Do Crickets Bite: Potential Dangers and Harm

Do crickets bite or not? Are crickets dangerous? What kind of harm they can cause? Let’s find it out!

Crickets are a part of the Gryllidae family and can easily be distinguished from bush crickets and grasshoppers by their cylindrical bodies and round heads. They are known for their chirping, which has many uses. There are over 2400 species, ranging from 0.1 to 2 inches in length, and their diet mainly consists of vegetation and smaller insects.

Do Crickets Bite or Sting?

Crickets mostly tend to attack other insects. Although some cricket species can bite humans as well, we shouldn’t be worried about contracting any kinds of fatal diseases. Moreover, a cricket’s jaw is not strong enough to puncture human skin.

However, cricket bites can be uncomfortable. Jamaican field crickets, black field crickets, crazy red crickets, and house crickets have the biggest and strongest jaws, so their bites and gnawing are by far the most painful.

Sometimes, a cricket bite can cause skin rash, soreness and flu-like symptoms.

Crickets do not have stingers. This common misconception comes from the similarities between stingers and crickets’ ovipositors, which are elongated organs with three appendages that female crickets use to lay eggs.

Bites of Different Crickets

When it comes to cricket identification, we need to know more about them in order to find out what we’re dealing with. Of course, crickets are pests, but they pose a danger only to plants. However, different cricket species create different kinds of problems.

The good news is that there are not a single cricket species that has a poisonous bite.

Do Camel (Cave) Crickets Bite?

do camel cricket bite

Camel crickets have no teeth at all, which means that they are unable to bite. Still, although they are completely harmless to humans, they can cause serious damage to linen and garments we have stored away in a dark and secluded room.

They are easily recognized by their light brown color and dark bands. Also, camel crickets are one of the few types of crickets that do not chirp.

Do Cave Crickets Bite?

Although their name sounds more ominous, cave crickets are actually the same type of insect as camel crickets. Different names stem from various observations that people had made about them. Cave cricket owes its name to the fact that it likes dark and damp places.

Just like the camel crickets, cave crickets can’t bite. They are large and look fairly intimidating, but they can’t actually harm us in any way.

Do Spider Crickets Bite?

do spider cricket bite

These crickets have the most frightening name on this list. However, we shouldn’t fret, as they are the same type of cricket as cave and camel crickets. People were creative while naming this particular insect, so it has several names.

The name spider cricket isn’t a surprising reference since their appearance resembles a cross between a cricket and a spider. Even worse than their appearance is their habit of jumping directly towards whatever has scared them.

However, despite all this, spider crickets neither bite nor pose any kind of life-threatening danger to us.

Do Mole Crickets Bite?

mole cricketThis type of cricket is a big threat to our vegetable gardens, flower pots, and even lawns. They feed on almost every plant, which makes them extremely dangerous. On the other hand, they will not use their sharp teeth on humans and animals.

Do Black Crickets Bite?

do black cricket biteThis type of cricket can normally only be found in northeastern New Zealand. We can usually find them in the grass, which they like to eat. The black cricket can lay waste to entire lawns, but it does not bite humans at all.

However, in peak cricket plague seasons, forty black crickets can cover a square meter. They are especially dangerous during long periods of drought.

Do Crickets Bite Only Humans?

Crickets cannot harm humans directly since they do not transmit any serious diseases. Also, if you don’t use crickets as a food you shoudn’t be worried about parasites, that crickets can carry. Furthermore, the pain coming from a cricket’s bite is very weak.

Are Crickets Dangerous for Humans or Pets?

However, their shells can irritate our pet’s stomach. Sometimes, pets like to chase down and eat crickets, but their shells can prove to be quite hard to digest. This could make the pet vomit.

On the other hand, smaller pets can be in danger’s way. Since crickets eat other insects, they can pass the prey’s pathogens to the pet that ate them. In turn, these pathogens will infect our pet, and that infection can even spread onto other pets as well.

Some of us like to feed our pets with crickets. However, it is important to realize that there is no way to know whether the crickets we catch are sick or not. Back in 2002, the cricket paralysis virus wiped out a huge number of crickets, endangering and killing pets that had eaten them. So if we want to feed our pets with an occasional cricket or two, we should stick to the ones we bought, instead of catching them ourselves.

If a cricket bites, you should go through the following steps just to be on the safe side:

  • Clean and sterilize the bite mark.
  • Wash the bite mark using antibacterial soap.
  • Apply an ointment that includes bacitracin on the area.
  • Monitor the area for any potential rash development.
  • If the rash develops, you may have to visit a doctor to receive additional antibiotics.

It is extremely rare to experience the consequences of a cricket bite, but these steps serve as prudent prevention that needs to be done in order to avoid the development of any disease.

The list of potential diseases doesn’t contain any life-threatening problems, but we should nonetheless delve into it.

What Diseases Do Crickets Carry?

Once infected with a pathogen from an insect they have eaten, crickets can start spreading numerous diseases. The most common diseases that crickets spread are E. Coli and salmonella.

The initial symptoms from most illnesses are very similar to those of flue, which is why it is so important to inform our doctor of any cricket bites we have received. Also, cricket feces sometimes contain worms that can cause skin irritation upon contact, so it’s best to avoid them altogether.

Conclusion

A cricket is more of a pest than an actual pain-inducing and life-threatening insect. Even with all the diseases they can potentially carry, they pose no serious threat to human health. If you disregard the pain, their bite cannot really hurt you. What’s more, the answer to the question “Do crickets bite?” depends on the species we’re talking about.

Comments 7

  1. Maryann says:

    Has black carnivorous crickets ever been known to lay eggs in animals or humans using the body as a host, reproducing and multiplying each year?
    Is there crickets that flies in a arrow pathern with the leader has grasshopper like legs and it’s wings in flight is brown with a circular melon red spot on each wing ( only one leader)
    then followed by about a dozen insects that reassembles honey bees. The body are shaped like tablets (head is not sectioned from the body) hairy and striped black , yellow, black … The stinger is long, folded and tucked in under the belly and held in place by the six legs (these legs does not include the two grasshopper legs)
    After those crickets, hundreds of black crickets of different shapes followed. Swarm found human close by, female cricket in-beds both grasshopper like legs feet in scalp and attach elongated organ that female use to lay their eggs. No infection since the crickets was introduced to the human as eggs and than hatched.
    Anyone know anything about these crickets? If so, Please contact me.

    • Vil Malinoshevskij says:

      Dear Maryann,
      I dug into this topic and I didn’t find anything in recent scientific researches. These crickets lay their eggs in soil.
      If there is anything you need to know feel free to contact me.

  2. Naomi says:

    I’m never touching a cricket again this is gross I’m not feeding this to my pets ew

  3. Bruce A. Frank says:

    Years ago I read an article that stated that a human eating a raw/live cricket could contract a serious parasite. I cannot find any information now that says anything similar. Do you have info about such?

    The wire-worm, that takes over the brain of crickets, has no impact if ingested by humans?

    Over the years I have used several varieties of crickets for fish bait. I have found that, in the life and death struggle of putting a cricket on a hook, some that may not bite a human in casual contact, can inflict a painful skin breaking pinch to a finger if they can get to you.

  4. Georganne Burford says:

    Crickets can and do lots of damage in many areas. As a daughter of motel owners I am here to tell you that crickets eat holes in sheets and cause lots of monetary damage.

    Regardless I do know that crickets of some variety common in the SW US do bite humans and cause large bumps and nasty sores that require medical help

  5. Julie says:

    To maryann…. it’s so weird you said that… It’s the exact reason I came across this page were on now. What she’s explaining is unfortunately very True. I’m looking into this but finding answers is hard. If anyone can help… please comment.

    • Adam Youssef says:

      Hey Julie,
      I looked into this but could not find a claim like the one mentioned by Maryann anywhere else on the internet, if you could link a source I would be happy to validate it for you. In the meantime, I can provide some general knowledge of bugs and of the cricket’s reproduction system that may be of some help. First things first, if you add the two “grasshopper” legs with the six original legs, you get 8 legs. That makes them arachnids, not insects. I can say for certain that since no arachnid has wings, none of them would fit any of those descriptions.
      Secondly, that elongated organ used to lay eggs is called an ovipositor. It is indeed needle-like; however, female crickets will only reveal this precious organ when laying eggs since it is too important to lose, and wouldn’t dare to release eggs into or under the pores of a human’s skin as the pressure would likely squash the eggs in the process. Therefore crickets will only lay eggs in more spacious areas like underground burrows or large stems of plants.
      On top of that, if by some godforsaken turn of events this did end up happening, the larvae would be doomed the moment they hatch. This is because crickets breathe through “spiracles,” a series of small openings on the outside of the body. So if they don’t have enough room, they can’t breathe. We don’t need to go that far to deduce that this story is most likely false because the optimal temperature for the eggs to hatch is around 85 degrees. This means that our natural body temperature, especially around the scalp where hair traps in the heat, of ~99 degrees Farenheight, would be too high for the eggs to hatch properly.
      Aside from this, it takes an average of about 7-13 days for the eggs to hatch, and I don’t believe anyone in their right mind would dismiss the agonizing pain this would theoretically cause and wait a week or two for these eggs to hatch. Especially not after a seeming traumatizing experience as this. Wouldn’t you at least check where it hurts? So rest assured that there is no swarm of “murder crickets” out there. Anyway, sorry for the long read, but thank you if you’ve made it this far. Let me know if you have any more questions
      -Adam Y.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED