You’re trying to sleep. It’s 2:00 AM. Somewhere near the baseboard or out in the tall grass, a solitary cricket is losing its mind, emitting a rhythmic chirp-chirp-chirp that seems loud enough to wake the neighbors. You might have heard the old playground myth that they rub their legs together.
That’s wrong. Totally wrong.
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If you actually look at how do crickets make noise, it’s much more like a tiny, aggressive violinist than a bug stretching its legs. They use their wings. Specifically, they use a specialized structure on their forewings to create a sound that can travel over a mile in the right conditions. It's called stridulation.
The mechanical violin on a bug's back
Crickets don't have vocal cords. They don't breathe out air to make sound like we do. Instead, male crickets (and it is almost always the males) have a thickened vein on the underside of one wing that acts like a file. This file has anywhere from 50 to 300 microscopic teeth. On the upper edge of the other wing, they have a hardened area called a scraper.
When the cricket wants to get loud, it lifts its wings to a 45-degree angle and slides the scraper across the file.
It’s fast. Like, incredibly fast.
Every time the scraper hits a tooth on the file, it creates a tiny click. But a single click isn't a chirp. To get that pure, musical tone, the cricket uses a part of its wing called the harp—an elastic, triangular area that vibrates and amplifies the sound. The wing acts as a natural speaker cone.
Think about it this way: if you run your fingernail along the teeth of a plastic comb, you get a "zip" sound. Now imagine doing that 200 times a second while holding the comb against a megaphone. That is basically what’s happening on your porch.
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Why all the racket?
It’s about sex. Mostly.
Biologists like Dr. Marlene Zuk, who has spent decades studying evolutionary biology and crickets, have identified distinct types of "songs." They aren't just mindlessly making noise.
- The Calling Song: This is the loud, rhythmic one you hear from a distance. It’s a "hey, I’m over here and I’m a healthy male" signal intended to attract females from far away.
- The Courtship Song: Once a female is close, the male switches to a much quieter, more complex series of chirps. It’s the cricket version of whispering sweet nothings. It’s meant to convince her to mate.
- The Aggressive Song: If another male wanders into the territory, the frequency changes. It becomes erratic and harsh. It’s a warning.
There’s a fourth one, too. A "post-copulatory" song. Some species actually sing a little victory tune after successful mating. Honestly, it’s a lot of drama for an insect that lives for a few months.
The "Snow's Law" phenomenon: Crickets as thermometers
Here is something weird. You can actually tell the temperature by listening to how do crickets make noise.
Back in 1897, a physicist named Amos Dolbear published a paper called "The Cricket as a Thermometer." He noticed that the rate of chirping is directly tied to the ambient temperature. Because crickets are cold-blooded (ectothermic), their chemical reactions happen faster when it’s warm. This means their muscles can contract more quickly.
If you want to try this at home, it’s called Dolbear’s Law.
Find a snowy tree cricket. Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds. Add 40 to that number. That result is a fairly accurate estimate of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.
It’s not perfect. It varies by species. For example, the common field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) follows a slightly different rhythm than the snowy tree cricket. Also, if a cricket is stressed or there’s a predator nearby, the math goes out the window. But as a general rule of nature? It’s surprisingly consistent.
The cost of being loud
Being the loudest guy in the field isn't all romance and moonlight. It’s dangerous.
In places like Hawaii, there’s a parasitic fly called Ormia ochracea. This fly has evolved incredible hearing—specifically tuned to the frequency of cricket chirps. When a male cricket starts his calling song, the fly tracks him down and deposits larvae on him. The larvae then burrow into the cricket and eat him from the inside out.
Because of this, some cricket populations are actually evolving to be silent. On the islands of Kauai and Oahu, a mutation emerged where the males have "flat wings." They lack the file and scraper mechanism. They can’t sing.
How do they find mates? They hang out near the few remaining "calling" males and intercept the females that come over. They’re basically "satellite males" or wingmen who never pick up the tab.
Does it ever stop?
Usually, the noise stops when the sun comes up or the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). At that point, their metabolism slows down too much to move those wing muscles effectively.
If you have a cricket inside your house making noise, it's likely seeking warmth or a food source. They love crumbs, pet food, and sometimes even wallpaper glue. They aren't trying to annoy you; they're just confused by the lack of wind and the abundance of baseboards.
Insights for dealing with the noise
If the chirping is driving you crazy, you don't necessarily need pesticides. Crickets are highly sensitive to their environment.
- Dehumidify: Crickets love damp areas. A basement dehumidifier often makes the environment too dry for them to thrive, and they’ll move back outside.
- Yellow Lights: Standard white outdoor bulbs attract insects like crazy. Switching to yellow "bug lights" reduces the number of crickets that congregate near your doors and windows.
- Seal the gaps: Check the weather stripping on your doors. If a pencil can fit through a gap, a cricket can definitely fit through.
- Cedar oil: This is a natural repellent. A little cedar spray around the entry points of your home can act as a chemical "keep out" sign without harming your pets or kids.
Understanding how do crickets make noise turns a late-night annoyance into a fascinating display of biological engineering. It’s a high-speed, friction-based communication system that has worked for millions of years. Next time you hear that sharp chirp, remember you’re listening to a specialized muscle contraction happening hundreds of times per second, all in the hopes of finding a little company in the dark.
To manage a cricket "infestation" without chemicals, focus on removing "harborage" areas—stacks of firewood, piles of leaves, or tall grass right against the foundation of your home. Reducing their cover is the most effective way to quiet the night.