Camel Crickets in the Basement: How to Get Rid of Spider Crickets for Good

You head downstairs, flip on the basement light, and suddenly something with long, spider-like legs launches across the floor. Or worse, it seems to jump straight at you.

If you've had that experience in a New Jersey basement, there's a good chance you've met a camel cricket. You may also know them as spider crickets, cave crickets, or sprickets.

They look intimidating. Their jumping can be startling. And when you start finding several of them hiding behind storage boxes or along basement walls, it's reasonable to wonder whether you have a serious infestation.

The good news? Camel crickets are mostly nuisance pests. The more important issue is why they're comfortable in your basement in the first place.

If we want to get rid of camel crickets for the long term, simply killing the ones we see isn't enough. We need to look at moisture, hiding places, outdoor conditions, and how they're getting into the house.

What Are Camel Crickets?

Camel crickets get their name from their rounded, humpbacked appearance. They're also called cave crickets because their natural habitat includes cool, dark, damp locations. The nickname "spider cricket" comes from their unusually long legs and antennae, which can make them look a little like spiders from across the room.

But they aren't spiders. And unlike the familiar crickets you hear chirping outside during summer, camel crickets are wingless and silent.

Rutgers NJAES describes cave or camel crickets as brownish, wingless insects up to about an inch long, with large hind legs and threadlike antennae that may be longer than the body. Rutgers also notes that they lack the sound-producing structures responsible for cricket chirping. University of Minnesota Extension similarly describes camel crickets as tan, hump-backed, wingless insects that prefer cool, dark, damp areas.

Camel Cricket vs. Regular Cricket

Feature	Camel / Spider Cricket	Field or House Cricket
Body	Hump-backed	Flatter
Wings	None	Usually present
Legs	Very long hind legs	Large but shorter-looking
Antennae	Extremely long	Long
Chirping	No	Often yes
Preferred indoor area	Damp basement/crawl space	Varies

If the "crickets" in your basement are completely silent, hump-backed, and look like they have spider legs, camel crickets are a strong possibility.

Why Are Camel Crickets in My Basement?

This is where the real solution begins. Camel crickets naturally seek cool, humid, dark environments. Outdoors, that can mean underneath stones, logs, damp leaves, wood piles, dense ground cover, or other protected areas.

Your basement can recreate those conditions almost perfectly. Rutgers says they are commonly found in dark, moist areas and may migrate into homes, particularly basements. NC State Extension lists basements, crawl spaces, garages, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and storage buildings among common indoor problem areas.

Think about what a camel cricket encounters in a damp basement: no direct sunlight, few people, plenty of cracks, cardboard boxes, organic material, high humidity, and maybe a slow plumbing leak or moisture coming through the foundation. From the cricket's perspective, that's not a bad place to live.

Why Camel Crickets Are Such a Common NJ Basement Pest

Rutgers has a dedicated Cave Crickets (Camel Crickets) fact sheet specifically for New Jersey residents, and they're regularly reported from garages, basements, crawl spaces, and other high-moisture areas throughout North Jersey.

They can become especially noticeable when outdoor conditions change. NC State reports that camel cricket problems can increase during weather extremes, including periods of excessive rainfall or extended hot, dry conditions. In either situation, protected indoor environments become more attractive.

Fall can add another reason for movement indoors. As conditions cool, camel crickets may seek protected spaces such as basements and crawl spaces for shelter. So if you start seeing more camel crickets in September, October, or November, the conditions around your house may simply be pushing more of them toward the basement.

Why Do Spider Crickets Jump at You?

This is probably the question we hear most often. You walk toward it. It jumps. And somehow it seems to come directly at you.

That can feel like an attack. It isn't.

Camel crickets have extremely powerful hind legs and use jumping as an escape response when they're disturbed. The jump can look erratic, especially in a dark basement. What matters for homeowners is that they aren't jumping toward you because they're trying to bite or attack you. They're trying to get away.

Do Camel Crickets Bite?

Camel crickets are not considered a significant biting or stinging threat to people. They don't have a stinger, and extension sources generally classify them as nuisance pests rather than medically important household insects.

The bigger problems associated with heavy populations are nuisance activity, fecal spotting, and occasional feeding on stored materials. NC State notes that severe infestations can leave dark fecal smears and may damage items such as garments or linens stored in garages and basements when other food is limited. Rutgers also reports that camel crickets may feed on starches, fungi, and occasionally fabrics.

What Are Camel Crickets Eating in Your Basement?

Camel crickets are scavengers. Depending on the species and conditions, they can feed on fungi, decaying plant material, organic debris, paper-related materials, and occasionally fabrics.

And here's a detail that's especially relevant if your basement is full of moving or storage boxes: cardboard can contribute to the problem. Rutgers specifically recommends removing cardboard boxes because the glue may serve as food.

That doesn't mean one cardboard box causes an infestation. But a damp, cluttered basement filled with cardboard offers more food and hiding opportunities than a dry, organized basement with sealed storage containers.

How to Get Rid of Camel Crickets

If you want to solve this for more than a few days, work on the environment first.

1. Dry Out the Basement

This is our most important recommendation. If your basement feels humid, smells musty, or has visible condensation, identify why. Check for plumbing leaks, foundation seepage, poor drainage, condensation around pipes, sump-related moisture, and inadequate ventilation. Use a dehumidifier where appropriate.

University of Maryland Extension puts it simply: solving high-moisture problems in the basement can greatly reduce or even eliminate camel cricket activity. Rutgers also specifically recommends basement dehumidification. If the room stays damp, it stays attractive.

2. Remove Their Hiding Places

Move boxes and stored belongings away from walls. Whenever practical, keep items elevated rather than sitting directly on the basement floor, and replace unnecessary cardboard storage with sealed containers. NC State recommends this because it improves airflow while making pest activity easier to detect.

3. Seal the Ways They're Getting Inside

Inspect around basement doors, windows, foundation cracks, dryer vents, utility lines, plumbing penetrations, crawl-space access doors, and garage doors. Weather stripping and door sweeps can help close larger gaps. The fewer openings around the foundation, the fewer opportunities there are for crickets and other crawling insects to enter.

4. Clean Up Around the Foundation

Camel crickets often live outside before wandering indoors. NC State recommends moving mulch and ground cover away from the foundation, keeping shrubs and vegetation from pressing against siding, avoiding firewood stacked directly beside the house, and removing clutter such as lumber from beneath decks. This creates a drier, less protected zone around the building.

5. Use Sticky Traps to Find Activity

Sticky monitors catch individual camel crickets. More importantly, they help show where they're coming from. Put them along basement walls, near doors, behind stored objects, around utility areas, and near suspected entry points. If one side of the basement catches significantly more crickets, that tells us where to focus the inspection.

6. Don't Depend on Indoor Spraying Alone

This is where a lot of DIY control goes wrong. You spray the visible crickets. They disappear. Then more arrive.

NC State explicitly notes that pesticides may reduce camel cricket numbers but are not a long-term solution by themselves. Habitat changes, moisture reduction, and exclusion come first. That's the difference between killing camel crickets and actually controlling the problem.

A Surprising Study About Camel Crickets in American Homes

A peer-reviewed study led by researchers at North Carolina State University used citizen-science reports, photographs, and specimens to examine camel crickets living around North American homes.

Of households that submitted identifiable specimens or photos, 88% provided evidence of the introduced Asian genus Diestrammena, while only 12% submitted native Ceuthophilus. Researchers also documented Diestrammena japanica records from the northeastern United States, including New Jersey. In a separate trapping portion of the study, researchers collected as many as 52 Asian camel crickets in a single yard over two days, and cricket abundance decreased as traps were positioned farther from homes.

We wouldn't use those numbers to claim that 88% of all New Jersey camel crickets are invasive, since the sample was citizen-submitted and geographically uneven. But the study does show that human homes have become significant habitat for some introduced camel-cricket species in the eastern United States.

When Should You Call a Pest Control Company?

Seeing one camel cricket doesn't necessarily mean you need professional treatment. But we'd look more closely if you're finding them every day, catching many on sticky traps, seeing fecal spotting around joists or walls, discovering them throughout a large basement or crawl space, or continuing to see activity after reducing humidity and sealing obvious gaps.

The question isn't simply "How many crickets can we kill?" It's "Why is this property supporting so many camel crickets?" Moisture conditions, exterior harborage, foundation openings, crawl-space conditions, and indoor hiding areas can all contribute.

Damp basements tend to attract more than one pest. Our guides to silverfish and springtails cover two other moisture-loving insects we often find in the same spaces.

Frequently Asked Questions About Camel Crickets

Are spider crickets and camel crickets the same thing?

Yes. Spider cricket, cave cricket, camel cricket, and sometimes "spricket" are common names used for insects in the camel-cricket family.

Why do I have cave crickets in my basement?

Your basement likely provides some combination of darkness, moisture, shelter, food, and easy entry from outdoors.

Do camel crickets chirp?

No. Rutgers notes that camel crickets lack the sound-producing structures responsible for chirping.

Do camel crickets bite people?

They are generally considered harmless nuisance pests rather than biting insects. Their dramatic jumping behavior is defensive, not an attempt to attack people.

Will a dehumidifier get rid of spider crickets?

Reducing humidity can make a basement substantially less attractive to camel crickets, but the strongest long-term strategy combines moisture reduction with exclusion, clutter reduction, exterior cleanup, and monitoring.

Why do I keep getting camel crickets every year?

If the basement stays damp and the same foundation gaps or outdoor hiding areas remain, each new population encounters the same favorable conditions.

If You Want Camel Crickets Gone for Good, Fix What They're Looking For

It's tempting to focus on the cricket bouncing across the basement floor. We look at the basement.

A recurring camel-cricket problem usually tells us something about the environment around the home. Maybe humidity is too high. Maybe water is getting in. Maybe there's heavy vegetation or mulch against the foundation. Maybe a basement door or utility penetration has gaps. Or perhaps several of those things are happening at once.

That's why our approach at Accurate Pest Management focuses on the conditions supporting pest activity, not only the insect we can see. Our residential pest control program covers crickets and other general household insects for homeowners throughout Morris, Bergen, Essex, Passaic, and Sussex counties.

If camel crickets keep appearing in your basement or crawl space despite your efforts to dry the area and close entry points, contact us or call 973-398-8798 and we can help identify where the activity is coming from.

Killing tonight's spider cricket is easy. Making your basement a place the next hundred don't want to live is the real fix.