’ll need to discuss why crickets find your home attractive. First off, these noisy insects are drawn to moisture.

That is why you’ll find them around damp areas of your home, such as closets and basements.

Debris and mulch scattered around your home’s foundation serve as an attraction for crickets. They need such to hide and reproduce. Are there cracks and gaps around your home? Such is likely if there’s a cricket presence. Tiny holes and cracks serve as ideal nesting sites for these chirping insects.

These openings are found around baseboards, door and window frames, foundation, and wall corners. By eliminating these cracks and gaps, you make your surroundings less inviting to crickets.

Why Knowing Cricket Lifespan is Important

Although the problems caused by crickets are mostly considered insignificant, a full-blown infestation can become unbearable. Likely issues you might encounter include difficulty sleeping for some individuals.

They can do significant damage to garden plants and vegetables.

Certain species have burrowing capabilities and burrow through soil and damage plant roots. Crickets may target your drywall and wallpaper glue.

These pests also have appetites for paper, wood, fabrics, rubber, leather, and fur.

By knowing cricket’s lifespan, you have a better idea of how to control them. Understanding the pest involved helps you deal with the problem.

With this said, let’s get back to our discussion’s main focus: the lifespan of crickets.

Cricket Lifespan

When it comes to cricket lifespan, these insects live anywhere between 2 to 3 months under perfect conditions. The suitable condition is referred to primarily has to do with food availability.

Crickets have voracious appetites and won’t survive beyond a week without food.

Cricket food mainly includes fruits, plants, and insects. There are times of dormancy during which their rate of metabolism significantly reduces.

Winter is when matured crickets that haven’t reproduced yet hibernate to survive the harsh weather condition.

On the other hand, mole crickets tend to have a much higher lifespan as they can live as long as two years. Their survival is bolstered by the fact that they can quickly burrow their way down to safety in winter.

Now, there are over 900 species of crickets worldwide.

Not all of these have the same lifespan. We won’t be getting into such details by discussing all 900 species. However, we’ve added a few of these cricket species to show you how their lifespan varies by variety.

Lifespan by Cricket Species

We’ll be looking at some cricket species, including mole crickets, field crickets, house crickets, and camel crickets.

For these crickets, their habitats play a role in determining how long they live. For a more detailed understanding of the lifespan variations involved, let’s briefly discuss each species mentioned.

  • Mole Cricket Lifespan

We earlier stated that mole crickets have one of the most extended lifespans compared to other species.

These can live for two years or more. The lifespan begins from the egg to the adult stages. These crickets survive the harsh winter weather by burrowing deep underground.

They emerge when winter is over.

  • Field Cricket Lifespan

With field crickets, females’ lifespan reduces significantly to around 2 to 3 months.

Female field crickets die shortly after laying their eggs. How about the males? Male field crickets have a much shorter lifespan as they live an average of 58 days.

These crickets can either die shortly after mating or during the mating process. That’s quite interesting, considering the timing. So, does that mean they won’t die if they don’t mate?

This is strictly nature and biology. The point is field crickets won’t live beyond 2 to 3 months.

  • House Cricket Lifespan

House crickets die off a few days after nymphs hatch. The males live anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks. Just like field crickets, house crickets die off after mating.

The 8 to 10-week lifespan is calculated from the egg to adult stages.

  • Camel Cricket Lifespan

Camel crickets are another species whose female members die off a few days after laying their eggs.

A lifespan between 12 weeks to 3 months is reached for the males. These, too, die off shortly after mating like other cricket species.

Cricket Lifecycle

As part of understanding the lifespan of crickets, you also need to have an idea about their lifecycle. These are the stages of development involved. Here, we’re not focusing on a specific cricket species but their general lifecycle.

There are the egg stage, nymph, and adult stages. So what happens in each of these developmental stages? Let’s explain.

  • The Egg Stage

Female crickets lay their eggs in fall to allow them to hatch post-winter. Having mated with their male counterparts, female crickets lay their eggs in the soil.

They need to lay their eggs so that the males don’t discover them as they could feed on them. Hundreds of eggs are laid by female crickets at a time.

  • Nymph Stage

At the nymph stage, the eggs are hatched, and nymphs emerge. The size is the only difference they have from fully matured crickets when they appear.

A series of molting processes are involved in the lead-up to adulthood.

  • Adult Stage

At this stage, development is complete, and the adult cricket is ready to mate. Some adult crickets may not die naturally as they may encounter predators.

You should better understand cricket’s lifespan if you’ve read to this point. We’ve discussed this in addition to their lifecycle.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *