I Think I Just Threw Up In My Mouth, A Little

We are having a serious problem with bugs that look like this in the basement. It's a finished basement, so we have carpet and everything. I don't know where they're coming from, because we see them on the floor just wherever, so it's not obvious how the little f*ckers are breaking in. Every time I go downstairs I find at least one, though, and I go down multiple times a day. The only saving grace is that they're not fast, so it's easy to take a wad (ie, half the roll) of toilet paper and scoop them up for the Grand Flush. Yuck.

We also seem to have a Giant Cricket Chorus going down there. These aren't just any crickets, either; they seem to be large enough that if if too many more show up, they might just be able to stage a coup and gain control of the main level. Seriously, they're about two inches long, brown, and can jump HIGH. The only up side to this is that Baci thinks they're WONDERFUL. It hops, he hops and pounces. It hops, he hops. It's pretty funny, right up until he actually LANDS on said cricket, smooshing it into the carpet, and then refuses to have any more to do with it. I mean, he could at least EAT it at that point, right? Seriously, get with the program! I do like to watch him do it, though; when he looks down at them, all the loose skin on his forehead falls forward over his eyes and his ears flop forward, so he looks like a big pouncing wrinkle. It's pretty cute, and is his only saving grace when I try to get the *#@$%ing thing out of the rug later.

Lastly, we may also have a mouse. I am in denial about this, and am hoping that the poop I found is cricket poop. I did find it near where I had seen one of them a few times and pretended that I didn't so I could avoid Dealing With It. I remember in the Little House books that the grashopper infestation resulted in them having grasshopper poop everywhere, and these crickets are about the size of grasshoppers, so it could happen, right? RIGHT?!?! Sigh. I bought a have-a-heart trap just in case.

I don't really know what to do about any of this. I can't have poison in the house because of the kids/animals, and they don't really make traps for crickets and gross whatever-the-hell those crawly things are, anyway. Frankly, I'd rather have a mouse than creepy-crawlies any day. As it is, I'm afraid to go down there without shoes on and lights blazing. A few years back I stepped on a slug in my backyard one night, and that feeling has freaked me out enough that I will NEVER forget it. If I stepped on one of those grub things... it makes me throw up in my mouth a little just thinking about it. At least mice have the common decency to stay wherever they hide until you're gone!