In the late summer, the fields buzz with the singing of male grasshoppers inviting female grasshoppers to court. Rubbing their back legs against their wings, each species sings its own song. After mating, the female grasshopper lays 2 to 120 eggs in the soil, dying soon afterward. However, throughout the winter the eggs remain carefully hidden in the soil. Hatching in the spring, every grasshopper is an orphan.
Young grasshoppers look like miniature adults, though they lack wings.
It takes nearly two months for hoppers to become adults. As they grow, hoppers molt five or six times because they outgrow their exoskeletons just as children outgrow their clothes. After the last molt, two pairs of wings are present. The heavier, leather-like outer wings protect and cover the membranous hind wings. Most grasshoppers are plant feeders, attacking crops such as wheat, barley, corn, rye, and oats.