SAN ANTONIO – Last year around this time, San Antonio saw quite a cricket craze.
Shopping centers, movie theaters, gas stations and several other places throughout the Alamo City were inundated with crickets in early October.
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Given last year’s track record, and with 2020 being so unpredictable, we wanted to know what we can expect for this year’s cricket population uptick in San Antonio.
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, officials believe the city likely won’t have as severe of a mass cricket outbreak as last year.
Crickets may still be present, and we could see even more during this fall season, but officials say it “will likely not be in the numbers we saw last year.”
Officials say these mass cricket events tend to happen in more localized events, similar to the conditions it takes for the current American snout butterfly emergence.
Several weather-related factors could also act as triggers for population growth and mass emergence, according to the TPWD.
Molly Keck, integrated pest management program specialist for Texas A&M Agrilife, previously told KSAT that when the temperatures drop and more rain comes to the area, that could spawn population growth with crickets.
“Dry summers allow eggs and nymphs to survive because there are less fungal diseases,” Keck said. “Then when that is broken by rains and cooler weather, their populations explode.”
For now, officials say the chances of having another cricket craze is low. Could that change? Sure. But for now, don’t worry.
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