Welcome to camel cricket season. What to know about the jumpy creatures in the basement.

If you're a Long Islander with a dark and damp basement or storage room, it's likely you've turned the lights on recently only to discover a mysterious six-legged creature with the ability to leap away from capture, without the benefit of wings.

Welcome to the season of camel crickets, named for the rounded hump on the insect’s back. They're also commonly known as cave or spider crickets, or even "criders" or "sprickets."

Neither a typical cricket — they don't chirp — nor a spider per se, the insects are more nuisance than danger, experts say, although the unnerving experience of finding one staring back at you while carrying your laundry to the machine may be enough to momentarily take your breath away.

"We get a lot of calls for them, particularly this time of the year," said Jim Skinner, a certified entomologist (the study of insects and their behavior) and the chief executive of A&C Pest Management in East Meadow. "They're kind of cool creatures, but I do understand why some people don't want to go do their laundry, as that's where the moisture often is."

They don't bite or spread disease

Long Island exterminators, who deal with the light or dark-brown pests frequently in the fall as they move inside, often in large numbers, to escape the colder temperatures, said camel crickets don't bite or spread disease.

But they are known to cause damage to houseplants and clothing while dining regularly on carpet, linens, cardboard and even each other. Camel cricket infestations can also occasionally be linked to rodents as they're known to eat mice and rat droppings.

"By the time winter comes, it pushes them deeper and deeper into the structure," Skinner said. "And it's not like they have a memory, that they can remember where to go. So they have a tendency to stay."

Originally from Asia, camel crickets were first found in the United States during the 19th century but were rarely seen outside of greenhouses.

But a 2014 report by scientists and researchers from North Carolina State University, one of the few to study the growth of camel crickets, discovered they were found in a majority of suburban homes nationwide. They're often also found outdoors under logs, stones, wood piles or in leaf litter.

"Camel crickets appear to be geographically widespread in homes, particularly across the eastern half of the United States," the report found.

The insects are not small, typically growing up to 2 inches long with legs growing twice as long, with a pointy antennae and a lifespan — if you're really unlucky — of up to two years. 

The critter can leap into the air to ward off threats

The nocturnal bugs prefer dark and damp spots, like basements and crawl spaces, and will leap explosively into the air as a defense mechanism to ward off predators when frightened, local exterminators said. 

"Due to their size and quick jumping ability, camel crickets can be quite disturbing to homeowners," Arrow Exterminating Company of Lynbrook and Ronkonkoma says on the company's website.

Preventing a camel cricket infestation often involves sealing any cracks or openings that allow the insects from entering from the exterior.

Once they've set up shop, exterminators suggest using a dehumidifier to reduce moisture in areas prone to crickets; laying down glue boards to trap and kill them and reducing the amount of basement clutter to minimize spots where the insects can reproduce and hide.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.