Crickets in central Texas that are looking for a hook up but can’t find the bright lights of a disco may be able to connect at the next best thing.
Recent unseasonal temperatures in the 60’s have promoted unseasonably early mating calls for myriads and multitudes of crickets flooding into human structures to meet up.
Luckily for residents, they’ve greatly spared Austin area homes, opting instead for the local shopping mall, car dealership or sports stadium — attracted by a virtual disco-ball of massive outdoor lights.
Crickets may usually be out of sight and only recognizable by their chirping during the warmer summer months while they hide under rocks or yard debris, according to Bugfacts.net. But when temperatures drop, their chirp becomes a siren song for mates. And they yearn for the glow of a bulb.
“They love…any place that has bright lights at night,” Brian Kelly of ABC Pest Control told CNN affiliate KEYE.
And a bulb’s elevation seems to make for a more intense party scene. “A strip center will have a lot higher lights that you can see from a lot further off and a lot more power behind those lights versus a home,” Kelly said.
A nighttime football game at the University of Texas stadium was called a “beacon for the bugs” by KEYE.
Thousands of crickets crawled along an Austin shopping center wall. When disturbed, they scurried for cover.
During the day that cover could be a home.
“They’ll get in through light fixtures. A lot go in right under the door,” Kelly said.
Swarm season in the area is expected to last about a month.
