Adult wasps can usually be safely killed with a fly swatter, or else captured and released outdoors to continue their cricket hunting activities. If openings through which wasps enter living areas can be located, they should be sealed. It’s difficult to prevent adult cricket-hunter wasps from emerging into living areas of a building once nesting sites have been established in a wall or under a foundation. If nests are located in walls, or under the foundation of a home, some wasps may emerge indoors through gaps around windows, air vents, or similar wall openings.īecause many crickets may be provisioned within a wall void in the manner described above, dozens or hundreds of wasps may emerge into a home, giving the false impression that a large colony, like a bee’s nest, is present in a walll or attic. When conditions are favorable, the adult wasps will emerge and attempt to exit from the nest area. When the cricket hunter larva matures, a process that may take several weeks or months, they pupate and wait for suitable conditions to occur to emerge as an adult.

In addition, other female wasps may share the same site, building cricket stashes up into the hundreds or possibly thousands. A single female may deposit several crickets, each with egg, in a nest site. Good sites include weep holes in brick facings or other openings in walls or under house foundations. In urban areas, where natural nesting sites are rare, these wasps take advantage of man-made cavities in the walls of buildings. So what are these wasps doing in homes? In nature, female cricket-hunter wasps establish nest sites in holes in the ground, such as rodent burrows. Though not normally aggressive, when prompted these insects can occasionally sting. Infestations can be persistent and annoying. They can appear indoors year-round, but are most common in late summer, fall, and during warm spells in the winter. DamageĬricket-hunter wasps can be found actively climbing up and down walls of bathrooms and other living areas. One cricket probably provides enough food for a single wasp to develop. After hatching, the larva begins feeding immediately on its paralyzed cricket prey. After a cricket victim has been subdued and carried to suitable shelter, the female lays on it a single egg. They spend much of their time searching for crickets, which they attempt to sting, capture, and transport live to their nest.

IdentificationĬricket-hunter wasps are ½ – 5/8 inches long, dull black in coloration, with grey or dusky-colored wings. Known as the cricket-hunter wasp because of its habit of catching and feeding crickets to its offspring, these wasps are common outdoor insects. Liris beatus (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) is an unusual wasp that occasionally becomes a pest in Texas homes.

Cricket hunter wasps are dull black, about 3/4 inch long and move with a rapid twitching motion.

Cricket bug