The question of whether crickets are territorial is purely rhetorical. (Maybe a poem in the making.) My efforts to fall asleep for the past hour have been hampered by one, lone cricket who chirps almost incessantly outside my window. I don't know much about crickets - whether they are good, bad or indifferent to the garden. Perhaps they exist mainly to remind gardeners that fall is on the way and we'd better finish off garden chores soon while we can. I've taken this opportunity to check them out online and see that what I am calling crickets could, if fact, be grasshoppers and that the sound they make is called 'stridulation'. How to Tell a Cricket From a Grasshopper . I don't know if they are truly territorial but sure am glad there's not more than one out there keeping me awake.
I had no idea we even had crickets here - I have not heard one in my almost 50 years here, but it seems there are some: Families of Orthoptera of British Columbia
The challenge would be finding one and catching it - in the dark. If, as you suggest, crickets are unusual here, then maybe it is something else like a grasshopper.
@Margot good evening Margot. Male Crickets are the noisy ones, to see off other males or to attract a mate. This can go on for some time I'm afraid until he is happy or the king Cricket in your garden. But on the plus side they do feed on Aphids, so they can be the gardeners friend. But it might be a case of ear plugs for a while !!!!!! So to your question, yes they are very territorial.
I have a sleepy one outside bedroom window — it is quiet in day and party noise at night I hear one (tho never looked) and it was there in same spot last yr too.
only male crickets sing and fight, and they can be extremely defensive of their territory. Males sing to look for a female mate or to signal to other males to leave their territory.
I just received this email from Malcolm Dunn, who demurred to join the forums but said I could post his comment. I've also never heard crickets chirping anywhere in the Lower Mainland as long as I've been here, until yesterday. I was on a hike around the inlet in Port Moody and stopped in surprise to hear one chirping in the parking area near Moody Centre Skytrain. Then I heard another, and several others along the verges there. Last year about this time I was at Douglas College in Coquitlam Centre and, heard a few around there as well but, I thought I was dreaming...
Crickets may be escapees! They are widely sold as feed for reptiles/amphibians. We used to keep a cricket aquarium in the house just because we love the sound of crickets! It was my childhood bedtime anthem, growing up in the country.
