Crickets..... lots of crickets

Hi,

I live in southeastern MA in a suburb. Behind my house, there is a small lawn for the kids the play in and behind that there is a large wetlands space. These wetlands have been designated by the state and are a sort of nature preserve. I would guess that there is somewhere around 50 acres of space (I own a tiny fraction of that). As the neighborhoods around have grown, the wetlands appear to have become "wetter". This summer, they were host to a collosal population of crickets. Although I have never spotted them in my organic lawn, I am sure that they are there. When I open my garage at night, I have to run out with a broom to sweep them out. They literally run in if I don't. They are big, too; some are probably three or four inches long. If it seems mean of me not to share my lovely garage with the crickets, allow me to note that they chirp continuously for days inside, echoing throughout my house if I let them in.

My question is really whether there is anything that I should be doing because of this phenominal cricket population. Can they endanger the worms that I need to keep my lawn up and running? Also, is there something that I should be doing to encourage even more crickets? Do they have any real good or bad effects on my lawn and vegetable garden?

I am really just wondering about them, so thanks for your thoughts...

Wow! Wish we had your problem. We have been considering getting a cricket culture going so we can grow them to feed our chickens. Maybe you need to get a few chickens to do your work for you. Are you out far enough to get away with that or do zoning laws restrict you from having animals other than the usual cats and dogs? Some places allow caged hens (not roosters) so you could do the chicken tractor thing with 3 or 4 hens and move them around the lawn. Just a thought. Otherwise, maybe you should think about doing what a lot of native peoples do... collect, dry and salt them for a healthy snack. If you are a carnivore (I'm not) it is cheaper than beef AND better for the environment.

Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, I am too suburban to have chickens on the property. I believe that my town rule is that you must have like 5 or 6 acres in order to have any livestock on the property. Nobody really has that much land in my area.

I am not too sure about how crazy my wife would be start putting crickets on the menu, but I will run it by her! hahaha