He emerges from his bag, flies to a female, mates, and dies in a few days. Mating usually occurs during the fall in Alabama. Females lay a mass of 500 to 1,000 eggs in their bags and then die. These eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring. Larvae begin to feed and make bags soon after hatching.
Small larvae feed on upper leaf surfaces.
As the larvae grow, they enlarge their bags and move to lower leaf surfaces. Full grown larvae have bags from 1 to 2 inches long. During late summer to early fall, larvae pupate in their bags, and adults emerge in a week or two. There is one generation a year. Bagworms are commonly found from the Atlantic states westward into Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas and north into Illinois and Ohio.