The field cricket is one of the most common household accidental invader insect pests. Like other accidental invaders, field crickets spend most of their life outdoors where they feed, grow, develop and reproduce. Only during a limited portion of their life cycle do they wander indoors by mistake and create an annoyance.
Field crickets spend the winter as eggs laid in the soil.
These eggs hatch in late spring or early summer, and tiny immature crickets called nymphs begin to feed on a variety of succulent grasses and weeds. The nymphs look like the adults except for their smaller size and the absence of wings. Nymphs develop into adults within approximately 90 days. The adults mate and lay eggs in late summer before succumbing to old age or freezing temperatures in the fall. Chirping, one of the hallmarks of crickets, is done only by the males as a way to attract the females of their own species.