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Eggs
Female grasshoppers begin laying eggs in late July and continue throughout the fall by depositing eggs into the soil. Females lay eggs in egg-shaped pods that include between 20 and 120 individual eggs each. A single female grasshopper will lay between 8 to 25 different egg pods. Eggs may overwinter underground before hatching in the spring, though some grasshopper species will hatch in the fall and overwinter as nymphs.
Nymphs
Nymphs closely resemble adult grasshoppers, except that they do not have fully developed or functional wings. The nymph life stage of grasshoppers lasts approximately 40 to 60 days and includes five to six nymphal stages, called instars. Between each instar, nymphs molt to lose their outer skins. During each instar, grasshoppers' wings develop and their bodies increase in size.
Nymphal Stages
During the first through third instars, the wings on nymph grasshoppers will appear on the nymph's thorax, as saddle-like, non-protruding growths. Once the nymph molts and passes into the fourth and fifth instar, the wingpads produce protruding growth that points backwards over the first segment of the nymph's abdomen. During the fifth instar, the wings increase in size, extending over the second segment of the nymph's abdomen. A final molting passes the nymph into the sixth instar, adulthood, during which wings are full-grown and the insects begin to reproduce.
Adult
As adults, grasshoppers have fully functional wings and can now fly over short or long distances, depending on species, in addition to jumping. Once they reach adulthood, grasshoppers can mate and lay eggs to restart the life cycle. Adult male grasshoppers will call females with a chirping noise produced from the stridulating organ at the wing base. The male then mounts females, who respond to his mating call and connects his abdomen with hers to fertilize the eggs she will lay within the soil.