Jeez - I have some really really great insect escapee stories. The worst was the fiy episode. I had 2000 fly cocoons that hatched out before expected and when I opened the box, instead of pupae, thousands of flies invaded my home. To make a long story short I eventually got them outside, and you won't believe this, but my car windows were open, and within an hour ALL of them went into the open windows and were sitting in the car.
When I left for work shortly thereafter, they all fled the vehicle as I pulled out of my driveway (windows open of course). There were 2 township employees working on our street who saw these thousands of flies fleeing my car, and I will never forget the look on their faces. It was the Amityville horror car...
That story is actually a lot longer.
Here is another good one. I had a couple of chameleon friends back in the 90's that used to get a HUGE baby cricket order regularly, it was about 10K, I beleive that came in a large box. The old couple next-door (these were connected town-homes) were very mean and nasty. Well, one day the USPS delivered the cricket order to the mean old couple mistakenly. You already figured out what happened next - they did not even bother to read the label, and thought it was their package. When the guy opened the box thousands and thousands of 1/4 crickets poured out. Needlesss to say he panicked and thre the box across the room, making a bad situation even worse! In the end, an exterminator had to be called... I smile everytime I remember that story.
Anyway, a great way to catch these crickets is a nice shop-vac. When you hear them behind your bed or other furniture, just stick in the hose and suck them out.
Lastly, on a Xmas long ago, I knocked over my cricket bin without noticing and went to the store. When i got back there were crickets everywhere! Sadly for them I grabbed my upright vaccum and went to town.
Moral of the story, build a cricket-proof cham cage!
