How to Catch a Cricket

Crickets can jump up to 3 feet in the air.

Catching a cricket is easy but requires patience and some tools that you should have lying around the house. Trying to catch a cricket inside your house has potential obstacles because of all the furniture in the way. Outdoors is the easiest place to catch a cricket but that can be a bit challenging because the cricket has lots of space to escape.

Things You'll Need

• Bucket
• 1 page of a newspaper
• Fishing line
• Flashlight

Instructions

1. Locate the cricket and attempt to sneak up on it. Listen for the chirping of the cricket and zero in on it. Once you are sure you are in the general area of the cricket you should be able to see it. A cricket in your house may be hiding under the furniture, so you may have to move the furniture. House crickets often hide near fireplaces. Field crickets can be found in tall grasses, mulch piles, rock piles or logs.

2. Lower your bucket over the cricket slowly and quietly. Any sudden movement on your part may spook the cricket and cause it to jump up to 3 feet in the air. Crickets can jump up to 30 times their body length. The wider the opening is on the bucket the better chance you have of catching the cricket.

3. Set newspaper down next to the bucket. make sure that the newspaper is big enough to cover the opening of the bucket. One page of newspaper will be a good size. Carefully slide the bucket along the ground so that the newspaper is under the opening. Once the newspaper is under the opening of the bucket, wrap it up around the sides of the bucket and tie it down with your fishing line. The cricket should be secure inside the bucket.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a flashlight at night to easily spot crickets outdoors.

• If your movements in sliding the bucket over the newspaper page are not smooth, the cricket may escape.

References

• UNL Extension in Lancaster County: Crickets

Resources

• Mr. Nussbaum: Cricket Habitat
• Insecta Inspecta World: Field Crickets