Is a cricket in the house a good omen or a bad sign?

Appearance of a secretive neighbor

The domestic cricket lives in human homes and heated industrial buildings. This is one of the types of insects that prefer to live next to humans. Unlike flies and cockroaches, which openly move around the house, he hides in a secluded place and lives alone. Usually people learn about its appearance by hearing a characteristic chirping sound in the silence of the night. The insect's body size is 16-26 mm, yellowish in color, with brown spots and stripes on the body and head. They have long antennae and straight wings.

Interesting. Only males have the ability to make characteristic sounds. There are several types of signals - some of them are for calling females, others are for scaring away males. The chattering sound comes from the vibration of the elytra.

Insects prefer to live in nature during the warm season, feeding on plants and fruits. As autumn approaches, they move indoors. Crickets are omnivores; they happily pick up the remains of human food - crumbs or pieces of vegetables, hunt small invertebrates, and eat the offspring of their own species.

House cricket

Where do insect musicians live?

Crickets have lived on Earth for 300 million years. It is believed that they settled around the world from the Far East and North Africa.

In summer, they often live outdoors in obliquely dug burrows at a depth of 10-30 cm, and when cold weather sets in, the cricket prefers to live in the house, behind the stove or behind the radiator. They settle on farms, climb into heating plants, and live in the basements of apartment buildings and warehouses.

For houses, they prefer old buildings with cracks, high humidity and old rugs. The settled guests do not disappear even after the house is rebuilt or renovated.

What awaits the house where the cricket has settled?

The appearance of a loud neighbor does not go unnoticed. Many people have a question: there is a cricket in the house, what is it for? The Slavic peoples considered his appearance a good sign, a harbinger of a good event. The Scandinavians, on the contrary, considered the insect an evil spirit and a messenger of the devil. Conflicting attitudes towards one event are characteristic of different cultures. Russian beliefs call them symbols of goodness and family happiness. Such a guest comes only to worthy people who deserve wealth and good luck.

Folk signs about crickets in the house:

Unmarried girls and boys are expected to get married soon.
For pregnant women, this means an easy birth and the birth of a healthy baby.
The house where the cricket has settled will bring prosperity and prosperity.
If you heard the singing of an insect at work, a promotion awaits you.
Loud trills on Christmas night promise financial prosperity in the new year.
It is believed that the souls of dead men return to widows in the form of a sonorous neighbor to protect them from harm.
A chirping sound in the next room promises a sick person a speedy recovery.

Interesting fact. In Japan, crickets replaced a guard dog. They were caught and brought into the yard. Some owners set up special houses for free guards. Having become accustomed to their new home, the insects chirped all night long. The Japanese calmly fell asleep to the usual singing. The moment a stranger approached, the crickets fell silent. People woke up from silence and met uninvited guests.

Negative Predictions

Not all signs about crickets are associated with wealth and happiness, in some cases this is bad news.

An insect flies around the house - there could be a fire.
Daytime chattering means a big quarrel; probably, one of the household members will leave the home.
If the night trills suddenly stopped and the neighbor disappeared, then disaster and loss will soon await the house.
Waking up at night from the trills of an insect means an imminent illness.

Cricket in different cultures

There are a great many signs about crickets in the house, and what is most interesting is that they predict completely different events. Fortunately, not only bad ones.

Scandinavians do not like crickets. In their folklore, it is presented in the form of a “black creature” with a demon inside, therefore, if it has got into the house, then there is only one way out: you definitely need to get rid of the insect.

Christian traditions are more lenient towards the winged creature, since it is considered a sign of well-being. The ancient Slavs saw him as a bright messenger who was supposed to improve family relationships. Our ancestors did not even scrub in the place where the cricket sat, so as not to sweep away the good that had settled in the dwelling with it.

Once upon a time, American Indians revered the cricket because it guarded their settlements and could warn of danger by chirping loudly.

In Asia, crickets are specially kept in homes, because people there are convinced of its ability to bring good luck to a person.

How insects are treated in different countries

The Chinese capital Beijing and other cities host annual cricket fighting championships. Their adherents claim that this tradition is more than 1000 years old. Opponents do not kill each other, but damage their antennae, legs, and wings. Competitions prohibited by law are held illegally. Crickets are teased with a straw and forced to rush at the enemy. The losers are simply thrown out or sent to feed the birds.

In Japan, crickets are considered the guardians of the hearth; in addition, there are many admirers of their singing in the country. Insect owners tirelessly take care of their pets, build beautiful, expensive houses for them, and feed them well.

Crickets are not valued and revered everywhere; in many countries of the world they are bred as live food for birds, reptiles, lizards and other domestic animals. In North America they are used as bait for fishing. Residents of Asia do not listen to or watch crickets; they prefer to fry them in oil. Tons of insects are grown on special farms, sold on the market and served in restaurants.

How to get rid of a cricket?

As we said above, some people simply take it and throw it out of the house. Some people find it easier to remove it using Dichlorvos or some other product designed to kill insects. And someone just takes a slipper and... “SLAP!” It should be remembered that killing a cricket in the house is a bad omen. The ideal way to get rid of a cricket in an apartment is the policy of “depriving it of a comfortable existence.” This means that the habit of wiping dry all nooks and crannies in the bathroom, including the sink and bathtub itself, as well as turning off the taps at night (so that nothing flows or drips) will help to get the cricket out of the house. This approach will allow you to get rid of the cricket and not bring trouble on yourself. If creating a “desert” at home is not your option, then you can catch a cricket and take it outside. Although simply throwing it out the window would be fine. All that remains is to figure out how to catch a cricket in an apartment... Unfortunately, there are no special tricks to help get rid of crickets in an apartment. Therefore, there are two ways to solve the problem:

Listen very carefully to where the cricket is chirping, then find it by its sound and throw it away. The main thing to understand is that crickets most often chirp in the dark, and even in complete silence. Therefore, you are in for a serious hunt...
Lock the troublemaker indoors and poison him using banal chemicals (“Dichlorvos” and other insecticides will help you).

And yes, you shouldn’t expect him to die on his own over time. Because you most likely won’t be able to stand it as long as a cricket lives in the house. After all, they live on average about 3 months. And this is provided that the cricket does not manage to call a female (and this is exactly what he is trying to achieve with his chirping), which, under favorable conditions, during its short life is capable of laying over 700 eggs! And detecting eggs is almost impossible. So if you have a cricket in your house, it’s better to immediately think about how to get rid of it. Otherwise, your life will be full of nightly “romance” for a very, very long time. Well, and finally, let’s remember one funny sign: if you kill a cricket, its spirit will return to the world of the living to gnaw through all the woolen socks and stockings in your house. So be careful!

To get rid of it or not?

The ancestors believed that if a cricket settled in a house, then it should live as long as it wanted. You can’t kick him out, much less kill him. Modern people have moved far from ancient prejudices, so they often do not want to put up with annoying neighbors. It is difficult to find an insect; they usually rely on the sounds it makes. To catch it, they use bait in the form of sweet syrup in a plate. The cricket is simply covered with a jar and then taken outside.

Another option is to place sticky insect traps. Real practitioners who do not believe in omens destroy noisy neighbors with the help of insecticides. To prevent unwanted occurrences, close the taps tightly and wipe the water off the floor. The cricket needs moisture to live and reproduce; if there is a lack of it, the insect will independently leave the inhospitable home. The absence of food in the form of crumbs on the floor is another opportunity to say goodbye to the guest.

Attention. Why can't you kill crickets? The death of the guardian of family well-being will bring disaster to the whole family, especially to the person who crushed the insect.

Not everyone can live next to a chirping insect. Many people are skeptical about ancient superstitions and signs. If your neighbor's behavior is too annoying, you can get rid of him in a humane way. Before releasing the caught insect, ask your friends if someone wants to attract good luck and wealth to the house with the trills of a cricket.

What to do with a cricket in the house?

Regardless of which assumption you are inclined to believe more or not inclined to believe at all, it is really not worth killing the “codfish”: it is not a cockroach or other pest. To get rid of an insect, you can simply “track” it by the sound it makes and carefully throw it out the window. True, there is a possibility that he will continue his chants outside the window.

The superstitious can be given exactly the same advice: do not treat the insect as an enemy, but simply take it out of the house or try to appease it, put water in a saucer, for example.

To believe or not to believe?

Setting yourself up for the bad is the biggest mistake. Think about it, if a cricket appeared in your home during the cold season, then perhaps it was simply hiding from the frost. After all, these living creatures are heat-loving, which is why they “pave” near stoves, fireplaces or hide in the bathhouse.

Besides, they don't sing. The sound we hear is made by insect wings when they rub against each other. In this way, females are invited or males are driven away. Here are some signs about singing!

By the way, the lifespan of a cricket is only three months. This is another reason why you don’t need to be scared by his sudden disappearance.

Signs for luck

In the mentality of the Slavic peoples, the cricket is firmly entrenched as a symbol of goodness, peace, and quiet family happiness. It’s not surprising, because this belief goes back centuries, when a “tenant” secretly moving in behind a warm stove could easily be found in every hut. And of course, its chirping was heard only on quiet peaceful evenings. If in the house from morning until late at night you can hear reproaches and the clink of broken dishes, what kind of music is there... Hence the many signs that convince: a cricket has appeared - expect happiness in the house.

In Rus', the appearance of a cricket was associated with warmth in the family and prosperity in the house

If there is a cricket in your home, happiness and wealth will follow . In the Orthodox tradition (although in fact the church strongly condemns superstitions) there is a belief that this singing insect would never choose the house of an evil person to live in. So, when a chirping sound is heard behind the floorboard, consider it a compliment from the little musician.
If the singer suddenly began to sing in the middle of winter, around Christmas, it means that the owners will experience rapid financial growth. In the coming year, your income should exceed your wildest expectations.
If someone in the family is seriously ill, the appearance of a cricket portends a quick recovery . Be sure to tell your sick relative about this sign: good news works no worse than medicine.
If a cricket has settled where a pregnant woman lives, she should expect an easy and trouble-free birth . And the child will be born strong and beautiful.
If the sound of a cricket is heard in a house with an unmarried girl, it's time to prepare a dowry . The groom will be stately, rich and affectionate. There are no girls of marriageable age, but there is a single man available? And he will soon have the opportunity to bring a kind and beautiful mistress into the house.
If an unexpected “guest” showed up at the widow’s home, she would soon stop being sad . Sometimes it was even believed that a beloved deceased husband could appear to a woman in the form of a cricket to console her with his song.

Good Omens about Crickets

A black cricket, like a black cockroach, warns of unexpected wealth and prosperity that will accompany people living in this room for a long time. Moreover, as long as he lives in your apartment or house, luck will accompany you.
Beliefs about marriage say that the appearance of an insect is a sign of an imminent wedding. But only if he settled in the room of an unmarried girl or an unmarried guy.
According to pregnancy signs, for a woman to see or hear a cricket is a very positive sign. The birth will be easy and the baby will be born healthy.
If you appear in a house where there is a sick person, the person will soon get better.
Sings at Christmas - wealth will come to the house.
Showing up at work means a bonus, salary increase or promotion up the career ladder.
Previously, insects were released into the house where devilry was happening - they cleared the room of negativity.
Roman is waiting for those who find him in their bed.
Jumped on you - expect to meet interesting people.
Appeared in the kitchen - wealth.
In conclusion, the Slavs believed that such insects were living amulets from evil forces; with their chirping they drove away evil spirits.

By the way, there is a legend - the soul of a deceased spouse can move into an insect. If a creature appears in a widow's house, it is her ex-husband who has come to protect her peace.