NATCHEZ &8212; When Tamekia Hill came in to work the night shift at the Chevron on Seargent S. Prentiss Drive, a cloud of crickets met her.

&8220;The only word I can use for it is really weird. I had never seen anything like it before,&8221; Hill said. &8220;There were thousands of them all over the parking lot. People had to literally fight them to pump their gas.&8221;

Children tried to catch them, and the crickets smashed themselves against the store&8217;s windows.

&8220;I went to get in my car that night, and they were all around my tires and hubcaps &8212; everywhere,&8221; she said.

The insects get worse as it gets darker, and they start to go away as daybreak arrives.

&8220;Every morning, when the owners come in, they have to sweep the front walk because so many crickets just laid there and died,&8221; she said.

The influx of insects came on the heels of a swarm of love bugs, and the situation has spawned some jokes from customers.

&8220;They&8217;re saying, since the love bugs were stuck together, they made crickets, because right after the love bugs left, the crickets came,&8221; Hall said.

The mass of crickets in the Miss-Lou won&8217;t last much longer, though, said Ed Murray, owner of Old South Pest Control.

&8220;Another couple of weeks, if it doesn&8217;t warm back up, they&8217;ll be gone,&8221; Murray said. &8220;They&8217;re in their last life stage.&8221;

The insects don&8217;t live through winter, he said.

Cold nights and dry weather combine to bring out the field crickets.

The dry weather means more eggs survive and can hatch, and the cool nights drive the insects to warmer places, against buildings and under street lamps, Murray said.

&8220;It happens every year,&8221; he said. &8220;They&8217;ve always been in the grass.&8221;

Crickets will eat almost anything, but are partial to field crops and textiles, like cotton, wool and silk.

They are also attracted to light, which means they sometimes gather under street lamps and near houses.

Fall is when crickets are out in huge numbers, entomologist and biology professor Paul Lago at the University of Mississippi said.

Eggs hatch in spring, and the insects grow over the summer.

&8220;They&8217;re large adults in the fall, so that&8217;s when you notice them,&8221; Lago said.

Sealing cracks in doorways and windows can keep crickets out of buildings.

&8220;If you can see light around the door, chances are good crickets can get in,&8221; he said.

Cricket-proofing your house is really the best way to deal with the bugs.

&8220;I don&8217;t recommend (insecticide) because they&8217;re chemicals,&8221; Lago said. &8220;Crickets really don&8217;t do a whole lot of damage. We just don&8217;t like them in our houses.&8221;