Jiminy Cricket! It's so creepy crawly

SAN ANTONIO (NBC) - They're related to grasshoppers and roaches, and they're everywhere in one Texas shopping center.

We're talking about crickets.

They seem to be popping up almost everywhere: hopping and chirping in places like a shopping center on the south side of San Antonio. Normally, they're just an annoyance, but this is getting creepy.

It's literally thousands of the creatures, not quite a plague of biblical proportions - but a huge nuisance.

"I opened the doors, and hundreds and hundreds went inside,” said store manager Ben DeJesus.

It's something that's not good for business.

"It's scaring a lot of customers," said DeJesus. "You see a lot of customers walk in, and they're shivering cause they are so grossed out."

Pest controllers actually sucked up some 30 pounds at that shopping center.

Meanwhile, there was also a mass of crickets at the Texas Department of Transportation district office and another group at a Northwest San Antonio shopping center.

Experts said normally 70- to 80 percent of cricket eggs don't hatch, but the weather changed all that.

"But when we have the rains we've had, we've got 70-80 percent actually hatching out," said Mark Ambrose, with ABC Pest Control.

Experts said the critters hang out in the cooler areas, like retaining walls and landscaped areas. When it cools off and they come out to eat, they to flock to light.

To keep them from creeping into your home:

"Turn the lights off inside and out, and draw the curtains because they're attracted to light,” said Ambrose.

Experts said the invasion should be over in about a month. That's when the hatching cycle is over and when numbers should decrease.