Louisiana Facing an Insect Infestation

If you've noticed maybe a little more crunching when you walk lately, it might not be just your knees.  If you've seen more crickets than usual, it's probably due to the sudden surge of cricket infestations that that hit Louisiana.

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LSU Ag Center Entomologist Aaron Ashbrook says crickets are on the hunt for food after recent rain. 

““The adults and large nymphs, they’ll start to move around looking for new areas to either overwinter or hibernate in, or new food sources. And so, we’re seeing them kind of aggregate in large amounts, sometimes by lights.”” 

We had an extremely hot and dry summer, and August and September are the prime time of the year for both field cricket and mole cricket activity. And now is also mating season, and the dry conditions we experienced recently have provided more places for crickets to lay eggs. Ashbrook says the small, dark, and shiny crickets seen around the Bayou State are field crickets. But we're also seeing mole crickets multiplying as well.

“They are an inch and a quarter to about two inches, light brown in color, and they have these like shovel forearms or legs.” 

 

Ashbrook points out the lifespan of a cricket averages around 90 days, so we should see the numbers decrease in the upcoming fall months. But Ashbrook says if they are a nuisance, there are a few things you could do like sealing all possible entry points to your home to keep them out. 

“Sealing cracks and crevices, checking your doors to see if there could be an entry point there, and seeing if you could do some corrections in order to prevent them from entering your home.”