Oklahoma Cricket Infestation Is Creeping People Out

Monday, August 27th 2012, 11:05 pm

By: News 9

The chirping is a mating call but the infestation of the crickets is creeping people out.

Laura O'Malley emailed News 9 after a shopping trip to Ross left her skin crawling.

"I turn around and it was like a nightmare in a horror movie," she said.

People are lining up to see them and snapping pictures of the jumpy bugs as they cover walls.

Even store employees at Ross say this is something new.

"We actually got them all in a plastic bag and threw a horde of 30-40 crickets outside a couple of weeks ago," said Sierra Cook.

Experts say the infestation is annoying for us but late summer is fun for the brown field cricket. They're mating. The spike in population occurs every few years when there is the right combination of weather conditions like heat and last year's drought. A drought kills many predators that eat crickets.

The infestation should only last a few weeks.