Females are very fecund, producing between 300 and 650 eggs which are laid on emerging grass leaves, among leaf-litter or in cracks in the soil. The eggs develop slowly with larvae emerging after four or five weeks, the young larvae move among the soil or litter seeking out conditions of optimal temperature and humidity before they begin to feed upon roots and young shoots etc. and they are also known to consume small insects and larvae, as they grow they move between plants on the surface or through the soil. Development takes between two and four years.