The Carolina grasshopper, a ground-dwelling species, is active chiefly during daylight hours. Emerging from overnight shelters, both nymphs and adults bask in the morning sun for two to three hours beginning approximately two hours after sunrise. They turn a side perpendicular to the rays and lower the associated hindleg to expose the abdomen, and they often appress the flexed hindleg close against the ground. After basking, the adults begin to walk and fly about the habitat. The males are more active than the females, perhaps searching for receptive females with which to mate.
Females walk and fly far less than males, but do more feeding, grooming, and resting.
As temperatures rise, the grasshoppers climb on vegetation and place themselves 1-3 inches above ground. They face the sun directly so that only the front of the head is exposed to the rays and the rest of the body is shaded. In the afternoon the adults bask on bare ground for a second time beginning about 3 p.m. and ending about 5 p.m. Then they walk or fly to vegetated areas where they seek shelter usually under canopies of grasses. The ecology of the Orthoptera and Dermaptera of the George Reserve, Michigan.