House Cricket

Photo of an adult female house cricket walking on bark
Scientific Name
Acheta domesticus
Family
Gryllidae (true crickets) in the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, katydids)
Description

The house cricket is light brown or tannish overall; the tan head has three dark crossbands. Females have a harmless needlelike ovipositor at the tip of the abdomen. Like other types of field crickets, house crickets have large heads, hind legs adapted for jumping, and stout, unmovable spines on the hind legs.

Learn more about house crickets and other field crickets in their group entry.

Other Common Names
Field Cricket
Size
Length: ½–¾ inch.

Like other types of field crickets, house crickets are common in many habitats, especially grassy areas such as lawns, fields, pastures, prairies, roadsides, but also in woods. House crickets are also quite common in houses.

House crickets are probably native to Eurasia but are found nearly worldwide, having traveled the globe with people. They are commonly sold for fish bait and as a live pet food. They eat a wide variety of foods and can be kept as pets.

Media Gallery
Photo of an adult female house cricket walking on bark
The house cricket, Acheta domesticus, is light brown or tannish overall; the tan head has three dark crossbands. This is a female cricket: You can tell because she has an ovipositor at the tip of her abdomen.
Jim Rathert
1/4
Photo of a female house cricket, side view
House crickets and field crickets share in common large heads, hind legs adapted for jumping, and stout, unmovable spines on the hind legs. They are common in many habitats, especially grassy areas such as lawns, fields, pastures, prairies, roadsides, but also in woods.
Jim Rathert
2/4
Photo of a male house cricket on sliced raw carrot
House crickets are probably native to Eurasia but are found nearly worldwide, having traveled the globe with people. They are commonly sold for fish bait and as a live pet food. They eat a wide variety of foods and can be kept as pets.
Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
3/4
Photo of male house cricket chirping by rubbing wings together
Male crickets chirp by rubbing rough portions of their wings together; by raising the wings at an angle, they form a resonating chamber sort of like a violin body. The calls attract females and also warn off rival males.
Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
4/4
Photo of an adult female house cricket walking on bark
Photo of a female house cricket, side view
Photo of a male house cricket on sliced raw carrot
Photo of male house cricket chirping by rubbing wings together
Similar Species
About Land Invertebrates in Missouri
Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.